Chinese Language Immersion in our school district

[Flystripper]

Our school district in IL just received the only federal grant in the state to begin a Chinese language immersion k-5 program to feed into the 6-12 program already in place.

We have a preschool girl that will likely be qualified to participate in this if we so choose. What are your feelings on these types of programs? Are they effective? The idea of this is somewhat appealing to me since Chinese influence will likely increase in the future. I see this as a potentially invaluable skill.

I will do my own research prior to making any decisions and a decision is not imminent but I am curious as to what your thoughts are on this.

[wally]

We have the same program at our school. I am not sure how useful it will be.

Our nation will need specially trained linguistics professionals to communicate our deferment of payment to our creditors in coming generations.

See, even though we are saddling our children with our debt at light speed, at least we are preparing them to manage it.

[TripletDaddy]

I would love for my children to learn Mandarin and be conversant-to-fluent as they enter their career phases.

China is the mother of all emerging markets. The ability to speak will prove invaluable in many fields. Most fields, actually.

[Flystripper]

I would love for my children to learn Mandarin and be conversant-to-fluent as they enter their career phases.

China is the mother of all emerging markets. The ability to speak will prove invaluable in many fields. Most fields, actually.

This echos is my thoughts. I wonder how effective these programs are if the language is not spoken at home. Maybe I would make an effort to learn a little Mandarin.

[TripletDaddy]

This echos is my thoughts. I wonder how effective these programs are if the language is not spoken at home. Maybe I would make an effort to learn a little Mandarin.

It will obviously not be as effective as full immersion, but it is better than no exposure.

We need to follow the European model re: foreign languages. Every Euro you meet can speak a good chunk of English. Everyone studies it for several years in school. Teach your kids now to speak some Japanese or Mandarin. You will be doing them a huge favor.

You can always augment their learning with outside classes, tutoring, etc. By the time they get to college, they have 8 or 9 years of Mandarin under their belt. That is a really nice start.

[Eddie]

I work with a gal who's son is in a program like this. It is brand new - he is the first year (in first grade) and they anticipate him continuing through 6th grade.

They do half of the day in Chinese and the other half in English in school. The Chinese teacher does not speak any English in front of the children - not even to the parents. Ever. When she goes in to help at the school or for parties the children have to interpret for her so that she knows what the teacher is telling her.

Her son LOVES it. He likes to try and teach them stuff at home - she now can count to 100 in Mandarin.

The school made some deal with Rosetta Stone that allows the parents to purchase their program to learn at home for around $75, which she will be doing.

The other day Grandma took the son to a church activity - she went and peeked in on him to see how it was going and he was there speaking Chinese with another kid from the same school class.

This gal doesn't regret it at all. Says that it was tough the first few weeks, but that they are doing great now and she's glad she did it. They're making plans to take the family to China in a couple of years.

[wally]

I work with a gal who's son is in a program like this. It is brand new - he is the first year (in first grade) and they anticipate him continuing through 6th grade.

They do half of the day in Chinese and the other half in English in school. The Chinese teacher does not speak any English in front of the children - not even to the parents. Ever. When she goes in to help at the school or for parties the children have to interpret for her so that she knows what the teacher is telling her.

Her son LOVES it. He likes to try and teach them stuff at home - she now can count to 100 in Mandarin.

The school made some deal with Rosetta Stone that allows the parents to purchase their program to learn at home for around $75, which she will be doing.

The other day Grandma took the son to a church activity - she went and peeked in on him to see how it was going and he was there speaking Chinese with another kid from the same school class.

This gal doesn't regret it at all. Says that it was tough the first few weeks, but that they are doing great now and she's glad she did it. They're making plans to take the family to China in a couple of years.

I have heard that there are tradeoffs early on in the sense that learning half of the day in a foreign language causes the language immersion kids to fall behind in other core areas (math, writing, etc.) for a few years or however long. The folks I talked to about it were confident that they catch back up after that, though.

[kccougar]

I work with a gal who's son is in a program like this. It is brand new - he is the first year (in first grade) and they anticipate him continuing through 6th grade.

They do half of the day in Chinese and the other half in English in school. The Chinese teacher does not speak any English in front of the children - not even to the parents. Ever. When she goes in to help at the school or for parties the children have to interpret for her so that she knows what the teacher is telling her.

Her son LOVES it. He likes to try and teach them stuff at home - she now can count to 100 in Mandarin.

The school made some deal with Rosetta Stone that allows the parents to purchase their program to learn at home for around $75, which she will be doing.

The other day Grandma took the son to a church activity - she went and peeked in on him to see how it was going and he was there speaking Chinese with another kid from the same school class.

This gal doesn't regret it at all. Says that it was tough the first few weeks, but that they are doing great now and she's glad she did it. They're making plans to take the family to China in a couple of years.

My brother lives in the Jordan School District and his son just started this year (1st grade). Same idea - half the day is spent in chinese with no english. That includes math and science, I believe.

Our school district (Canyons) just announced the deal with Rosetta Stone. All students, faculty, and parents can sign up for any language through Rosetta Stone for $75 and you get full access to their online program for a year. I think our family will all sign up.

[TripletDaddy]

My brother lives in the Jordan School District and his son just started this year (1st grade). Same idea - half the day is spent in chinese with no english. That includes math and science, I believe.

Our school district (Canyons) just announced the deal with Rosetta Stone. All students, faculty, and parents can sign up for any language through Rosetta Stone for $75 and you get full access to their online program for a year. I think our family will all sign up.

Is your district deal simply to buy a rosetta stone product or is your district doing the immersion program?

[kccougar]

Is your district deal simply to buy a rosetta stone product or is your district doing the immersion program?

Our district does offer the immersion program for chinese, french, and spanish, but the Rosetta Stone deal is open to any family in the district, whether you are participating in the immersion program or not.

[TripletDaddy]

Our district does offer the immersion program for chinese, french, and spanish, but the Rosetta Stone deal is open to any family in the district, whether you are participating in the immersion program or not.

got it. thanks. I need to look into the immersion program here in the Alpine school district. I wonder if it is on their website or if it is offered.

It would be sweet to have 3 little triplets running around speaking Mandarin. Also, does the immersion program teach them how to assemble equipment, sew clothes, make shoes, etc? Or is it mostly language immersion? I'd like to start upping their household chores but don't have the time to train them properly.

[creekster]

got it. thanks. I need to look into the immersion program here in the Alpine school district. I wonder if it is on their website or if it is offered.

It would be sweet to have 3 little triplets running around speaking Mandarin. Also, does the immersion program teach them how to assemble equipment, sew clothes, make shoes, etc? Or is it mostly language immersion? I'd like to start upping their household chores but don't have the time to train them properly.

You should hope it teaches them how to grow rice in paddies, as that will leave them skilled and highly productive in any future occupation.

[kccougar]

got it. thanks. I need to look into the immersion program here in the Alpine school district. I wonder if it is on their website or if it is offered.

It would be sweet to have 3 little triplets running around speaking Mandarin. Also, does the immersion program teach them how to assemble equipment, sew clothes, make shoes, etc? Or is it mostly language immersion? I'd like to start upping their household chores but don't have the time to train them properly.

Cascade Elementary offers Chiinese. No info on the cobbler trade program.

[TripletDaddy]

You should hope it teaches them how to grow rice in paddies, as that will leave them skilled and highly productive in any future occupation.

Good point. Rice paddies are basically like free internships. Most companies crave illiterate and often malnourished farm workers that can easily be placed into highly technical manufacturing, operational, engineering, legal, business, and medical positions. It is all very plug-and play.

[Moliere]

This is interesting especially given the fact that everyone that I know that is in any sort of leadership position in business speaks English. If you want to do business in the world then you have to speak English. Will this really help kids in the future or is this just some fancy way to pretend that the Chinese will rule the world some day much like the British and Americans have most recently?