Nevertheless, I did expect a repetition at some point during the session but not during the whole session (an hour session).
With the second, and third session I noticed that it was back to basics. He was being taught basic things that he already knew. Sadly enough, I’ve come to the conclusion that the programs out there for Spanish immersion are just that “basics.” I’m already teaching my child to read, and write in Spanish. I had high hopes for this Spanish immersion program. I seriously thought of making recommendations to the language learning center, what do you think? Am I overreacting? Is my child too advanced? Or is the center not up to par with new language learners?
My recommendations are:
- Prior to joining a session provide a formal assessment of the person’s language skills.
- Offer a curriculum to the students with lesson plans, instructional content, materials, resources, and processes for evaluating.
**UPDATE**
After speaking to fellow multilingual, and linguist mommas I realized that I had set a very high expectation for this program. It is very hard for a language coach to teach at different levels in a group session. It is also very difficult to assess each learner’s individual needs. I have always been very happy with the language learning center, and this Spanish immersion program just proved to me what I have been knowing all of this time. That my baby has excelled beyond my own expectations in his acquisition of learning Spanish! 🙂
I think it would be very hard for a teacher to respond to the needs of such different students – children to adults. This is not to say it can't be done, but adults learn in very different ways than children, and so finding a "fit" for such a group would be hard. Also, I have always found that "courses", whether they be intensive or not, tend to be "courses", when what your son probably needs is just a group of kids to play with in Spanish. Is that possible at all? I think his Spanish would grow much faster from a communicative environment where he is not limited by "curriculum" and is motivated by the communicative need.
Thank you Eowyn for your comment. I had not really looked at it that way (different learning levels of adults vs. children) I guess when I made the suggestion to the instructor I was really thinking of my child. 🙂 My son does have 3 Spanish speaking friends who come over to play, but I find that they tend to gravitate towards the English language instead of the Spanish. Also, getting their parents involved in having play groups has been another issue as well. I know he needs that type of communicative environment but it's been very hard to make it happen.