YES, I KNOW THAT I'M POSTING ALOT THIS WEEK!!!
So here we go.......this is my plan for my children. Seeing as the majority of my Dominican and Boricua friends in the US are 2nd or 3rd generations in the US, I have seen their problems. One of my closest Dominican friends applied for an English/Spanish bilingual secretary job at a medical office and was denied because she could not pass the writing/reading spanish portion of their testing, although she speaks fluent spanish.
So basically what I keep trying to explain to the schools here is that when my children graduate High School, I want them to be able to speak, read, and write English and Spanish on the same level. It may be a little too late for my oldest seeing that she is already in High School but we will see.
The problem that I am having is that the quality bilingual schools do not seem to focus enough on the spanish so this is what I have planned...please tell me what you think.
My oldest is already taking spanish classes after school, and I do not plan on pressuring her too much as right now she has emough on her plate just being a teenager with the regular school work. She will be most likely attending SCS or New Horizons next year.
But with the 2 younger ones (ages 9 and 5) I plan to send them to spanish classes at Berlitz or similar program until school time next year (August 2009). With the hope that they will be able to function in a Dominican private school (taught in Spanish) next year. Send them to the Dominican private school and once they reach 9th grade, they will attend SCS or New Horizons also (SCS teaches in English and New Horizons is supposedly Bi-lingual). What do you guys see as Pros and/or Cons to this set-up???
Any other suggestions to how I can help them reach the goal of being FULLY (speaking, reading, and writing) bilingual?
Any other expats out there that moved with young children and have reached this goal?
What I definitely don't want are children that speak Spanish but leave me a note on the frig that reads " Mami, Fui al melcado a compral champoo de perros. El perro ta muy sucio, le tenia la cara con tiera y tube k kitarcela con una tualla"
SHALENA
So here we go.......this is my plan for my children. Seeing as the majority of my Dominican and Boricua friends in the US are 2nd or 3rd generations in the US, I have seen their problems. One of my closest Dominican friends applied for an English/Spanish bilingual secretary job at a medical office and was denied because she could not pass the writing/reading spanish portion of their testing, although she speaks fluent spanish.
So basically what I keep trying to explain to the schools here is that when my children graduate High School, I want them to be able to speak, read, and write English and Spanish on the same level. It may be a little too late for my oldest seeing that she is already in High School but we will see.
The problem that I am having is that the quality bilingual schools do not seem to focus enough on the spanish so this is what I have planned...please tell me what you think.
My oldest is already taking spanish classes after school, and I do not plan on pressuring her too much as right now she has emough on her plate just being a teenager with the regular school work. She will be most likely attending SCS or New Horizons next year.
But with the 2 younger ones (ages 9 and 5) I plan to send them to spanish classes at Berlitz or similar program until school time next year (August 2009). With the hope that they will be able to function in a Dominican private school (taught in Spanish) next year. Send them to the Dominican private school and once they reach 9th grade, they will attend SCS or New Horizons also (SCS teaches in English and New Horizons is supposedly Bi-lingual). What do you guys see as Pros and/or Cons to this set-up???
Any other suggestions to how I can help them reach the goal of being FULLY (speaking, reading, and writing) bilingual?
Any other expats out there that moved with young children and have reached this goal?
What I definitely don't want are children that speak Spanish but leave me a note on the frig that reads " Mami, Fui al melcado a compral champoo de perros. El perro ta muy sucio, le tenia la cara con tiera y tube k kitarcela con una tualla"
SHALENA
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