Sending your kids to a Chinese immersion school when you don't speak a word yourself is clearly ludicrous. I am sure they drop out in High School because they move on to the next fad - they will be teaching them coding or Hindi.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, agreed. Songs are great but my kids are in portables. Let's end the boondoggle immersion programs and hire more staff or expand buildings. If you want Chinese language education, pay for it privately after school or on the weekends.

Foreign language instruction in elementary schools is an extra that, if parents want it, they should have to pay for it privately? Only in the US.

Call the immersion coordinator at College Gardens. I've talked to her and she was very helpful. And she returned my call very quickly.

Yes, agreed. Songs are great but my kids are in portables. Let's end the boondoggle immersion programs and hire more staff or expand buildings. If you want Chinese language education, pay for it privately after school or on the weekends.

Anonymous wrote:We have two kids in the Potomac Elementary Mandarin program who are thriving. Since we only speak English, it's hard for me to gauge their level of fluency. But I can say that they enjoy learning Mandarin, they talk to each other in Mandarin, and their Mandarin songs sound great. The most important thing is that they really like going to school. It seems like a lot of the detractors of the program don't have kids in the program. Just two of my oldest daughter's classmates have have dropped out of the Mandarin program - one because they moved out of town. None have left my younger daughter's class.

Glad you are enjoying your songs. i really wish my tax dollars could go to something like an extra teacher or bigger school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is an entitlement program that does not teach language fluency.

What do you mean by entitlement program? Non-native speakers with kids in the program would much rather have kids be fluent. Since it is only partial immersion, it will never happen.

It is a program for a particular school (Potomac) and many parents choose the program not for the language benefits but for the other perceived benefits. Smaller classes, consistent teachers, small community within a larger school. Academically it offers no advantages and has proven to be a failure. Yet the entitled parents at PES refuse tol et it go because they feel entitled to the other aforementioned benefits.

Agreed. how many students actually come out of this program with fluency? And why are we wasting resources teaching children of Chinese families a language they already know or have exposure too? That type of program should be paid for by those actually reaping the benefits - not tax payers who get absolutely nothing in return.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys realize that Chinese is not a language...just saying....

Are you referring to Mandarin or Cantonese maybe?

Any schools have Mexican immersion?

Duh.

Chinese isn't a language any more than European is.

I am sorry but you are wrong. Mandarin and Cantonese are dialects. They use the same written language and grammar. Chinese is absolutely the name of the language. i am Chinese native, if you are wondering.

Yet another example of Potomac ES getting extra benefits while the rest of the county suffers in overcrowded schools with portables. Disgusting.

We have two kids in the Potomac Elementary Mandarin program who are thriving. Since we only speak English, it's hard for me to gauge their level of fluency. But I can say that they enjoy learning Mandarin, they talk to each other in Mandarin, and their Mandarin songs sound great. The most important thing is that they really like going to school. It seems like a lot of the detractors of the program don't have kids in the program. Just two of my oldest daughter's classmates have have dropped out of the Mandarin program - one because they moved out of town. None have left my younger daughter's class.

Not all the kids at Potomac Elementary are in the immersion program. Parents need to sign up for the lottery through MCPS and preference is given to kids that live within the Potomac elementary school boundary.

I think that Potomac Almanac missed some important reasons for kids to stop taking Mandarin at school after elementary. They might want to try a new language. They may get into a magnet program. Out of boundary kids might be returning to their neighborhood middle schools that don't have Mandarin like Churchill. They might want to learn Chinese in a different environment like a summer program/camp or at Sunday school. It may not just be that they didn't feel like their language skills were strong enough.

My kid has learned a ton of Mandarin at Potomac elementary and I'm grateful for that since we don't speak a second language at home.

It seems like critics of the program are louder than the supporters but, frankly, I don't like to go around raving about the program because I don't want to be rude. I know so many people that applied for immersion programs and didn't get in. If MCPS offered twice as many immersion slots, I bet they would be filled.

Just read this in the Potomac Almanac
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=351141&paper=70&cat=104
Overwhelming enthusiasm in the elementary grades, starts to drop off in middle and by high school the non-native speakers are shunted aside in favor of the native speakers. Talk about an exclusive program. You can't enter the immersion program after 1st grade unless you pass a test. That basically insures that only native speakers will be in this program. I hardly think this is the same problem with Arabic classes, as mentioned in the article.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys realize that Chinese is not a language...just saying....

Are you referring to Mandarin or Cantonese maybe?

Any schools have Mexican immersion?

Duh.

Chinese isn't a language any more than European is.

That must be very discouraging. Thank you for the heads up as that might be our family in the future...

The Moco chinese immersion programs seem to be failing their target audience. This audience is, according to moco information, non-native speakers of the language. I would love to see the statistics on how many immersion students actually continue Chinese in high school. Immersion students would take Chinese 4, 5, 6 and AP in high school. A quick look at any Chinese classes in high school will reveal a very large percentage of native speakers. This is certainly true for my DS's class. He is in Chinese 4 with approximately 3 other non-native speakers and 20 native speakers. Most likely, we will let him drop Chinese after next year. It is too expensive to keep paying for Chinese tutors when the native speakers have all the advantages. He feels very demoralized at trying to keep up with them. If anyone has info to support or contradict what I've said please share.

PP again--it's Mandarin taught there, btw.