We are at a bilingual charter in DC. At our school kids are in 100% Spanish classes in from prek3-k. Most kids are native speakers or had Spanish speaking care providers before school. My child is in 3rd now and I find it a struggle to maintain Spanish literacy. English is so prevalent in our culture. The kids are not speaking Spanish on the playground in 3rd grade. They are socially communicating in English. DD has a tutor for Spanish reading and it’s been helpful. I don’t really hear of tutoring for younger kids. But I might consider it if my child hadn’t been in immersion PreK.

Anonymous wrote:Immersion is only for so Spanish speaking families, ESL and non-ESL still need parents who speak Spanish. Or tutor.

Curious op what is your neighborhood school?

Completely untrue.

I had a kid go all the way through Key, then Gunston, in immersion. I also didn’t hear of anyone using tutors, though I obviously don’t know everyone. We parents don’t speak Spanish.

OP, it’s very early to decide immersion isn’t for your kid. It takes a while for kids to first understand, and then start speaking the second language. But for most kids, it will happen, and it’s great. By middle school, they are reading novels, writing essays, giving in depth presentations, all in Spanish. My kid got no outside help in Spanish other than us encouraging him to read & watch TV in Spanish at home. He’s done great with it, as have his peers.

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Anonymous wrote:We had a kid start in APS immersion with no background in Spanish at all. They disliked immersion all of kindergarten, stating that they didn't understand anything. The beginning of the year was especially hard and stressful. Their Spanish absolutely exploded in first grade and now as a second grader they have whole discussions in Spanish. It's amazing. They now love immersion and love learning in Spanish. I would try not to judge in fall of kindergarten--it takes a while to get over the learning curve. See where your student is at the end of 1st or beginning of 2nd.

As for outside support, I'd try to find some way to keep up Spanish learning over the summer, perhaps with a Spanish speaking nanny or babysitter. I'd try not to take the summer off from Spanish.

I'll add that outside tutoring in kindergarten is crazy. Kids are already exhausted after a full day of kindergarten, especially with a chunk of the day being immersion. At most I'd turn on Spanish kid songs at home in the background.

I can't agree more about tutors in kindergarten, and some of the lower elementary grades. With that said, it seems to be a common theme and something a lot of families in APS have to do.

What do you mean "have to do"? I don't know anyone who used a tutor before 1st, and even that was only for reading and started later in the year. I don't know anyone in immersion with a Spanish tutor in the younger grades. Some kids do have nannies or au pairs who speak Spanish to continue immersion at home, but that's not a tutor.

I am surprised the above poster doesn't know anyone in younger grades with a tutor in immersion. We are at Claremont as well and know many families who have or had tutors for their littles. It doesn't seem that it's that out of the norm to hear about in the program.

We're at Key and I've never heard of anyone using a Spanish tutor.

That is very interesting. I also know of families at Claremont that have tutors. We don’t have one yet but are only in 2nd grade. I wonder if there are variances with the programs at the schools or if it is just kid dependent and situational.

If tutors were prevalent at Key, I'd expect to see parents asking for tutor recommendations on the very active WhatsApp group, but I have never seen that question asked.

I have never seen the question asked on the Claremont whats app and I know a number of folks with tutors (but mostly over summer to not lose Spanish skills)

Hiring someone to keep up skills over the summer is 100% different than getting a tutor for a kindergartener who is 8 weeks into the program.

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Anonymous wrote:We had a kid start in APS immersion with no background in Spanish at all. They disliked immersion all of kindergarten, stating that they didn't understand anything. The beginning of the year was especially hard and stressful. Their Spanish absolutely exploded in first grade and now as a second grader they have whole discussions in Spanish. It's amazing. They now love immersion and love learning in Spanish. I would try not to judge in fall of kindergarten--it takes a while to get over the learning curve. See where your student is at the end of 1st or beginning of 2nd.

As for outside support, I'd try to find some way to keep up Spanish learning over the summer, perhaps with a Spanish speaking nanny or babysitter. I'd try not to take the summer off from Spanish.

I'll add that outside tutoring in kindergarten is crazy. Kids are already exhausted after a full day of kindergarten, especially with a chunk of the day being immersion. At most I'd turn on Spanish kid songs at home in the background.

I can't agree more about tutors in kindergarten, and some of the lower elementary grades. With that said, it seems to be a common theme and something a lot of families in APS have to do.

What do you mean "have to do"? I don't know anyone who used a tutor before 1st, and even that was only for reading and started later in the year. I don't know anyone in immersion with a Spanish tutor in the younger grades. Some kids do have nannies or au pairs who speak Spanish to continue immersion at home, but that's not a tutor.

I am surprised the above poster doesn't know anyone in younger grades with a tutor in immersion. We are at Claremont as well and know many families who have or had tutors for their littles. It doesn't seem that it's that out of the norm to hear about in the program.

We're at Key and I've never heard of anyone using a Spanish tutor.

That is very interesting. I also know of families at Claremont that have tutors. We don’t have one yet but are only in 2nd grade. I wonder if there are variances with the programs at the schools or if it is just kid dependent and situational.

If tutors were prevalent at Key, I'd expect to see parents asking for tutor recommendations on the very active WhatsApp group, but I have never seen that question asked.

I have never seen the question asked on the Claremont whats app and I know a number of folks with tutors (but mostly over summer to not lose Spanish skills)

I have a kid in Claremont and one at Gunston in immersion. The gunston kid is basically fluent (or so his teacher said). We don't speak Spanish at home and he obviously had a messed up few years due to covid but it still worked out. We started using Spanish tutors in the summer but switched to all year during covid. We also do Spanish books and tv. Kids get supplemental help in English learning every single minute of their lives even if you don't realize it (you read to them, you bake and ask simple math problems, you tall about historical events or do science projects or go to museums).

I don't really get why families expect to do zero Spanish learning outside school and have Immersion just work. You don't need to pay for a tutor but I think you need to incorporate Spanish learning into your life just like you do with English for kids to be really successful.

I also have a younger kid and he did covid kinder so he hasn't had as much Spanish as he should be now but generally seems to understand it and his math scores are great. He does have a once a week spanish tutor and we do Spanish reading comprehension books at home.

My eldest didn't really start to believe he understood Spanish until 4th and didn't feel comfortable speaking it until 5th but now we go to Spanish speaking countries and he does all the talking for us.

So yes I think immersion is more work than neighborhood programs if you truly want to be fluent. Your kid has spent 5-6 years learning English, no one should expect a new language to be easy or for them to be good at it 8 weeks into learning a new one.

We have two kiddos at Claremont. I won’t lie, we have had some struggles but feel like the program brings value so we have stuck with it. The school community is great and we’ve made amazing friends through the past 4 years. We have heard a lot of families seeking tutoring in APS, not just in immersion. OP I would give it more time … it wasn’t until the end of K when my kids started to really like it.

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Anonymous wrote:We had a kid start in APS immersion with no background in Spanish at all. They disliked immersion all of kindergarten, stating that they didn't understand anything. The beginning of the year was especially hard and stressful. Their Spanish absolutely exploded in first grade and now as a second grader they have whole discussions in Spanish. It's amazing. They now love immersion and love learning in Spanish. I would try not to judge in fall of kindergarten--it takes a while to get over the learning curve. See where your student is at the end of 1st or beginning of 2nd.

As for outside support, I'd try to find some way to keep up Spanish learning over the summer, perhaps with a Spanish speaking nanny or babysitter. I'd try not to take the summer off from Spanish.

I'll add that outside tutoring in kindergarten is crazy. Kids are already exhausted after a full day of kindergarten, especially with a chunk of the day being immersion. At most I'd turn on Spanish kid songs at home in the background.

I can't agree more about tutors in kindergarten, and some of the lower elementary grades. With that said, it seems to be a common theme and something a lot of families in APS have to do.

What do you mean "have to do"? I don't know anyone who used a tutor before 1st, and even that was only for reading and started later in the year. I don't know anyone in immersion with a Spanish tutor in the younger grades. Some kids do have nannies or au pairs who speak Spanish to continue immersion at home, but that's not a tutor.

I am surprised the above poster doesn't know anyone in younger grades with a tutor in immersion. We are at Claremont as well and know many families who have or had tutors for their littles. It doesn't seem that it's that out of the norm to hear about in the program.

We're at Key and I've never heard of anyone using a Spanish tutor.

That is very interesting. I also know of families at Claremont that have tutors. We don’t have one yet but are only in 2nd grade. I wonder if there are variances with the programs at the schools or if it is just kid dependent and situational.

If tutors were prevalent at Key, I'd expect to see parents asking for tutor recommendations on the very active WhatsApp group, but I have never seen that question asked.

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Anonymous wrote:We had a kid start in APS immersion with no background in Spanish at all. They disliked immersion all of kindergarten, stating that they didn't understand anything. The beginning of the year was especially hard and stressful. Their Spanish absolutely exploded in first grade and now as a second grader they have whole discussions in Spanish. It's amazing. They now love immersion and love learning in Spanish. I would try not to judge in fall of kindergarten--it takes a while to get over the learning curve. See where your student is at the end of 1st or beginning of 2nd.

As for outside support, I'd try to find some way to keep up Spanish learning over the summer, perhaps with a Spanish speaking nanny or babysitter. I'd try not to take the summer off from Spanish.

I'll add that outside tutoring in kindergarten is crazy. Kids are already exhausted after a full day of kindergarten, especially with a chunk of the day being immersion. At most I'd turn on Spanish kid songs at home in the background.

I can't agree more about tutors in kindergarten, and some of the lower elementary grades. With that said, it seems to be a common theme and something a lot of families in APS have to do.

What do you mean "have to do"? I don't know anyone who used a tutor before 1st, and even that was only for reading and started later in the year. I don't know anyone in immersion with a Spanish tutor in the younger grades. Some kids do have nannies or au pairs who speak Spanish to continue immersion at home, but that's not a tutor.

I am surprised the above poster doesn't know anyone in younger grades with a tutor in immersion. We are at Claremont as well and know many families who have or had tutors for their littles. It doesn't seem that it's that out of the norm to hear about in the program.

We're at Key and I've never heard of anyone using a Spanish tutor.

That is very interesting. I also know of families at Claremont that have tutors. We don’t have one yet but are only in 2nd grade. I wonder if there are variances with the programs at the schools or if it is just kid dependent and situational.

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Anonymous wrote:We had a kid start in APS immersion with no background in Spanish at all. They disliked immersion all of kindergarten, stating that they didn't understand anything. The beginning of the year was especially hard and stressful. Their Spanish absolutely exploded in first grade and now as a second grader they have whole discussions in Spanish. It's amazing. They now love immersion and love learning in Spanish. I would try not to judge in fall of kindergarten--it takes a while to get over the learning curve. See where your student is at the end of 1st or beginning of 2nd.

As for outside support, I'd try to find some way to keep up Spanish learning over the summer, perhaps with a Spanish speaking nanny or babysitter. I'd try not to take the summer off from Spanish.

I'll add that outside tutoring in kindergarten is crazy. Kids are already exhausted after a full day of kindergarten, especially with a chunk of the day being immersion. At most I'd turn on Spanish kid songs at home in the background.

I can't agree more about tutors in kindergarten, and some of the lower elementary grades. With that said, it seems to be a common theme and something a lot of families in APS have to do.

What do you mean "have to do"? I don't know anyone who used a tutor before 1st, and even that was only for reading and started later in the year. I don't know anyone in immersion with a Spanish tutor in the younger grades. Some kids do have nannies or au pairs who speak Spanish to continue immersion at home, but that's not a tutor.

I am surprised the above poster doesn't know anyone in younger grades with a tutor in immersion. We are at Claremont as well and know many families who have or had tutors for their littles. It doesn't seem that it's that out of the norm to hear about in the program.

We're at Key and I've never heard of anyone using a Spanish tutor.

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Anonymous wrote:Is your kid happy at school?

OP here -- yes because they are social and love seeing their friends. They are not super happy everyday with 80% of their day being in Spanish.

There's a big learning curve to learning a new language. I wouldn't expect any kid to be super happy with immersion at this point in the year if they didn't speak Spanish going into kindergarten. It just hasn't been long enough and there is frustration that comes with not yet understanding. Once things start to click you should see a turn around. It's only been a few weeks and kindergarteners don't yet have any understanding of learning curves.

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Anonymous wrote:We had a kid start in APS immersion with no background in Spanish at all. They disliked immersion all of kindergarten, stating that they didn't understand anything. The beginning of the year was especially hard and stressful. Their Spanish absolutely exploded in first grade and now as a second grader they have whole discussions in Spanish. It's amazing. They now love immersion and love learning in Spanish. I would try not to judge in fall of kindergarten--it takes a while to get over the learning curve. See where your student is at the end of 1st or beginning of 2nd.

As for outside support, I'd try to find some way to keep up Spanish learning over the summer, perhaps with a Spanish speaking nanny or babysitter. I'd try not to take the summer off from Spanish.

I'll add that outside tutoring in kindergarten is crazy. Kids are already exhausted after a full day of kindergarten, especially with a chunk of the day being immersion. At most I'd turn on Spanish kid songs at home in the background.

I can't agree more about tutors in kindergarten, and some of the lower elementary grades. With that said, it seems to be a common theme and something a lot of families in APS have to do.

What do you mean "have to do"? I don't know anyone who used a tutor before 1st, and even that was only for reading and started later in the year. I don't know anyone in immersion with a Spanish tutor in the younger grades. Some kids do have nannies or au pairs who speak Spanish to continue immersion at home, but that's not a tutor.

Lots of reading and math tutors for APS elementary students, immersion or not. APS doesn’t teach these well. (But how can they when they refuse to group kids by ability?)

Immersion is only for so Spanish speaking families, ESL and non-ESL still need parents who speak Spanish. Or tutor.

Curious op what is your neighborhood school?

Not surprisingly this has turned into a thread with non immersion families praying immersion fails.

Another Claremont family here. My youngest is in 1st and in 80% Spanish too (my older didn’t go thru this) and it’s been hard but we’re seeing real signs of growth. Kindergarten can generally be a big transition and your kids brain is absorbing a new language. I would be patient. Claremont is a living community and our experience has been generally quite positive. While I’m sure I’ll be attacked for saying this, Kindergarten is about a lot of things - but learning facts and figures isn’t one of them. If your kid can become excited about other languages and cultures, make friends and learn to be a good friend, she’ll be well rooted for future success. Even if she still struggles with Spanish.

With that said, there are great resources at the school including the teachers and counselors. I encourage you to actively reach out so you can support your kid at home where it makes sense.

While I know quite a number of families have invested in Spanish tutors, I can assure you this is not the norm nor is it required for your kid to succeed.

Good luck -

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Anonymous wrote:Is your kid happy at school?

OP here -- yes because they are social and love seeing their friends. They are not super happy everyday with 80% of their day being in Spanish.

We were not interested in immersion specifically because of the change to 80% of the day in Spanish. We don't speak Spanish at home. We would love for our kids to be bilingual and we have high levels of proficiency ourselves after years of living overseas, but I knew 80% would be overwhelming for my kid. And we're not paying for tutors so they can attend immersion.

This was us too!

I think it will lead to declining enrollment in the next few years. I don’t understand why immersion gets to schools and all the other option programs only get one. They should give Claremont back to South Arlington to alleviate overcrowding.

Agree on all of this. This is going to hurt recruitment for both English speaking and non-English speaking. Our daycare provider who has limited English did not want to send her Kid to immersion because she wants to make sure they learn English. And that’s when it was a 50/50 model.

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Anonymous wrote:Is your kid happy at school?

OP here -- yes because they are social and love seeing their friends. They are not super happy everyday with 80% of their day being in Spanish.

We were not interested in immersion specifically because of the change to 80% of the day in Spanish. We don't speak Spanish at home. We would love for our kids to be bilingual and we have high levels of proficiency ourselves after years of living overseas, but I knew 80% would be overwhelming for my kid. And we're not paying for tutors so they can attend immersion.

This was us too!

I think it will lead to declining enrollment in the next few years. I don’t understand why immersion gets to schools and all the other option programs only get one. They should give Claremont back to South Arlington to alleviate overcrowding.

*two

I've wonder if they we will continue to keep both elementary immersion schools open.