Kristin...

Meet Kristin...

so many things I can say about her...for one, she's a fashion diva...literally. She is VERY concerned with everything she wears, and for the most part, she's usually right...her clothes always match and look good together. I saw this outfit for her, and HAD to get it...she LOVES wearing it to school, and after her first time wearing it to school, came home and told me that everyone told her how cute she looked, and that some people told her she looked like Hannah Montana...Apparently that's a huge thing...Kristin is in a chinese immersion class. She speaks Chinese half the day. She has gone to school for 3 weeks, and has been off track for 3 weeks and is headed back to school on Tuesday. The girl would rather be speaking chinese than english. She is CONSTANTLY spouting things off in Chinese, and totally teaching Haley. Haley knows more chinese than I do. It helped that my brother David taught her a few things when he was home a few weeks ago. I absolutely LOVE the chinese immersion program, and would recommend it to anyone! I am excited for Haley to start it in first grade as well. We may have to start saving up for a trip to China when the girls are in high school.

A lady recently stated in the Deseret News in the Editorial section this: Are any other parents concerned about the "dual immersion" language program in elementary schools? Students can choose among Chinese, Spanish and French, or they may opt out. Apparently former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. thought it was a good idea because he knows Chinese.
Did he learn it in elementary school? Where are all the teachers who know these three languages well enough to teach them coming from? And how much precious time is taken up with it?
I think it would be enough to teach good English and reading skills. There are Hispanic students in many classes, and English for them and Spanish for the rest of the class would be good, but why Chinese or French? Laura Banks Salt Lake City

My dad came over flaming mad about a response he would like to provide, but he didn't want to do it online, he wanted it printed...I just had to laugh at the ignorance of this lady and her small-mindedness. The balls she had to have to even submit that, is amazing. This was my favorite comment I found on the reply board online (link above): Are you kidding me? No foreign languages? Maybe we should adopt a new state mascot: the hillbilly. My second favorite comment is this: What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone who speaks 2 languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who speaks 1 language. American.

I am so proud of Kristin. She is so smart, and doing amazingly well. I am so excited she's in this program, I wish my boys would have had the opportunity as well!