What do older students think about immersion?

As many of you know, I’m just about finished writing a book on immersion called “A Parent’s Guide to Mandarin Immersion.”

One of the pieces I’m missing is the experience of students who’ve gotten far enough in Chinese to be able to talk about whether or not they’re glad they’ve learned it.

If you have children in middle school or beyond who might be willing to write a little bit about what their experience has been in immersion, I’d love to include their thoughts. (I’d also be happy to talk with them by phone if writing is not their thing.)

Most of the parents reading this book will be people with preschoolers contemplating whether to sign them up for Chinese immersion or grade school parents trying to understand how it all works.

Hearing from teens and college students about how it feels at the other end would be very helpful to them.

I’m happy to use the quotes anonymously if you’d prefer.

Some questions to start with, (but whatever thoughts they might have is fine):

Did you like being in immersion?
Do you feel like you speak Chinese?
How did it feel to learn it?
Are you glad your parents put you in the program?
What would you tell your parents now about the idea of putting their kids in immersion, if you could go back in time to when you were in preschool?
Do you think you’ll use Chinese in your life?

Many thanks,
Beth Weise