Advice for starting school in second language, full immersion

[BrandonMommy]

My soon to be DD8 and DS6 will be starting school in a second language school and I was wondering if anyone had any good advice or suggestions or could share their experiences with this.

 

They've been away before but only in more relaxed short programs of 3-4 hours. I'm concerned about the long day, among other things.

 

How did this go for your children? What were the struggles, frustrations, the good and the bad? How was the adjustment?

[yinanyinu]

Both DC did this, twice! I don't have any advice, but can share our experience. Do your DC have prior exposure to the second language?

 

When they were younger, we wanted them to learn Chinese, so we sent them to nursery for a few hours a day. For DS this was fine since he was so young, all the children were essentially learning the language at the same time. For DD, we prepared for it by going to playgroups so she had some understanding beforehand. Nursery was only a couple of hours, so they just came home, had lunch, napped and continued their merry day. We did nothing 'academic' afterward. Just the usual puttering about at home or at the playground.

 

Later, in grade school, we wanted them to formally learn French, so we sent them to a French school. We prepared for years for this by homeschooling in French, sending DC to summer camps with Francophone children, and Saturday French school (akin to Chinese school). DS entered in grade 4 and DD grade 2. It was easier for DD than DS, and even now DD is stronger in French. The long days were rough and younger DD would just come home and nap. Essentially for the first two years, we did no further academic work at home, because it took so much energy just to adapt.

 

For us, it seems that younger is better for these immersion-type experiences. The language learning is easier/smoother. But it takes away a lot of time from the day, and other subjects fall by the wayside. There were frustrations due to different teaching methods (school vs home) and approaches, but they weren't major and as DC became more familiar with the system, I began to afterschool to mitigate some of the issues at school and develop other subject areas.

 

In all, these language experiences have been tough for all of us, but since DC have been doing this since they were very young, they don't realise that there are other paths! They are ambivalent about afterschooling since understandably, they are tired after a long day, and their schoolmates aren't doing it. But they also say that they feel better 'prepared' for school when they work with me at home, even though it is on completely different material.

 

The bad is that DS doesn't have a language he is really strong in. He is a 3 in his languages, whereas DD could be considered a 5 in French and perhaps 4 in English (paternal language). Perhaps this would have been the case even if DS were monolingual, or maybe he didn't have enough time/opportunity to consolidate what he learned, we don't know. I go through long stretches during which I wonder what is the point, and consider just dropping everything and going anglophone. In the end, however, we keep on.

 

The good is DC think they are language geniuses, essentially that they can pick up any language any time, and are willing to do so. They don't realise the incredibly hard work they put in. I suppose confidence matters.

 

I don't know if that is helpful.

 

Good luck.

[Tsuga]

My soon to be DD8 and DS6 will be starting school in a second language school and I was wondering if anyone had any good advice or suggestions or could share their experiences with this.

 

They've been away before but only in more relaxed short programs of 3-4 hours. I'm concerned about the long day, among other things.

 

How did this go for your children? What were the struggles, frustrations, the good and the bad? How was the adjustment?

 

Sorry I missed this. Both of my children have gone to immersion schools. However, they started much younger.

 

DD8 started at three, in the country of the target language. She attended for a year, then attended six hours per day in pre-K and kindergarten in the target language in the US. It was not a big adjustment for her. She loves school and they had a lot of fun toys. I think it was hard for her socially overseas because though there were several non-native speakers, it was harder for her to engage. However, she did learn German. At the German school in the US, she had much more fun, but complained that it was harder than English school. I said, "Yes, it is. Have a lolly." We left after K because we couldn't afford private school and moved to public school and after-school German enrichment. She's making much slower progress but it keeps up the language. She can read and write in German now at eight. I basically bribe them with praise and unlimited books in English. "Well honey, it is expensive, but you're working so hard in German, how can I say no..."

 

 

DD6 was in the same program and learned German as well. However, she got the opportunity to go to immersion school in a third language, Mandarin. Now that's been tough, because she is losing German a bit, which she loved. She wants to do German after school, but it's really hard to have her in so many activities. She's only six but very extraverted. Half her class was non-Mandarin speaking. She finds it hard. She complains and asks why she can't just do English school. I keep repeating to her--you're getting the math and science and we do English literature at home, I PROMISE baby it will be worth it. And I bribe her. Also with books, robots to build, Lego. I've never bought my kids toys or books except on birthdays or Christmas... or to bribe them for their good homework.

 

It is extra work. I think they deserve bonuses.

 

The adjustment is a lot. They need a ton of sleep for their little brains to process all that. Let them rest on the weekends. I give them a full day off every week at least not to learn anything. Their brains need to regroup.

 

I don't know from your post whether your kids are native speakers or have experience in the target language. Experience will help. It becomes second nature to them. It helps to remember that literally billions of children around the world have as their academic language, a second language. That's because so many people move around in this world, and there are so many national school systems in multi-lingual countries. It's extremely rare, for example, in rural India for school to be in the child's native language. Still, the children do struggle so I try to be kind to them about it and appreciative. Not praising, because I have no idea how well they're doing, but thanking them for working hard for the family, because they are taking on a lot in their education.