Anyway, on the whole she's doing pretty well in kindergarten. Far better than we expected. Any problems that she's having would be precisely the same on a monolingual campus. I generally see the immersion as a total win. I can't imagine why one wouldn't try such a program with a HG+ kid... but I'd expect the experience to be essentially identical to a conventional program... just in a second language.
It's very easy to "imagine why one wouldn't try such a program with a HG+ kid". If they aren't particularly strong in languages, then it just strews obstacles in their path.
An important trait of giftedness is that the child is especially good at a certain thing. PG/HG kids have high rate of knowledge acquisition - so they can handle immersion programs easily. But, placing a HG/PG kid in an immersion program does not make sense all the time.
Which is why I too would not call immersion programs a total win - how does a STEM oriented PG/HG kid get acceleration when these subjects get taught at the "normal rates/level" in another language? What is the value addition of an immersion program for an accelerated History buff or a Computer Programmer? And what do the immersion students do for enrichment in their areas of strength which are non-language related? (I am thinking about enrichment clubs, contests - Destination Imagination type of contests, online programs, afterschool classes etc in math, science etc) And when do they transition to "mainstream" schools - after 5th or 8th grades? What is the transition plan, if there is one at all?
I think that if the gifted child is not strong in languages, then an immersion program introduces "busy-ness" into their school work rather than teaching them what they need at a higher level. This could make some parents happy because it might challenge their gifted kid to a certain extent and that is a lot better than no challenge at all. That is not a compelling enough reason.
But, if the family has ties or business interests in regions from which the immersion language comes from, then immersion programs are a good fit even if the gifted child is strong in non-language areas.
