<p>Hello,</p>
<p>Wondering if anyone has sent kids to language immersion schools for elementary and/or middle school (for example, schools where 60% of instruction is in a target language and 40% in English)?</p>
<p>I am considering it but wanted to hear from folks that have done it. My child is already bilingual, so the target language would a third. My only hesitation is that he might fall behind in certain areas, as compared to a traditional school.</p>
<p>Any input would be appreciated.</p>
<p>My S was in a bilingual (Spanish/English) school from K-6. We had a great experience. The school did receive an exemption from state testing until 5th grade - but passing rates in all areas were above the district average. By 7th grade, he was able to take Spanish for native speakers.</p>
<p>My D was in full immersion from JK through Grade 12. In our case it was French / English and was a fantastic experience. She is now in the States for college and misses not speaking French so has joined some of the French clubs and helps tutor some students. She is classified as fluently bilingual.</p>
<p>Yes. I will admit that, when the kids were young, their English levels tested a bit lower than where I suspect they would have been had they not been in immersion-- but they catch up by high school. I have one who is fully bilingual and two who are trilingual.</p>
<p>Oh, and the trick to keeping them from falling behind is to give them plenty of reading (and, hopefully, writing) in both languages at home.</p>
<p>wow, thanks for the speedy feedback…we are thinking maybe k-8 in the immersion program, and then a traditional school for high school…any other input would be appreciated</p>
<p>My son was in a French immersion charter from K-8. He is fluent in spoken French (written not so much.) The high school did not have high enough French for him (he finished French 6 sophomore year) so he switched to Spanish.</p>
<p>What would be the reason to do that? I could see it if it was your mother tongue, but what would be the reason other than that? And what language would you pick? I have traveled around the globe speaking only English, and Chinese is my mother tongue.</p>
<p>Gosh why not give your kid the chance to be fluent in another language?</p>
<p>We were Americans living in Canada when our eldest child came of age to begin JK and K. The motivated anglophone families advised us to send our child to 100% French Immersion public schools. The English schools (with 45 min daily in French) were also exciting but full of behavior management issues, and favored by immigrants to Canada from around the world, who wanted their children to learn English, not French, as the more global language. Not well acquainted with the country, we went with the advice and he began in French Immersion. </p>
<p>At the end of K was testing for Giftedness that qualified our kid for a citywide congregated fullday gifted program that began in Grade One. That was conducted entirely in English (except for 45 minutes daily in French) with the explanation that the complexity of gifted education required a child’s native language at the tender age of 6. </p>
<p>Our decision was made simpler by the fact that our son was very unhappy in the French Immersion Kindergarten…not because it was too hard, but because it wasn’t. “There’s so much counting, Dad…” To help us decide, I was allowed to shadow a full K day and saw the issue…a morning of rote recitation of numbers (to 100, 3x per halfday…), days of the week (in French), weather terms. They were doing a fine job of building language acquisition - vocabulary especially. But the topics of discussion were brain-numbingly simple, over-n-over. French was by far the great focus of the curriculum, but there was an opportunity cost. The classroom lacked the vocabulary to engage in higher order questions/answers during those early years, and the teachers were frank to tell us so. (Imagine, after reading the French version of Little Red Riding Hood, the class discussed the color of the clothing, and who was the grand-mere…but not things such as: what would have happened if she’d asked for help? There was not yet enough French vocabulary to conduct such a conversation. </p>
<p>So the challenge IS there, but it depends on which kinds of challenges you want for your particular child. Had he stayed with French Immersion, we would have done the home reading as a prior poster encouraged. This is not only for more complex thinking/conversations, but also for the sheer family joy of children’s literature in the parent’s native tongue. Don’t underestimate how important it is to read to a child in something YOU love and remember (the nursery rhymes, kidlit authors whose nuances YOU get, etc). In other words, don’t just do foreign language homework. It’s an emotional thing to read to a child in your language, with you feeling very comfortable and happy. </p>
<p>When eldest reached 8th grade and middle reavched 6th, we moved bacck to the USA. The small amount of French (45 minutes daily) continued with Middle School American French, and through high school. Their Canadian agemates stayed in French Immersion in Canada, and had options for some fine high school programs. They could study entirely in French or English by high school age. Today they are entirely bilingual in the workplace, functioning well in government and commerce jobs, living in an officially bilingual nation.</p>
<p>We are lucky that we live in an area with many public immersion schools. DS went to a Japanese immersion school that was 50/50 from K-8. He continues to take advanced Japanese classes in high school.</p>
<p>Positives:<br>
Young children don’t know enough to be afraid of the language. The kindergarten is full immersion, and the students don’t even seem to notice, and begin to pick up the receptive language very easy.
He would have been bored learning the whole day, and needed only the half day of English instruction to be at grade level. This was the case early on; by the time he was in third grade they were teaching math in Japanese.
Learning another language at an early age does seem to help with other language acquisition later on. He took Spanish in middle school and it was a breeze. I also believe that learning a second language does help in all other classes, also. Maybe more brain pathways formed?
Learned not just the language, but much about the culture. </p>
<p>Negatives:
Much more homework than young children should have, in order to make sure the students keep up on their English.
Difficulty in parents assisting with Japanese homework, as we are not Japanese speakers. This was more of a problem in younger years.</p>
<p>We had some children in the school that were bilingual, English and Spanish, so it was so cool that they were learning Japanese, also. </p>
<p>I think the benefits far, far outweigh the downsides, and I would highly recommend it. Also, I wanted to mention that DS is 17, is taking many AP classes, getting great grades, and is a very good writer, so having been in an immersion didn’t hurt his English language skills at all.</p>
<p>French Immersion is popular in Canada and, in most places, starts in Grade 1. Most programs are 50/50 so that the students get 50% of their instruction in English and 50% in French. Two different teachers in the early years. The 50/50 system insures that the English skills are not left undeveloped. The 100% systems had worse results and so most school boards have gone to the 50/50 program. I have a D who teaches at an immersion school and, in her experience, it’s not a program for all kids. Generally speaking, the program is filled with higher academic level students. If your child struggles in school, they are likely to struggle even more in an immersion program. Learning another language is always a benefit, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Ask the school about the testing data for older students. In our local public school district, the immersion program school tests significantly below the traditional elementary schools, with the gap widest by the time the students finish and move on to middle school. I think this is an important question…are the gains in language fluency offset by a decline in overall academic progress?</p>
<p>^^^^
It is actually the opposite in our district, but I think that has to do more with the socioeconomic status and education levels of the families that attend, as they are magnet schools where you have to provide your own transportation.</p>
<p>In this city the K-8 French immersion charter school outperforms all other charter schools in terms of state testing and the other, oh yeah, NCLB. This is at least in part because the families who choose it are self-selected; you have to jump through various hoops to get on the list for admission. (That was true of the popular magnet schools, too.) The test scores in English in this French immersion are generally better than the district at large, even though 100% of the curriculum is in French, except the English class. Gym is taught in French, science is in French, math is in French, history in French, etc. One problem was the lack of US history textbooks written in French (well, duh.)</p>
<p>fascinating stuff…thanks for all the input…hope to hear more.</p>
<p>No personal experience with immersion schools - we moved from Canada when oldest kid was two an half, but friends who stayed behind swear by the program. The kids in immersion are a little behind in English in elementary school but apparently all evens out by middle school.
Our kids had immersion at home 
Younger daughter is fluent in three languages and learning fourth. NEVER had any problems socializing or being accepted by other kids because of being bilingual. Go for it!</p>
<p>From what I understand, immersion classes work a bit different from my S’s bilingual class. His class was made up of 1/2 native English speakers and 1/2 native Spanish speakers. All the teachers were bilingual. Teachers would teach in both languages - repeating info if necessary in both languages. They had at least 1 hr a day (usually reading) entirely in English and 1 hr a day (usually math) entirely in Spanish. I thought it was interesting because he would learn both the Spanish and English terms for everything in science class. I thought the kids would be confused, but by 3rd grade or so, they had sorted out each language and remembered when to be “only English” or “only Spanish.”</p>
<p>Now, in 11th grade, and after 5 years in a regular “only English” school, he still speaks fluently but I bet he would be hard pressed to take physics or calculus in Spanish. But he got a 5 on all of the Spanish AP tests!</p>