I have now bailed on our second Mandarin Immersion program. And while you could say we are in yet another one, it's not exactly, technically "immersion."
One of the biggest reasons I bailed is because of the math instruction. From K-4, we have had a lot - and I mean majority in that "a lot" - of math instruction that has been delivered in Mandarin.
While this seems "progressive" or even "advanced" on the surface, it really is not that helpful.
K-1 was math instruction 100% in spoken Mandarin, while the written work was in English. But your kid is just learning to read at that point, so it doesn't seem like a big deal. Numbers are numbers, geometric shapes are geometric shapes, and visual patterns like rows of penguins or candy canes are just...penguin and candy cane pictures.
From 2nd grade through 4th grade, our math instruction was 50% in English and 50% in Mandarin. This time, the written work - story problems - in Mandarin was written in Chinese. While this seems great on the surface, and I was super positive during 2nd grade, because all this reinforced Chinese literacy, there are hidden pitfalls.
The school we were at basically took the entire math curriculum and split it in half. One half was taught in English, while the other half was taught in Chinese. Then there were portions, select lesson plans or skills or units, that the teachers selected to be taught in both languages. The idea was that this select portion would be enough to help the kids stitch together the other concepts and skills which they were only learning in one language. Additionally, since the teaching staff are different for each language, then we are not working with one bilingual teacher who knows what everyone did on a day-to-day basis.
While all this sounds like a good idea on the surface, it was a near failure in my eyes. By the middle of 3rd grade I started to suspect what was going on. By the end of 3rd grade I knew we could not continue. And all through 4th grade, I followed my child's progress in math with tremendous anxiety.
Math reasoning and basic skills were all taking a hit. Since the majority of these skills were only being learned in one language for only 50% of the time that average kids would learn these things, then nothing was being learned well. Chinese language syntax also impacted learning the calculations needed for basic story problem solving, because some of it is flipped nearly opposite in the way you would say something in English (example, how you say fractions). And while this is all great experience for language development, it's not so good for math skills and math reasoning development that is only in its early stages.
And sure, you could say that it just takes more time to be more complete. So, how are you going to further extend the school day? That is what you must do if you keep going like this.
Most of the parents at our school were unaware of this development. You have to be 1) bilingual/bi-literate enough and 2) involved with your kid's homework enough. And maybe 3) at least a minor math geek to figure out the content and sequencing of the math curriculum. I think a select number of parents just assumed math would need bolstering and so they do extra in English.
In any case, my kid's confidence in math was tanking. This was not tolerable. But 2 months of solid math instruction in the hands of a deftly skilled and caring teacher who teaches math 100% in English, and we've been golden. All is good, back on track. My child loves math. Problems in her brain's math reasoning skills all resolved.
In fact, we spent the last 2 months of 4th grade getting extra tutorship in math in Chinese. And that definitely helped my kid believe that she was understanding her teacher during regular math time in Chinese. But I did not see this as a longterm solution.
Here's the thing - little kids are too little to be real translators. Sure, you might hear about high school kids from China testing into advanced classes in American high schools, but that is much more advanced math. That is not "basic skills." Those high school kids got to master basic skills in one language. When they are doing those basic skills in their heads, without talking to you or anyone else because the test is on paper (or a computer), then it's all in Chinese. I guarantee it. They are talking to themselves in Chinese. But the symbolism of advanced analytical mathematics is all the same. Essentially, there is very little English language attached to it.
This is not the same thing as Elementary math.
Not to mention - if you're gonna stay here in America, the math tests to get into a selective high school or college are still all in English.
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