wow.this all sounds very good. my daughter was accepted for K but i am still on the fence bc i am not currently in dc to participate in the principal meetings.

I would love to try the school (accepted for Prek) but looks like we're moving for 2 years. Hopefully, we can get in for 1st grade when we return.

Went to the meeting tonight. Very impressed with the ED and principal. Diverse crowd, though some of the parents seemed kind of uptight. Really got the sense that school values parental input. Didn't over-promise (probably not a shuttle bus in year 1, part-time art teacher in year 1), but there were plenty of "extras" (nurse on site, psychologist on site, free before and and after care) and they seem very committed to having "rigor" from pre-K onward.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The point is that there are plenty of people who can do the job....so, they will go for a native speaker over you, all things being equal, every time.

This simply isn't true. I know many lawyers and bankers who have worked in countries where they did not know the language but their company sent them there b/c they could do the job. If they had someone available who spoke and were literate in the language and could do the job, I'm sure they would have sent them. So if the job is specialized enough, expertise and actually being able to do the work trumps being a native speaker.

I'm 12:36 above, and completely agree with you. It has been my experience as well in consulting.

Don't misunderstand, I'm not slamming immersion programs or suggesting they are not valuable. I think they are fantastic, and have a child enrolled in one of them. I hope it brings her opportunities to travel, live and study overseas, do internships, or whatever adventures are of her own design. I think it's a gift, something that will enrich her life. I just don't look at it as a guarantee she'll be the most employable person on the block. As long as her father and I are directing her in school, she's going to study math, science, and technology and she will be expected to apply herself and do her best. At some point those decisions will become her own. By the same token, someone who speaks the language with native fluency is obviously at certain advantages in their own culture, but hardly is a guarantee of anything. If being a native English speaker in the U.S. were any kind of guarantee of opportunity, then we wouldn't be importing the best and brightest out of India (to name just one).

Anonymous wrote:The point is that there are plenty of people who can do the job....so, they will go for a native speaker over you, all things being equal, every time.

This simply isn't true. I know many lawyers and bankers who have worked in countries where they did not know the language but their company sent them there b/c they could do the job. If they had someone available who spoke and were literate in the language and could do the job, I'm sure they would have sent them. So if the job is specialized enough, expertise and actually being able to do the work trumps being a native speaker.

Anonymous wrote:The point is that there are plenty of people who can do the job....so, they will go for a native speaker over you, all things being equal, every time.

Don't be ridiculous. If your frame of reference is that plenty of people can do the job, then you're in a job requiring little skill. There are not plenty of people to "do the job", which is why, for example, we have an H1 visa program. Truly skilled, talented people are hard to find in any language. Is it easy to find someone in the US who speaks native Spanish? Sure. Chinese? Less so. Either way, it definitely doesn't make it easy to find someone with valuable skills.

The point is that there are plenty of people who can do the job....so, they will go for a native speaker over you, all things being equal, every time.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but the point is that for every American statistician "fluent" in Spanish, there is an American with native Spanish or an Argentinian with excellent English and native Spanish - this one of the wonderful things about America becoming more diverse, and our world flattening generally.

It doesn't matter how native you are, it matters whether or not you can do the job. Once we've sorted out who can do the job, my 2nd language will give me an edge. It could be a factory in South America, China, or Francophone Africa. I have the language and I simply bring more skills to the table than you do.

Yes, but the point is that for every American statistician "fluent" in Spanish, there is an American with native Spanish or an Argentinian with excellent English and native Spanish - this one of the wonderful things about America becoming more diverse, and our world flattening generally.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah English is a compulsive subject in Israel and is taught starting in 4th grade. Most Israelis I know speak English proficiently

This is true for professionals in any country. I travel frequently to Europe for work, and I can't remember the last French, Italian, German colleague who didn't speak English. That said, as someone who has family in Israel - there are plenty of people who speak mangled or no English.

Still, the idea that a student at YY who is not a native speaker is going to get a job over a native Chinese speaker in the US or abroad- it's not happening. I'm sure the same will be true of Sela. Similarly, a non-native Spanish speaker at Stokes is not going to get a job over a native Spanish speaker in the US or abroad. That's not the test for the importance of bilingual education. Bilingual education imparts cultural understanding and yields cognitive skills that are not available in a monolingual setting.

My kids are very happy at their current charter, so I won't be moving them. Still I would hope that everyone would be supportive od Sela and other new charters, instead of trying to tear them down (I know on DCUM haters will hate, but still). Charters are out there trying to provide options for DC kids, after all. It really is about the children in the end.

No, that depends entirely on the job. You are a native Spanish-speaker with a background in communications, I am an American statistician fluent in Spanish. Alex is an American PM who has 5 more years of experience than I do, but she speaks only English.
When an Argentinian fab needs analysis on their introduction of a new pharmaceutical, you are making glossy pictures or whatever you do in the marketing dept. If I don't get the project outright, then I'll get a big piece of Alex's pie because I can talk to everyone. Don't even tell me that the client reps all speak English, my management still wants me to be the face of the team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah English is a compulsive subject in Israel and is taught starting in 4th grade. Most Israelis I know speak English proficiently

This is true for professionals in any country. I travel frequently to Europe for work, and I can't remember the last French, Italian, German colleague who didn't speak English. That said, as someone who has family in Israel - there are plenty of people who speak mangled or no English.

Still, the idea that a student at YY who is not a native speaker is going to get a job over a native Chinese speaker in the US or abroad- it's not happening. I'm sure the same will be true of Sela. Similarly, a non-native Spanish speaker at Stokes is not going to get a job over a native Spanish speaker in the US or abroad. That's not the test for the importance of bilingual education. Bilingual education imparts cultural understanding and yields cognitive skills that are not available in a monolingual setting.

My kids are very happy at their current charter, so I won't be moving them. Still I would hope that everyone would be supportive od Sela and other new charters, instead of trying to tear them down (I know on DCUM haters will hate, but still). Charters are out there trying to provide options for DC kids, after all. It really is about the children in the end.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here but I am also really curious why parents are choosing Sela. Im really not trying to be snarky, just genuinally curious. If you aren't jewish, hebrew is probably one of the least useful languages to teach these days. Or is it that any immersion school is good? or parents just want any new charter option if they have been shut out of other options? The cynic in me is thinking that a lot of parents are assuming Sela will be the only charter in the City to be majority white (due to the hebrew focus) and thats the real draw.

Yes, yes and yes!

I know haters gonna hate but the ignorance and racism of some people is breathtaking! Get ready for a SCIENCE SLAM!

I think that any language immersion is useful and stimulates brain activity that otherwise may go untapped. Also, Sela is supposed to be offering Arabic which apparently is close to Hebrew and is a highly desirable language.

That being said, I think the broader point about language immersion in general (not just specifically hebrew) is to create a learning experience where the child will have a better understanding of language and communication in general through the associations that they create in learning a second language as a native speaker. Also, here's an article stating that people exposed to language through immersion are more likely to use the part of the brain, when communicating in that second language, reserved for speaking in one's native language. This article states that this type of neural activity does not develop in persons instructed in traditional language courses.
http://www.morsmal.org/documents/members/admin/Second_Language_Processing_Shows_Increased_Native-Like_Neural_Responses.pdf

I think this is a desirable skill to develop and there are few opportunities available to the average person to do so, why are you seemingly so disdainful of those that would take advantage of this opportunity?

Anonymous wrote:Yeah English is a compulsive subject in Israel and is taught starting in 4th grade. Most Israelis I know speak English proficiently

This is true for professionals in any country. I travel frequently to Europe for work, and I can't remember the last French, Italian, German colleague who didn't speak English. That said, as someone who has family in Israel - there are plenty of people who speak mangled or no English.

Still, the idea that a student at YY who is not a native speaker is going to get a job over a native Chinese speaker in the US or abroad- it's not happening. I'm sure the same will be true of Sela. Similarly, a non-native Spanish speaker at Stokes is not going to get a job over a native Spanish speaker in the US or abroad. That's not the test for the importance of bilingual education. Bilingual education imparts cultural understanding and yields cognitive skills that are not available in a monolingual setting.

My kids are very happy at their current charter, so I won't be moving them. Still I would hope that everyone would be supportive od Sela and other new charters, instead of trying to tear them down (I know on DCUM haters will hate, but still). Charters are out there trying to provide options for DC kids, after all. It really is about the children in the end.

Yeah English is a compulsive subject in Israel and is taught starting in 4th grade. Most Israelis I know speak English proficiently

Yeah, except the high tech industry works in English. Never met anyone from Israel who did not speak English.