Irvine Chinese School, Karis or Little Dynasty?

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SoCal said:
pisa said:
Let's make a deal. You quit the exaggerations and misleading stories. And then I won't have to call you out. Kapish?  ;)
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Are you threatening to damage to my reputation unless I do as you say? That is called blackmail. Blackmail is not okay. Threatening another member doesn't put you in the most favorable light. You should re-think that. Didn't you ever wonder why I never responded to your original post where you tried to mischaracterize me? Because it's one of the most bizarre, utterly ridiculous comments I've read in 10 years of T.I./IHB. Quite frankly, it was not even deserving of a reply. You're not going to intimidate me into doing what you want, either. I stand by what I posted regarding the heroin problem. If you don't like it -- tough. You registered here a matter of months ago and act like you know everything when in reality, you don't have any frame of reference. Not that I would expect you to -- you're new. That's normal. We've all been new at one time or another. Yet you have a handful of posts here, typed in sensationalized all caps and exclamation marks, pointing the finger at others, not just me. You should take a step back. Get to know others before making accusations let alone threats. "Capiche"?
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Are you upset because pisa called out your ridiculous behavior in exaggerating everythin?
Are you upset because you realize pisa is not TCCC?
Are you upset because you are getting tired of justifying why you love where you live on a site about another city?
Are you upset because this thread is about Chinese school?
 
moonchild508 said:
Thanks for your input.  My coworker who speaks fluent Chinese just offered my kids Chinese immersion play dates on the weekends, after they learn some basic words.  That sounds good to me.  I am leaning toward starting the lessons at Karis or Little Dynasty and see how it goes.
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How is your coworker's pronunciation in Chinese? Since she is fluent, hopefully that indicates she is a native speaker. I think that's good if she is. While the goal is comprehension, I find language learners prefer to learn from a native speaker. I have tutored adults from China, Vietnam, and Russia. The Russian knew quite a bit of English from being taught by a school teacher in Russia. However, it was with a harsh Russian accent. At times, it would be hard for an average American to understand. For those who were taught by a non-native speaker, I would say their biggest concern is mostly accent reduction. Accent reduction is a highly specialized field but not the primary focus of literacy which is: reading / writing, speaking, and listening. So, really, any help is good but preferably, from a native speaker.
 
Speaking of accents, my daughter is speaking Mandarin pretty well, a lot of people commented on it already.  Kinda weird we don't speak it at home prior to school.  Just glad it's not a mainland accent :)  her teacher's from TW so that's probably why, but still amazed how she got the accent down.  Learning a language is one thing but sounding like a native is hard.
 
A big advantage of hanging around native speakers is you learn the current slang of the foreign country.  Learning language from a textbook only makes you talk like a dweeb when you go to that country.  My kid picked up enough slang from native speakers at Chinese school to cause a lot of jaws to drop during our China vacation.
 
Just out of curiosity, by default, do you 'think' in English or your native language?

Have you noticed the difference in terms of thought process and the end result?

 
WillJoy said:
Just out of curiosity, by default, do you 'think' in English or your native language?
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That's a good question and an intriguing one. It is one I have always wondered. I have a family friend from India who is a native Malayalam speaker. He is an older guy who has lived in the U.S. for more than half his life, primarily using English day-to-day. I asked him this exact question. He said neither. He only thinks in pictures! I don't know if that is common. I see some pictures but think mostly in words.
 
I spent my formative years in the west so I can consciously choose which language to use in my head while rationalizing. I prefer English as it usually brings about a more positive outlook than my native language does. I'm more extrovert when communicating in English as I find it easier to articulate (not that I'm a well educated). When I listen to people speaking in my native language, I couldn't help but notice how poorly my interlocutor chooses his words, from there my thoughts just drift towards how this person could screw up so badly in his own language and so on. So after the initial hello and how are you, such conversations often end in awkward ways. Picture that.

 
SoCal said:
pisa said:
Hi SoCal - haha, I must have really struck a nerve exposing your misleading drug tales.

I enjoy some racial comedy and humor. this thread is funny. it's about context, and unfortunately imo, your posts were the "subtle but serious" type of comments which I find "concerning."

btw, was "dangerous" my word or just socal being socal?

Let's make a deal. You quit the exaggerations and misleading stories. And then I won't have to call you out. Kapish?  ;)
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Are you threatening to damage to my reputation unless I do as you say? That is called blackmail. Blackmail is not okay. Threatening another member doesn't put you in the most favorable light. You should re-think that. Didn't you ever wonder why I never responded to your original post where you tried to mischaracterize me? Because it's one of the most bizarre, utterly ridiculous comments I've read in 10 years of T.I./IHB. Quite frankly, it was not even deserving of a reply. You're not going to intimidate me into doing what you want, either. I stand by what I posted regarding the heroin problem. If you don't like it -- tough. You registered here a matter of months ago and act like you know everything when in reality, you don't have any frame of reference. Not that I would expect you to -- you're new. That's normal. We've all been new at one time or another. Yet you have a handful of posts here, typed in sensationalized all caps and exclamation marks, pointing the finger at others, not just me. You should take a step back. Get to know others before making accusations let alone threats. "Capiche"?
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Hi SoCal - must've struck a deep nerve. You sound really worried for some reason. Don't be.

No one is threatening anything, nor did that ever cross my mind. Are you just mischaracterizing again, like the use of the word "dangerous," etc?

If I see posts which I believe are misleading or wrong, I might call them out and express my view. Hope that is OK and doesn't cause you to feel "threatened."

I've received PMs making me feel my views are not so crazy and bizarre.
 
Back to the original topic, what level of proficiency do you expect your children to reach in your native language?  Do you expect them to be able to read and write at high school equivalent level?

Also, from a practical perspective, do you expect them to be able to read literature and watch movies? Will they actually enjoy it? The classical literature bores me to death. Contemporary ones are full of trash. Movies are a joke and much less entertaining than TI.

I see a new language as a gateway to a new world. I tried hard to escape from my old world and wouldn't want to force upon my kids what I left behind. Of course, that is just my own opinion, which was perceived poorly at home.

I would rather encourage my kids to try something I have not had the opportunity to learn.



 
WillJoy said:
Back to the original topic, what level of proficiency do you expect your children to reach in your native language?  Do you expect them to be able to read and write at high school equivalent level?

Also, from a practical perspective, do you expect them to be able to read literature and watch movies? Will they actually enjoy it? The classical literature bores me to death. Contemporary ones are full of trash. Movies are a joke and much less entertaining than TI.

I see a new language as a gateway to a new world. I tried hard to escape from my old world and wouldn't want to force upon my kids what I left behind. Of course, that is just my own opinion, which was perceived poorly at home.

I would rather encourage my kids to try something I have not had the opportunity to learn.
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These are good questions.  I haven't figured out what a second language will look like for my kids so that's why I haven't enrolled them in anything "permanent".  We took a couple trial classes in both Chinese and Spanish but haven't done anything beyond that.  I did the asian language school thing for 10+ years & all it was good for was a GPA booster in college when I took 2 easy language classes to help my overall GPA.  Plus back in the day, asian language school was used mainly as a family social gathering place.  Now I can't walk two steps without bumping into an asian person in Irvine.  That being said, I think learning a 2nd language is a great thing - especially in early childhood.  I'm just not seeing the value of it right now especially when time and funds can be spent on other interests ... kinda like how most people don't see the value of Ivy on this board :)
 
I was at Zurich airport years ago waiting for a connecting flight. The staff members who made announcements at boarding gates would make the same announcement in 4 languages with absolute proficiency. German, Italian, French and English. Man it was eye-opening to me.
 
I've never been able to capitalize on knowing Spanish. Except when I ask for extra ketchup which at it turns out is said the same way in Spanish and English. I

 
SoCal - Yes, my coworker is a native Chinese speaker.  I can speak Chinese, but not nearly as fluent.

At my daughter's age, I just wanted her to have an opportunity to learn the language, since she has expressed interest.  I know to be fluent and be able to read/write is a long-term learning process and takes a lot of dedication and practice.  I will encourage her, but how far she continues learning Chinese is ultimately up to her - just like any other enrichment classes.  I think learning a different language will at least help broaden her mind.  Hopefully it'll be an interesting experience for her too.
 
In Irvine, I just want to know Chinese and Spanish so I can tell if people are talking trash about me.

I was at Albertson's the other day ordering food from the deli and the lady started talking to me in Spanish and smiling... I understood her a little bit but just so that she wouldn't confuse my order, I told her "No habla espanol". She looked at me like she was offended and then said "So sorry, I apologize" stopped smiling, put back the extra food she was planning on giving me (I think that's what she said in Spanish) and then just handed me the food. She said sorry again with a frown and walked away.

Did I insult her?
 
irvinehomeowner said:
I was at Albertson's the other day ordering food from the deli and the lady started talking to me in Spanish and smiling... I understood her a little bit but just so that she wouldn't confuse my order, I told her "No habla espanol". She looked at me like she was offended and then said "So sorry, I apologize" stopped smiling, put back the extra food she was planning on giving me (I think that's what she said in Spanish) and then just handed me the food. She said sorry again with a frown and walked away.
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For what it's worth, I've found deli service at the Quail Hill Albertsons to be much better than the one in Westpark (is that the one you went to?). Food is fresher and service is better in my experience. Hard to beat for $5.50
 
We've been going to ALD on the weekends but it's just farther and we'd like to free up our weekends to do more fun things so I recently requested info from Karis for the after school program. They sent me this link to their schedules.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B7IV9d-0-PqnfjlOUlhfTnZaS3BPVTZBaWtJMmtwRXlYZlhLdUpyVGxmX1FnNVd0Z0ZHbFE&usp=sharing
 
I have friends tried both (Karis and Little Dynasty) for their kids. They put their kids in Little Dynasty when they lived in Westpark then Karis after they moved to Woodbury. From what they told me it seems they got better result from Little Dynasty. However, considering when kids grow up they tend to speak English more and feel more reluctant to use Chinese, it seems inevitable. My friends don't speak much Chinese in their household but they hope their kids can communicate with their grandparents in Chinese.

Back to the topic, the question is what level of proficiency do you expect as others mentioned above? Also, do you speak Chinese at home? So far all the good words about these three Chinese schools are from families who don't speak Chinese on the daily basis. Those friends who speak fluent Chinese send their kids to other place where their kids can truly learn how to read and write.

 
 
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