Kids definitely aren't on track to earn an IB Diploma if they start their only foreign language in 9th grade.

If that's the story, not at all "fine" for strong students.

What grade is your kid in now? Is s/he aiming for full IB Diploma? What sort of colleges is s/he aiming for?

my kid got in for 9th for french and started from scratch then. It was fine.

Not sure who your post is aimed at. I do know that the school isn't all that great and this will be our last year.

Spanish at DCI may be worth it from scratch in the unlikely event that OP's kid gets a spot. Not convinced about Chinese or French.

I wish we could have DCI Chinese language threads that are separate from other DCI threads. Your concerns are valid and important, but your posts often take us very far from the original question.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but don’t expect serious Chinese. Standards aren’t high, no native speakers even on the advanced track for YuYing graduates. Program is cozy without real rigor in any subject. Be realistic.

But if you feel as if this is the best option available to you - take it.

I suppose. Just don't expect much if you get a spot on the beginning Chinse track. Don't plan to stop supplementing. Chinese instruction at DCI isn't as good as at YY, and many YY upper grades students can barely speak Chinese after years of "immersion study." DCI doesn't track academically for science, social studies or English, and the math doesn't tend to wow parents.

Not exactly, it means that DCI has to make some spots available for middle schoolers who haven't studied languages before. YuYing loses a good many 4th graders, mainly to BASIS and Wash Latin. Commitment to studying Mandarin isn't as strong as YY as commitment to avoiding a big cohort of poor kids in elementary school. Moreover, commitment to Spanish studies is a lot stronger among parents coming up through the DCI feeders than commitment to Mandarin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How hard is it to get in in 6th grade if you don't have the partner school preference?

Virtually impossible for Spanish. Small chance for French and Chinese. Best shot wound probably be Chinese.

Does this mean that yuying doesn’t use all their spots for DCI? ie, a student at yuying would have guaranteed admission to DCI? (Unlike stokes, MV, LAMB, etc)

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but don’t expect serious Chinese. Standards aren’t high, no native speakers even on the advanced track for YuYing graduates. Program is cozy without real rigor in any subject. Be realistic.

But if you feel as if this is the best option available to you - take it.

Yes, but don’t expect serious Chinese. Standards aren’t high, no native speakers even on the advanced track for YuYing graduates. Program is cozy without real rigor in any subject. Be realistic.

Anonymous wrote:How hard is it to get in in 6th grade if you don't have the partner school preference?

Virtually impossible for Spanish. Small chance for French and Chinese. Best shot wound probably be Chinese.

How hard is it to get in in 6th grade if you don't have the partner school preference?

I know at least 3 kids who took this route. There are typically slots available for the Chinese program.

My kid did, and he wasn't the only one. He had a great experience - loved learning the language (Chinese) and DCI did really well by him.

Not that there are many slots for this, but has anybody seen a kid get into DCI at 6th grade via lottery and start language they don't know at that point?