Immersion

ready for the first day of school

our Chinese immersion class

I have always been passionate about language. I grew up on the other side of the world, learning French and German, with the rest of the world close at hand. It is very different here in the USA. Although we live with other languages in our city, we are also it seems to become very culture centric. This scares me. Thankfully, there is the anti-dote. There are 3 Spanish immersion programs in Fresno Unified. My older 2 are attending one of them. Susannah is in 2nd grade - it is her 3rd year of it, and it is fabulous. Her teacher speaks 90% Spanish - and all the work right now is in Spanish - Math, Science, Social Science etc. She reads fluently, understands fully and is starting to speak more fluently. It is so cool. It makes my heart happy. They celebrate all the Mexican holidays with Fiestas and lessons explaining why. Abigael just started Kindergarten there and is thriving too. 

My friend is Chinese and started immersing her daughters in Chinese. Coinciding with that, she started once a week Chinese lessons. We went this week and had a blast. They are totally in tune with the immersion model and picked up the songs and rhymes easily. Jesse had a great time too. 

This is so important to me as I raise my kids, and I am soooo thankful that we have opportunities to learn about the rest of the world and gain the ability to communicate too.