Anonymous wrote:This debate rages on because people attended the feeders with vastly different expectations and motivations.

Most people I know with older students at DCI (born 2002-2004) chose a feeder because they were avoiding their IB DCPS and couldn’t afford a private. The chance to give their child an immersion education was icing on the cake but mostly they wanted a decent school.

The families who sought out immersion because they wanted foreign language instruction over all else - many of whom had other sound DCPS or private options - are more unhappy.

Sort of agree. Don't think the unhappy parents wanted foreign language instruction above all else. I think they wanted serious academics across the board, and didn't find them.The reasons they haven't found first-rate academics are debatable. But pretty clearly, when a school's board can't be bothered to hire senior admins with a command of the target language (or experience living or working in an area where the language is spoken widely) something is wrong.

The unhappy parents could easily have seen through the smoke screen before enrolling. I remember going to a YY open house where the parents sitting next to me left early, although they had a winning lottery #. They left after discovering that the principal spoke little Chinese, and that no part of the presentation, and none of the printed materials being handed out, had been translated into Mandarin. They said "joke for Chinese" and promptly walked out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heard one of the Chinese teachers at DCI just left. Lasted less than a year. Not sure what the problem was. What is the quality of the Chinese teachers at DCI

Senior at YY and DCI don't speak Chinese well and have never lived or worked in Chinese-speaking countries. They aren't in a good position to determine the quality of the Chinese teachers. Really ridiculous.

There are no seniors yet at DCI.

PP must be referring to admins, senior admins. Sad but true that they don't actually speak Chinese.

Anonymous wrote:This debate rages on because people attended the feeders with vastly different expectations and motivations.

Most people I know with older students at DCI (born 2002-2004) chose a feeder because they were avoiding their IB DCPS and couldn’t afford a private. The chance to give their child an immersion education was icing on the cake but mostly they wanted a decent school.

The families who sought out immersion because they wanted foreign language instruction over all else - many of whom had other sound DCPS or private options - are more unhappy.

+1

So, for those in Spanish track...how's it going? Most of those kids are somewhere in between these two extremes.

This debate rages on because people attended the feeders with vastly different expectations and motivations.

Most people I know with older students at DCI (born 2002-2004) chose a feeder because they were avoiding their IB DCPS and couldn’t afford a private. The chance to give their child an immersion education was icing on the cake but mostly they wanted a decent school.

The families who sought out immersion because they wanted foreign language instruction over all else - many of whom had other sound DCPS or private options - are more unhappy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Heard one of the Chinese teachers at DCI just left. Lasted less than a year. Not sure what the problem was. What is the quality of the Chinese teachers at DCI

Senior at YY and DCI don't speak Chinese well and have never lived or worked in Chinese-speaking countries. They aren't in a good position to determine the quality of the Chinese teachers. Really ridiculous.

There are no seniors yet at DCI.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best thing about DCI is that PP won’t be there and isn’t there now.

The joke 's still on you, hon. Come on, be a sport this year, hold your nose and tolerate obnoxious parents of kids who speak fluently if you want yours to have the ethnic inputs needed to really speak the language. Sorry, no way around it.

My children speak three languages fluently honey. We just don’t waste our time on Chinese or posting and reposting advertisements for Concordia camps.

Enjoy living in polluted China. Yuck.

Has anybody here at DCI actually sent their kid to a Concordia camp? Looks good on their web site but I wonder.

We sent a child, age 11, to Concordia for 2 weeks (Mandarin). Ultimately great experience but hard slog. Kid's Chinese (especially spoken) did not measure up nearly as well as expected. Our boy hung in there and benefited, making us proud. We did not go on to DCI and now enroll in MoCo weekend program w/many native speakers.

Anonymous wrote:Heard one of the Chinese teachers at DCI just left. Lasted less than a year. Not sure what the problem was. What is the quality of the Chinese teachers at DCI

Senior at YY and DCI don't speak Chinese well and have never lived or worked in Chinese-speaking countries. They aren't in a good position to determine the quality of the Chinese teachers. Really ridiculous.

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Anonymous wrote:What percent of kids are in the Chinese and French tracks compared to Spanish track? I just assumed the latter were the majority.

Yes more students in Spanish track. More in the Chinese track than French.

Volume of students on DCI Spanish track isn't the only issue. Chinese and French instruction are comparatively weak. These languages and cultures taught are far removed from the great majority of the families in the feeder school communities. Lack of native-speaking families pushes down standards. YY doesn't offer immersion summer school, though it's needed in a big way. Lack of well-trained native-speaking American teachers also a problem on Chinese and French tracks. Few parents have a clue how well the kids speak (often poorly) and don't make a commitment to supplementing. Arrangement is something of a joke.

Anonymous wrote:What percent of kids are in the Chinese and French tracks compared to Spanish track? I just assumed the latter were the majority.

Yes more students in Spanish track. More in the Chinese track than French.

Heard one of the Chinese teachers at DCI just left. Lasted less than a year. Not sure what the problem was. What is the quality of the Chinese teachers at DCI

What percent of kids are in the Chinese and French tracks compared to Spanish track? I just assumed the latter were the majority.

My kids’s language skills are not at issue here. The PPs lack of civil language skills is. Hope their kids are learning to speak better Chinese/Spanish/Urdu/whatever than their parents’ English.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I imagine all your kids are obnoxious in at least two languages?

Not the PP you're responding to. My kids are sweet in two languages. We bailed on DCI, where the only fluent kids seemed to be on the Spanish tracks.

I am responding to all the obnoxious PPs, regardless of their position on immersion, DCI or Concordia. Holy cow, they are insufferable despite their so very impressive language skills. Makes me wonder what they are teaching their kids. So arrogant.

You sound jealous of these kids' language skills, and happy to avoid the unvarnished truth about DCI feeder academics, and DCI itself.

Easier to call other parents arrogant than to ensure that your own children speak a language to a high standard for their age and home language situation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I imagine all your kids are obnoxious in at least two languages?

Not the PP you're responding to. My kids are sweet in two languages. We bailed on DCI, where the only fluent kids seemed to be on the Spanish tracks.

I am responding to all the obnoxious PPs, regardless of their position on immersion, DCI or Concordia. Holy cow, they are insufferable despite their so very impressive language skills. Makes me wonder what they are teaching their kids. So arrogant.

I’m glad your kids are sweet at least.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I imagine all your kids are obnoxious in at least two languages?

Not the PP you're responding to. My kids are sweet in two languages. We bailed on DCI, where the only fluent kids seemed to be on the Spanish tracks.

I am responding to all the obnoxious PPs, regardless of their position on immersion, DCI or Concordia. Holy cow, they are insufferable despite their so very impressive language skills. Makes me wonder what they are teaching their kids. So arrogant.