Pp - thanks for an insider perspective. How does what you describe allow the school to integrate/meet the needs of Hispanic students, for whom accurate fluency is important?

Hi, OP here.

I am from Spain, but I work in a Latin American environment for Latin American countries (in fact, I have been working in or for LAC countries for more than 10 years now). Most of my co-workers are from Latin America (Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia, Uruguay, … you name it) I live with a person from Peru. We definitely have different accents and some (many?) vocabulary is different (I.e. car is “coche” in Spanish from Spain but “carro” in Spanish of Peru, maíz vs choclo, aguacate vs palta, etc….), nevertheless the grammar and the spelling are the same.

The errors I was mentioning were not minor. I am referring to have a singular subject accompanying a plural verb, a totally non sense post, or a very wrong translation (i.e. the meaning in Spanish was very different from the meaning in English, and as a native speaker you could totally see why the mistake was done).

As a non-English native speaker in the US, working for a multinational company, I value very much the possibility of having a full immersion education. I regret not having had one, as it would definitely had made the difference (i.e. more career progression, much broader and better work options, etc…)

I am just saying, if you are looking for a school that prepares your children to speak like a native speaker, or close to that, MV is not the option. I would have loved that this was not the case, as from what I heard, there are many other nice things that might make MV a good alternative. Nevertheless, for me, it was a deal breaker. Knowing something so fundamental was wrong (i.e. being an immersion bilingual school and not having your most basic grammar correct) made me doubt about the rest. Moreover, I want my children to learn Spanish properly (if possible, academic Spanish) and I was afraid that been exposed to incorrect grammar and vocabulary could, instead of reinforcing what they learn at home, be even detrimental.

Regarding LAMB, my experience, limited to their Open House material and presentation, is that their Spanish was flawless.

Anonymous wrote:For formal documents that need to be translated with 100% accuracy, my understanding is that it is a long and iterative process--there's translation, back translation, etc. etc. I'm sure a new and small school like Mundo Verde does not have the time to be that thorough with each and every communication that goes out, and so sometimes perhaps things get missed and aren't translated perfectly.

I say this with no pony in this race as we weren't that interested in MV--esp. given the new location--and ranked them low (and also we are holding out hope for French at Stokes--I know, pipe dream!). Of course, I'm not sure about the extent of the translation errors, but would hate to see an immersion school unduly criticized when perhaps this thing is bound to happen from time to time.

Current parent here. I'm fluent though not a native speaker. Yes, there are many differences due to dialect. And yes, there are flat out errors made - in both languages. As someone else on this thread mentioned, translation is a lengthy, iterative process. It is a process that is worth investing in and in a near-perfect world, there would be a team of 2-3 people vetting everything being published to ensure accuracy in both languages. Unfortunately, this is not a near-perfect world so many of you have witnessed the inconsistencies and unfortunate errors that are the current reality at MV.

For those of you still considering MV whose children are pre-K to K, the teachers and assistants are all native speakers. Your child will learn to speak Spanish. Initially, they will speak haltingly - but I imagine that is not terribly different from how they learned to speak their native language. The errors are glaring at times, unfortunate always, but for the 3- 4- 5 yo set, they will learn a lot.

I think for parents that don't speak Spanish 1) they are not able to tell if the language capabilities are poor 2) they may not have experience speaking another language to know how important it would be.

We aren't trying to get our kids in - we are in!

Its not ridiculous - it doesn't concern you that signs, flyers and communications from the school are in poor Spanish?

Anonymous wrote:Okay, that may be, just saying its not impossible. My larger point is that Anglo speaking families may be okay with okay Spanish, and I understand that, because I do think exposure to a bilingual education is preferable to no exposure. But as a family already speaking Spanish, our goal would be for our DC to receive quality Spanish instruction. This should also be the goal of bilingual charters, unless they are catering to an anglo demographic only.

That is absolutely the goal at Mundo Verde, and they are doing a great job despite what the parents who are trying to get their kids in are saying here. This thread is ridiculous.

Okay, that may be, just saying its not impossible. My larger point is that Anglo speaking families may be okay with okay Spanish, and I understand that, because I do think exposure to a bilingual education is preferable to no exposure. But as a family already speaking Spanish, our goal would be for our DC to receive quality Spanish instruction. This should also be the goal of bilingual charters, unless they are catering to an anglo demographic only.

I wonder about this at YY, how would parents have any idea if they speak no mandarin?

BTW I would take a spot at any of the good bilingual schools in a heartbeat, but think about the possible downsides.

Anonymous wrote:People! If you got in, take it you silly parents! As a decade-long veteran of a bilingual charter school and fluent heritage speaker, yes, you will have some issues with the variety of grammar, dialects and vocab you encounter, and, yes, you will sometimes wish that both the ENGLISH and the SPANISH of various teachers were stronger. You will feel this about EVERY school you encounter during the next decades you spend educating your child/ren. Does it make the difference between giving your kid a top notch bilingual education vs. a mono-lingual one? I sincerely hope not, and, if it does, then perhaps you're not all that interested in bilingual education to begin with. The "I can teach my kid my language at home" thing is a pipe dream. It ain't gonna happen. You need the rigorous, every day immersion if you want to raise a bilingual, biliterate child. Period. But that's just my opinion

The million dollar question, is MV a good school or are people just excited about Spanish and sustainability programming.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it interesting that no actual current parents are making this complaint, just someone rumor spinning about some translation typos that are going to leave your children uneducated. Whatever.

Can any active parents who are fluent spanish speakers address this question?

Yes, I am current parent who is fluent in Spanish, and I have addressed this issue in much detail above.

I drove by the new location and ummm the area is not so great and no parking. There are some nice condos for sale across the street. But back to the subject at hand, I'm sure the kinks will be fleshed out as they grow even more.

Anonymous wrote:21:56 - A Hispanic American myself, I didn't have bilingual education growing up in the US, and yet learned to read, write and ultimately have a career in Latin America speaking Spanish, all from learning from my family. So yes, its possible.

This may be true for you, but not for our family. DH speaks it fluently because of his parents, but not great at writing it or helping anyone with homework. I'm a native English speaker who will help our DS with the English side of things.

Anonymous wrote:I find it interesting that no actual current parents are making this complaint, just someone rumor spinning about some translation typos that are going to leave your children uneducated. Whatever.

Can any active parents who are fluent spanish speakers address this question?

I find it interesting that no actual current parents are making this complaint, just someone rumor spinning about some translation typos that are going to leave your children uneducated. Whatever.