Thought this was a pretty interesting read:
"This is an interesting story out of the Seattle, on the growing number of classrooms that are using language immersion, where children, as young as kindergartners, spend half of each school day learning in a language other than English: Math lessons in Mandarin? Local schools go global
""At Beacon Hill International School, many students learn a second language along with their ABCs by spending half of each school day immersed in Mandarin Chinese or Spanish.
It's an approach parents are clamoring for because they want their children to be able to communicate in our increasingly international world. The waiting list at Seattle's first international school -- John Stanford, in Wallingford -- has been long since its program began in 2000.
Beacon Hill, which had no waiting list to speak of before it adopted a similar program 1-1/2 years ago, had to turn away 75 families last fall.""
Everyone knows it's easier to to learn and pick up languages when you're young. In this day and age, you can't really be surprised that parents are doing everything they can to make sure their kids get a leg up on global competitiveness. This includes getting your kids fluent in Chinese!"
source: AAM
