We made a big decisions today. We quit Chinese School.
The decision to quit Chinese School was not one we made lightly (though I will admit that once the decision was made, we were unanimously gleeful). Since M started “chinese club” (the experimental program I mentioned in this post), we have been overwhelmed by the amount of Chinese lessons and classes she had each week. Even after we cut out one night of tutoring, M was in classes four days a week. Add that to the 1-2 days a week L also has Chinese lessons and it was a recipe for burnout and complaining.
Taking up two afternoons after school, Chinese Club is a huge time commitment, but it is SO worth it. Even though it is at the beginner level, it is top-notch, full immersion instruction that includes games, singing, engaged classmates and FUN. M sometimes complains that the material is all reviewing for her, but I have seen her confidence in speaking increase exponentially in the last few months.
Chinese Club has been so successful, Mr. A and I have started to talk about revising our language learning goals from familiarity to achieving a level of actual verbal proficiency. When we found out Chinese Club will continue into the New Year, we were ecstatic.
On the other hand, Sunday Chinese school is a colossal waste of time. While we like M’s teacher, they move SO SLOWLY through the materials, the class is disorganized and unruly and the only thing M was learning there was how to write some basic characters (something we can ask her tutor to add to M’s home lessons, no problem). Now that we switched M into the class for English speakers, we never get to see our friends either.
In addition to the fact that it is largely ineffectual, chaotic and disorganized, our biggest complaint about Chinese School is that it is a huge weekend time suck. M’s class is from 2:30-4:00 each Sunday afternoon so there aren’t many family activities we can squeeze in around that time. We are so busy with other activities during the week (both girls also have swimming lessons in addition to Chinese), we really want our weekends to be free to relax.
While M is in a phase of complaining about pretty much every aspect of learning Chinese, M particularly disliked Chinese School. It seems like there are no good reasons to stay.
So as long as Chinese Club continues or the quality of instruction there improves, no more Chinese school for us! Hip hip hooray!
The Chinese Club sounds like an awesome resource! I wish we had something like that around here. The combo of fun *and* immersion is just what you want, making it more natural and less of a chore.
That sounds like a great decision for your family! I hope Chinese Club continues to be the great resource it is.
Whew!
(Now tell us what you thought of New Moon!)
OMG lol I almost died, I was like no way she took her out of all language class, and then I read the rest. (I had a year or so break from your blog so I missed some!!!!)
Love that you have Chinese Club
Our Saturday Chinese class sounds so much like M’s Chinese Club, minus the full immersion (heh – I know that’s a big minus). But we chose it because the combination of games, cooking, culture, art (such as brush painting) and language creates fully engaged classmates. Most of the girls have continued classes (without whining) until they begin taking Mandarin in junior high school.
Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. We never started them and I feel not one iota guilty. I think it’s great when people do it but not every kid is ready for it and not every family can manage it.
Good for you! I think you have made the right decision. Your Chinese language school sounds just like the one we have in our area. Kids hate it, but parents still do it for the sake of social and also for keeping the cultural identity for their kids. Our Chinese language school has both Chinese American kids, biracial kids and some adoptive kids. My kids have told us many times that when they grow up, their kids will never be sent to a Chinese school on weekends, as if they are being tortured by us now. We have tried to make it fun for them and helped them with their homework so that they don’t get overwhelmed. The classroom is chaotic and teachers still think like Chinese (lots of homework and irrelant memorization for a group of confused kids). We don’t have a better alternative now. So we are torn. We have researched on a few totally different Chinese schools in our area. Every single one has their own issues. Your decision is encouraging to us.
Good for you! I was worrying about M being overscheduled and not having enough time to play and just be. That was eventually going to lead to trouble. I’m glad you recognized and acknowledged her feelings.