this is your teacher!

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2006
this is your teacher!
6
Fri, 08-04-2006 - 5:07pm
today was teacher/parent orientation at my son school ,he will be entering kindergarten
but i really didn't connect with the teacher and i had registered him for a dual language
program but they didn't tell me when i enrolled him that half day in spanish and half day in english , this not what i expected i was under the impression that they were going to be taught spanish , not teach them in spanish, i am latina but we speak english we hardly speak spanish, i wanted him to learn spanish not be taught his work in spanish, i think it will delay him not benefit him, so do you think that i right in taking him out b4 school starts and get him into a regular kindergarten? i believe this is what's best!
any opinions or have you done this program with a child that soley speaks english?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 08-04-2006 - 5:15pm

I would leave him. But that's just me. What great exposure to another language, and kids learn new languages *so* well!! I am bilingual. I grew up speaking Greek at home until I was school age, and then learned English. It never delayed me!! He may really regret later in life that you took him out when he had the opportunity to learn Spanish by exposure in this way. My DH is a doctor, and is trying to teach himself Spanish at age 38 with tapes and books so that he can communicate with his Spanish-speaking patients. There are so many Spanish-speaking people in this country that he can't even provide healthcare adequately without knowing Spanish! Do you know how hard it is for him to learn a new language at this point? And he knows a little Italian, and it's a lot like Spanish, but he's still having a hard time!! I am so not of the opinion that everyone in this country should only speak English. But then, my parents were immigrants, so it's a sore spot for me. . . Please don't remove your son. I think this is a great opportunity to be exposed and to learn a second language that is very much spoken in this country. Knowing Spanish will help him his whole life!!

BTW, I have a son entering kindergarten too :)

Sofia




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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2006
Fri, 08-04-2006 - 5:26pm
ok well i think that if he spoke spanish as 1st language taht this class would be ideal for him but since he speaks english , do you think it would delay him, especially here in florida we have fcats which is an assement of how they are learning (basically money for schools that get higher grades on them). if they don't pass that test they get held back , i don't want him to held back for lack of understanding not that he doesn't know the work..
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-13-2002
Fri, 08-04-2006 - 10:46pm

Hi I agree with Sofia...what a great opportunity for your child....


I personally do not think that it will delay him......but I do think it will benefit him greatly...as Sofia says....this is a

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-14-2005
Sat, 08-05-2006 - 12:08am
I think it would be a great opportunity! Kindergarten is pretty easy anyway, and if he does have any problems with learning anything, it's not like you couldn't help him out kwim? My stepmom speaks 5 languages because she was exposed to them her whole life, while I struggle to remember my Spanish from 2 years of classes in Junior High School 20 years ago. I say at least give it a shot and see how he does...


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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-01-2005
Sat, 08-05-2006 - 8:40am
My daughter Skyler was put in a similar situation last year at school. She got put into a class that was filled with mostly Spanish speaking students who knew some but very little english. I was freaked out about how was she going to keep up with an extra language being taught. It ended up being her best year so far she excelled in all her subjects and learned a lot of Spanish too and loved, loved ,loved it. I'm glad now that I did not follow my first instinct and pull her from that class.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 08-05-2006 - 2:21pm

Wow, I wish we had that here!! I've half-heartedly tried to teach my kids Greek, but while they understand some, they really don't speak it, and that makes me sad. Of course, it doesn't help that DH doesn't really know much Greek (and why should he?). But what good does Greek do you? Not much except to understand the roots of a lot of English words, maybe help you with vocabulary. Spanish is a different story. There are so many Spanish speakers in our area! I took like 2 years of Spanish in high school, and then never had to take anymore, because I was already bilingual in Greek, so that filled the foreign language requirement. I've regretted it for years! Of course, DH took about 6 years of Spanish in middle school/high school and never really learned it, and is trying to learn it now. Because of the Spanish speaking population here, he actually REALLY needs to know it! When there are no translators available in the ER (say, at 3 AM), he is pretty much stuck winging it with hand gestures and a pocket dictionary to try and figure out how to communicate with his patients. The language barrier can actually lead to serious and even life-threatening complications in health care. There was some story I heard (from a colleague of DH's I'm thinking, but don't recall) where a prescription was filled for a Spanish speaking person. The SIG on the prescription said "ONCE A DAY". "Once" in Spanish is "eleven." The guy took eleven pills and died!!

It is so beneficial to know 2 languages, especially Spanish in this country. I'm going to insist that my kids take and learn Spanish. My DH is really trying to teach it to himself now, and it is much harder for him to learn in his 30's than it would have been when he was little and his brain was developing language skills.

Sofia




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