Language immersion preschool?

[7costanza]

I'm looking into this for my 2.5 year old, it's an all day (3 days per week) Spanish and Mandarin program. I would love to hear pros and cons for kids who have been through one too.

I don't speak either language, but my H speaks a little Spanish, I'm totally willing to learn though. My H's biggest hesitation is kindergarten readiness, although they do have one lesson a day in English, and we would of course work with him at home.

[7costanza]

Jan 13, 2016 16:25:20 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Is it 50% Spanish and 50% Mandarin?

Are you going to keep it up in K and beyond? Otherwise, the benefits and usefulness will be limited and that may change my answer.

Yes, it's 50/50, there are two teachers and each speaks only Spanish or Mandarin to the kids throughout the day, with equal specific activities/circle times.

I'm not aware of any immersion programs for elementary in our area, but honestly haven't researched much. At a minimum, we would keep him in some kind of language class or activity long term.

[badtzmaru22]

I went to a Spanish one when I was 3-4. My elementary school had Spanish from k-6, but then I switched schools, and didn't have it again until HS, where I tested into Spanish 2. I was never fluent or anything, but the early exposure really does just unlock different parts of your brain. I haven't been in a Spanish class in over 12 years now, and I can still get by enough for traveling, and I know if I applied myself, I could pick things up a lot easier, just from having the previous experience.

[Deleted]

I'd only do an immersion program to prepare for further immersion studies.

We did English pre-K and are likely trying French immersion starting in K.

[7costanza]

Jan 13, 2016 16:41:57 GMT -5 badtzmaru22 said:

I went to a Spanish one when I was 3-4. My elementary school had Spanish from k-6, but then I switched schools, and didn't have it again until HS, where I tested into Spanish 2. I was never fluent or anything, but the early exposure really does just unlock different parts of your brain. I haven't been in a Spanish class in over 12 years now, and I can still get by enough for traveling, and I know if I applied myself, I could pick things up a lot easier, just from having the previous experience.

Were you in an immersion program K-6, or just Spanish lessons within an otherwise English program? In hear all the time that people retain language they learned as kids so much better than what they learned in HS and beyond!

[pinotgrig]

SJ

[7costanza]

Jan 13, 2016 16:42:58 GMT -5 @mrswindycity said:

Jan 13, 2016 16:25:20 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

Are you going to keep it up in K and beyond? Otherwise, the benefits and usefulness will be limited and that may change my answer.

Yeah, if you are not going to keep him in it past preschool, especially since you guys don' speak it at home, then I honestly wouldn't bother.

ETA: Kindergarten readiness would not be a factor me at all, though. Greek was my first language, my primary caretakers were my grandparents who did not speak any English at home, and I had no problems in K.

I really need to look into what kids actually need to know to be ready for kindergarten now. I feel like they are expected to be more advanced than I was 25 years ago, but haven't seen the actual standards. Glad to hear that you don't think it would be an issue!

[anna7602]

Jan 13, 2016 16:18:55 GMT -5 7costanza said:

I don't speak either language, but my H speaks a little Spanish, I'm totally willing to learn though. My H's biggest hesitation is kindergarten readiness, although they do have one lesson a day in English, and we would of course work with him at home.

I don't really understand what you mean by "readiness." My daughter attended preschool in France (in French) and we moved back to the US about a month before she started kindergarten. Maybe it would have been an issue if she had never been exposed to English at all in her life, but my H continued to speak to her in English at home the entire time we were living abroad and we also knew numerous expats who spoke English. DD transitioned just fine from a French-language classroom and French pedagogy to an English-language classroom and American pedagogy. She didn't have any issues learning how to read or do math in English. 

Your question leads me to believe, however, that you don't plan to continue the language immersion after preschool, in which case, I wonder how you plan to keep up the language skills? It is really hard to maintain fluency in a language that is not used every day. My daughter has lost so much of her French now, even with numerous French-language kids' books & movies in our house and trips back to France. Nevertheless, I do not regret for a minute that I chose to enroll her in French language schools over the English-language options that existed when we lived abroad. Kindergarten "readiness" was honestly not on my radar at all. I think of school readiness as being prepared to separate from parents or caregivers and being able to follow directions, share, wait your turn and other skills that develop regardless of whether instruction is happening in Urdu, English, or any other language. 

[niq]

We have an option for Spanish immersion and chose not to do it, since it's unlikely we'll move to be zoned for international school.

[7costanza]

Jan 13, 2016 17:03:07 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

Jan 13, 2016 16:18:55 GMT -5 7costanza said:

I don't speak either language, but my H speaks a little Spanish, I'm totally willing to learn though. My H's biggest hesitation is kindergarten readiness, although they do have one lesson a day in English, and we would of course work with him at home.

I don't really understand what you mean by "readiness." My daughter attended preschool in France (in French) and we moved back to the US about a month before she started kindergarten. Maybe it would have been an issue if she had never been exposed to English at all in her life, but my H continued to speak to her in English at home the entire time we were living abroad and we also knew numerous expats who spoke English. DD transitioned just fine from a French-language classroom and French pedagogy to an English-language classroom and American pedagogy. She didn't have any issues learning how to read or do math in English. 

Your question leads me to believe, however, that you don't plan to continue the language immersion after preschool, in which case, I wonder how you plan to keep up the language skills? It is really hard to maintain fluency in a language that is not used every day. My daughter has lost so much of her French now, even with numerous French-language kids' books & movies in our house and trips back to France. Nevertheless, I do not regret for a minute that I chose to enroll her in French language schools over the English-language options that existed when we lived abroad. Kindergarten "readiness" was honestly not on my radar at all. I think of school readiness as being prepared to separate from parents or caregivers and being able to follow directions, share, wait your turn and other skills that develop regardless of whether instruction is happening in Urdu, English, or any other language. 

This is really helpful, thank you! My H is more concerned about "readiness" than I am, he's thinking of stuff like reading, counting and writing. We definitely need to research more, we went to a preschool fair last weekend and almost every place mentioned getting kids ready for kindergarten, but its totally possible they meant more along the lines of following directions.

As far as keeping it up, we would plan to have him in at least one language class long term, and have books/videos for him at home. I don't see either me or my H becoming fluent in either Spanish or Mandarin at this point in our lives, but we would certainly use what we are able to learn - realistically probably single words and phrases.

[7costanza]

Jan 13, 2016 17:07:16 GMT -5 niq said:

We have an option for Spanish immersion and chose not to do it, since it's unlikely we'll move to be zoned for international school.

I need to look into immersion programs in our district, I'm 99% sure the elementary school we're zoned to doesn't have anything but I'm not sure about the choice schools.

[deo]

DS1 did French immersion preschool. It was great, he picked up a lot of french words and songs. He loved it. I wish we could have continued it but we moved and the nearest french immersion is too far of a drive for us. Because we speak English at home and he has seen enough English cartoons to learn to count in both languages, I would not be concern at all for his readiness for English kindergarten. I think it is better to start early with a second language.

[SJ]

Jan 13, 2016 16:54:48 GMT -5 pinotgrig said:

SJ

DD is in a full Spanish immersion daycare and has been since 3 months. We plan to keep her there until, and possibly through, kindergarten (Montessori so goes through end of 3-6 cycle)

I am also hoping to get her into K-5 Spanish immersion at our zoned public elementary, but that is a lottery and so harder to count on.

I speak Spanish fluently; my DH speaks almost zero. Her first word was Agua, and though she doesn't have many words at 18m her comprehension in both languages is frankly amazing to me.

[Jalapeñomel]

D goes to a bilingual daycare, and we hope to keep it up for his entire schooling.

[badtzmaru22]

Jan 13, 2016 16:52:02 GMT -5 7costanza said:

Jan 13, 2016 16:41:57 GMT -5 badtzmaru22 said:

I went to a Spanish one when I was 3-4. My elementary school had Spanish from k-6, but then I switched schools, and didn't have it again until HS, where I tested into Spanish 2. I was never fluent or anything, but the early exposure really does just unlock different parts of your brain. I haven't been in a Spanish class in over 12 years now, and I can still get by enough for traveling, and I know if I applied myself, I could pick things up a lot easier, just from having the previous experience.

Were you in an immersion program K-6, or just Spanish lessons within an otherwise English program? In hear all the time that people retain language they learned as kids so much better than what they learned in HS and beyond!

K-6 was regular school with Spanish once a week (maybe twice?) so not much, but I felt at an advantage even then.

[heyjude]

Isn't there some benefit to early foreign language skills even if no one speaks the language at home and there is no plan to continue the immersion process? Like doesn't the exposure to additional languages work your child's brain in ways that will be helpful later on down the road and not just with language? Didn't I read that somewhere?

I would be concerned about K readiness too. But that would be a concern at any preschool regardless of curriculum focus. Definitely talk to them about that. K is not like K of our generation.

[loira]

I went to a francophone daycare and preschool when we lived in Québec. Both of my parents are anglophone and said I had no problems. I then did French immersion school when we moved to Calgary, and followed it up with a French lit degree. I now speak Spanish and Portuguese as well, and I really believe in the benefits of extra language learning. Even a little bit helps.