would you send your child to a language immersion school?

[elaineandmichaelsmommy]

The school does french or spanish and the curriculum is 100% in that language through 3rd grade. We're still planning on moving but this is just my "insurance policy" if we don't get moved in time.

I'm concerned that dd would loose valuable skills. That she would be so thrown by everything being taught in spanish that she wouldn't get any real benefit from the class and would only come out being confused.

On the other hand this is a new charter school in our city and has recieved a lot of good reviews. They require uniforms and instead of casual fridays they have "formal fridays" when the children are required to wear a blazer with their clothing.

They have and open house tomorrow night that dh and I are considering attending.

What do you think- I'm leaning towards no myself.

[egoldber]

I definitely would. Our district has them, but transportation is not provided if it is not your base school and that was a deal breaker for us. :(

[kijip]

Generally, YES. We would LOVE to send T to one. But here there are 3 in the city. 2 are really far away (like, 1 is 4 blocks north of the south city limit and we live 2 blocks south of the north city limit in a looooonnnng city, LOL) and 1 is pretty far away and impossible to get into (it's by neighborhood/distance priority first and unless you are in that neighborhood, you are not likely to get in). People have been known to cheat and rent apartments for the whole year in the neighborhood to score a spot, that is how sought after the program is. Living in that neighborhood requires a mortgage 2-3 times what ours is (in part because of this school!) so moving there is not really an option for us.

Specific to your situation thing, I would be cautious about sending my child to a new program but might still do it.

I have a lot of friends with older kids (ages 8 and above) who attend or attended the language immersion. They are not behind on the basics and they are fluent in either Spanish or Japanese. Most qualified or will qualify for gifted track in middle school. I would not worry that she won't learn addition etc in the language immersion.

[dcmom2b3]

I would -- am planning to, in fact. Why not go to the open house and pose these questions to the principal and teachers?

I can't quote you studies about the effect of language immersion on basic skill acquisition, learning, etc. There may be something to your concern -- that the child needs a specific amount of time with immersion language instruction to "get it" and to get everything else.

But anecdotally, I occasionally speak to DD in French -- no teaching of concepts, just basic conversation and the occasional reprimand :bag. And she gets it. And now she'll respond in French if so addressed; English gets an English response. It's just astonishing. (And note that I'm violating conventional wisdom by mixing the two languages at home -- "one parent one language" isn't possible here.) Their minds are so agile and well-equipped to acquire and diffrentiate languages in early years, I wouldn't discount your LO's ability to avoid confusion.

Honestly, I'm a bit envious -- I'd love to be able to refer to a full immersion program as my "insurance policy!" I'll be lucky just to get DD admitted . . .

Best of luck.

ETA: I do recall reading that studies have shown a collateral benefit to immersion/bilingual education in other areas; the acquisition of a second language has an overall positive affect on brain development that carries over to other skills.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Yep, I would do it! It is such a great age to expose them to a second language. There are more pros than cons, imo.

As for the new charter school...I decided to gamble on a brand new charter school for ds1. It opened last fall, in time for 1st grade. I couldn't be happier. We knew we had to take the gamble b/c if the school was goo we stood no chance of getting a spot in the future as we are out of their target district (we would have very low priority in a lottery). It worried me only a little to take on a gamble for ds's education but it really seemed to have it's act together (very diverse, well respected board composed of community leaders, university professors and others as well as a great, committed principal) and I loved the focus of the school. Getting in now, for next year, is hard. There is a 50+ waiting list for kindergarten and it is still growing. If you have a chance then it might be worth it. Though, I think I would probably go with the language immersion school instead just b/c it is such a good educational opportunity.

Beth

[niccig]

We did consider it, and if we didn't get DS into a developmental elementary school, we would have gone with Spanish immersion.

I learned Japanese at school in Australia, but it wasn't until I lived in Japan that I was able to speak with any fluency. And 20 years later, I still retain the language skills, I'm rusty but the more I use it, the more it comes back. I think immersion is the best way to learn another language.

I went to our school district's open house on language immersion. You find that in some areas children in language immersion will appear behind students in non-immersion classes, but they do catch up and then by the end, they're either ahead or at the same place. It's like children that are bilingual from birth. Their English skills are less than a child of similar age that is monolingual, but then there will be an explosion of language and they will catch up or exceed.

Where we advised that we should commit to the full 6 years of the program and that pulling a child out part-way could mean that they've missed some things - but I don't think it's anything that couldn't be caught up on. with a parent that is dedicated to helping their child.

DH's cousin went to Spanish immersion school and there were times that DH's aunt/uncle were concerned about his English spelling and reading. He's in HS in a non-immersion school and does perfectly fine in English. We were all in Mexico for his sister's wedding when he was 15, and he was translating for everyone. He didn't bat an eye jumping from one language to the other.

I just wish DS's developmental skill was language immersion, but that's too much too hope for. He'll have Spanish class from Grade 1 though.

[bubbaray]

My DD#1 starts French Immersion Kindergarten this September. OMG, she's going to KINDERGARTEN! How the heck did THAT happen, LOL.

Seriously. I know a ton about language immersion benefits and if you want stats and stuff, there is a ton from the national FI programs to the north of you.... Canada is a world leader in language immersion instruction.

I am a strong believer in language immersion programs. I think you should go for it! If I could have found a FI program with uniforms, I would be over the moon! That is the only downside to the school that DD#1 is going to, no uniforms.

GL! If you want more info (mine would all be on French, but the benefits are for any language immersion program), let me know.

ETA: My support for language immersions is partly from the funding it gets here -- FI programs are found pretty much everywhere, from K through grade 12 graduation. There are even FI university programs. All of these programs are for student who don't speak French as a 1st language. There is a completely separate (federal) school system for children who speak French as a 1st language). FI programs are extremely competitive to get into here. They are viewed in many places as private schools within the public school system.

[MontrealMum]

My short answer is yes. The experience is invaluable. Not just in learning another language, but in developing the brain, and its pathways - there have been recent studies about 2nd languages and the age at which they start linked to the aging process - how it slows the onset of senility basically.

My longer answer, our story is that we live in an officially, unilingual, French speaking province (no, QC is not officially bilingual) and we have chosen to send DS to a French-speaking-only daycare. If we stay here in QC we will send him to an English elementary school (we have that right through DH, not everyone here does), but those all have significant French studies as well, so we don't feel that he'd be missing out. If we end up leaving QC for another part of Canada we will be sending him to a French immersion school.

I won't kid you, it's been hard. DS has a significant speech delay because of this choice. There have been lots of studies on bilingual homes here in Quebec, and it's normal, but still, not easy. He is presently "speaking", and sometimes in 2/3 word phrases, but basically, he's French-speaking. We are both English-speaking as a first language (we both speak 3 languages, but not the same 3). However, DS understands everything we say. It's just that when I ask him "do you want some water" his response is "l'eau, l'eau" at this point.

It's just something you need to get through in the early stages. There are lots of studies done on these things which you would probably find through a Google or Googlescholar search. There will be delays, but kids raised with more than one language, or in an immersion setting, do eventually catch up, and most times go racing ahead. If I can give my kid this experience, and the advantage of not having to do this as an adult, I'm going to do it.


ETA: cross-posted w/Bubbaray, seriously check out language immersion and Canada/Quebec/New Brunswick. It's a HUGE area of research up here.

[citymama]

I would if it's a language spoken at home or in the community. We live in a city with many language immersion schools. If it were a language we speak, I'd consider it since we can speak both languages and can reinforce the learning at home.

But I'm a little wary of doing so with a language with which DD has no familiarity *and* others in the school are fluent. For eg, we live in a city with Chinese immersion schools - some very good ones. Neither of us speaks Mandarin. Many of the kids in these schools speak Mandarin at home. I think my kid would be at a major disadvantage trying to be at par with these students in the basic medium of instruction - let alone trying to comprehend Math or Science or History in this secondary language.

I always find myself feeling sort of dumb when speaking a language that is not one I am fluent in - I sound dumber too. (I speak several languages, so I know the importance of multilingualism, but I also know the downsides of not being as fluent as your peers!)

So yes, I want DD to be multilingual, but at the same time, I will be careful about an immersion program if it puts her at a disadvantage in an academic setting. I hope that makes some sense - it's late!

[nfowife]

My family is living in Italy for a 2 year assignment (DH is in the military). There is not really a part time preschool type option on the base where we live. Both my children (2 and 4 years old) go to an Italian nursery school. At the school there are a few other American children but the majority of the students are Italian children and all the teachers speak only Italian. So far I am very happy with their experience there and I plan for them to stay this coming year before we return to the states. DH and I don't speak enough Italian to communicate with each other at home so outside of school they hear English. However DD will play in Italian by herself.