Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments language immersion

I visited several kindergarten class rooms this winter in different districts. This was a big eye opener for me and I would suggest it to anyone struggling with GT denial.

It seems like the kindergarten curriculum would be really inappropriate for DD4, beyond what we can reasonably expect her to sit through.

DH now wants to move home near his mom and the school he went to. His thinking is that there are more options closer to the city. His idea; Early entrance in a half day language immersion program. This way she would still learn something, the new language, and would have a larger pool of slightly older peers to draw from. She really wants to find a best friend someday.

I think she would like the language immersion program. She is very motivated to learn a new language and has exhausted what we can teach her at home. My concern is that she would be ready to move on half way through the year again and would start being silly and too talkative, which is interpreted as immature.

There also are a lot of things we like about her current preschool. Everyone there knows her and she likes the teacher. K at her current school would not be an option for the fall because it is a full day program and we don't feel she is ready to be gone all day.

Anyone have any experience with language immersion, or early entrance? What all is involved in this process? Will the school do free testing? How do I find out what testing they will do and will we be given the results? What do you guys think? I talked to someone from the district and they are sending us some paper work to fill out. If DD has to be tested should we let the school do it or take her to someone who is expensive, but well known and near by. Is there any research on GT kids and language immersion. I have a lot of questions and am not sure where to go from here.

Hi Skyward! There was recently a thread about language immersion under preschool. I will try to paste the link but if it doesn't work look on the preschool forum:

http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....mersion_Programs_any_experie.html#UNREAD

My son is in a language immersion PreK this year. I wrote a little about it on the other thread. The thing to remember is that while the language learning is great, and a challenge which he has really enjoyed, the depth and pace of the curriculum are not different. Now, if you would have your child in a public school anyway (which we most likely would) then this is a little extra enrichment but the school will still have to make major accomodations to meet your child's needs. A language immersion program is NOT a GT program. But, my son has loved learning Spanish. We may end up there next year for K.

As far as early entrance goes, I think each district has different policies. Our district has a very rigorous application process which includes a portfolio and IQ and achievement testing above the 98%.

I'm not familiar with language immersion programs. Sounds very interesting.
I think testing is key if the school will use the results to provide a program paced to meet her needs. Otherwise you may find that even the LI program does not move fast enough for her. My DS7 loves learning Spanish yet hates his Spanish class bc of the constant repitition.
Also on testing - I would do both private & school testing. If the school will do a real IQ test like the WPPS-III I would start there. Beware - many school personnel conducting testing are not qualified and they may use a test that measures achievement not IQ. I work in schools as a consultant to child study teams and if parents saw & heard what I do - they would not rely soley on school professionals.
If you disagree with the school then the money spent on private testing may be well spent - unless you live in a state like NJ where schools do not have to accept outside testing. In NJ most schools will only test pre-K kids if they suspect or know of a disability.
Don't know if you have any Waldorf, Sudbury method, or Friends schools in your area but you may want to look into them. Especially Sudbury method schools. We have none near us so we are planning on sending DS7 to a Friends school and forgoing any retirement plans. :-)

Have to add that I have yet to run into a ps district in this part of NJ that would even consider early entrance. The focus here is soley on early intervention. I wonder if there's a list of districts that will consider early entrance?

NJMom, ask your question over at www.njagc.org.

It is nice to know that I am not the only one contemplating this avenue. Do keep us posted Skyward on what you find out about the program. And read the post by Val on the other thread b/c she really gave me some great ideas on what to ask. I am still looking at all the options in our area.

And NJMom .. The idea of immersion really helps all children truly learn the language. They don't have Spanish (whatever language the school is in) as a class but teach everything in that language. They don't speak English at all during the first few years. It usually is introduced in Kindergarten or 1st grade for about 1 hr a week and builds up to 1 to 2 days a week. This is usually when they also introduce a 2nd foreign language.

As far as gifted children within immersion programs I think mom2boys hit it on the nose. There is a challenge for the child at the beginning but once they are comfortable with the language the curriculum that is taught is usually no more than other types of schools. However, the school I looked at today is about 2 years ahead of the PS in curriculum which really was eye opening for my GT denial since my DD (2 yr) has already mastered all of age 4 curriculum and a lot of kindergarten. Though not impossible to advance her still a major challenge given the size of the school (1 class per age group) which will be full.

The structure of language immersion programs differ a lot depending on the school. Ours is a "dual" immersion program in a public school, so half the children are native Spanish speakers and half are native English. The PreK that my son is in is entirely Spanish. They do no formal literacy instruction (just letters and letter sounds in Spanish) and math in Spanish. Then in K it is more like 80% Spanish with about a 45 min. lit block in English for native English speakers so children learn to read in their native language, but all math, science, social studies, etc. is in Spanish in Kinder. Every program is different, so you have to find out what kind of program is available in your area. Some schools are one way immersion--meaning that there are only non-native speakers of the language in the classroom. These are usually private or in non-diverse areas. The disadvantage is that there are no peer models and I would guess that the language complexity is less since all the children are second language learners.

Hi Skyward,
My dd9 has been in a Spanish immersion program for five years. It has been a terrific alternative for her, providing some challenge for her where a regular grade-level classroom would have provided little. There is a great deal to learn to master a second language. It takes most people from 4 to 10 years to master a second language.

If it had not been for the immersion program I am sure I would have had to radically accelerate or home school my dd in early elementary.


Please let me know if you have any questions.

Summer

Thanks everyone we are still finding out about the immersion program.

Texas Summer it seems we were thinking along the same lines. I am hoping this school will keep her engaged. I really can not home school. I would love to hear more about your experience with language immersion.

We do have concerns about how quick she will pick up the new language. I guess I hoped the school might work with us at that point. We also think the early entrance testing will give us more info as well as we have not had any formal testing done.

My dds are in a 90/10 model Spanish immersion program. In K and 1st grade their language of instruction was Spanish for 90% of the day and English for 10% of the day. Each year after that the English instruction increased by 10%. By 5th grade the instruction is 50% English and 50% Spanish. Your immersion program could be a 50/50 program, which may provide a different level of challenge.

With the 90/10 model, school was great through 2nd grade. In third grade school started to become tedious for my dd. By the end of 3rd grade my dd was grade level fluent in Spanish (speaking, reading & writing). She took her 3rd grade state standardized language test in Spanish and made 100%. My dd stayed in the program for 4th grade because it was necessary to guarantee that her little sister would get into the program. Fortunately, she had fabulous teachers who worked hard to keep her engaged. It also helped that in our state 4th graders work extensively on writing. This was terrific for my dd because she still has room for improvement in grammar and vocabulary development in Spanish and her teacher worked with her at her level.

For 5th grade we are planning to homeschool. There is just nothing left in elementary school for her to learn, but we were happy that it was successful for so long. My dd did not have an option to skip a grade in the program because her class was the first year of the Spanish immersion program in our district.

If my children had been in an English classroom, they both would have skipped Kindergarten. My oldest would have required at least one additional grade skip at this point. For us the Spanish immersion program was the best option. Now that my dd9 is fluent in Spanish, she is moving onto her third language - French.