ISP FAQs

ISP has around 400 students in PreK through 5th grade.

Space availability varies year-to-year between the grades and our three language tracks depending on the prior year’s enrollment and retention. The most common ages for new students to enroll are in prek (3-year-olds) and lowk (4-year-olds), but we admit students in Kindergarten and Elementary as well. Please contact the admissions office to find out more about the grade and language openings for your child.

Children must be 3-years-old and fully potty trained to begin at ISP. As long as space is available, students may start in PreK on either the first day of school OR any of our pre-set start dates after their third birthday (the week of October 17, 2022, the week of January 4, 2023, or the week of February 21, 2023).

For LowK, children must be 4 years old by September 1. Kindergarten children must be 5 by September 1.

As long as space is available:

• Children in the 3-year-old class (“PreK”) may attend 3, 4, or 5 days per week, either half or full days.
• Children in the 4-year-old class (“LowK”) attend 4 or 5 days per week, with a choice of half or full days.
• Children in kindergarten attend five days a week, full days, with a rest period in the afternoon.

ISP admits children with all language fluency levels from beginners to native-speakers. However, most students starting at ISP in preschool or kindergarten do not have any prior language exposure or fluency. Children applying to 1st-5th grades must demonstrate grade-appropriate language fluency that will enable them to do their academic work in the target language.

ISP does not have separate programs or on-staff resources for special needs students. However, our small classes can be beneficial to many students who have minor learning differences. Depending on the need, the extent of the disability, and availability of outside help, it may be possible for student with learning differences to thrive at ISP. An open and honest partnership between the school and parents is always important; it is doubly important for students with learning differences.

International School of Portland’s Student Support Team (SST) is a formal committee designed to help students who may need extra support to succeed academically. The SST process is modeled on a research-based method of academic support commonly used throughout the United States. Through the multi-tiered process, the school’s educational leaders use their cumulative expertise to help meet students’ unique needs through strategic and intensive interventions, data collection, progress monitoring, and additional student support. If you feel that your child may need additional academic support or challenge, if your child has medical or family circumstances that may affect academic achievement, or if your child has a formal behavioral or academic diagnosis that may affect classroom performance, please talk to your child’s teacher about SST.

If behavioral problems arise, the teacher and Head of School or Head of Early Childhood will work with the parents to address it. International School of Portland’s Student Support Team (SST) aims to create a formal network to identify and support students’ academic and behavioral needs through a multi-tiered intervention process and provide ongoing support for students and staff that results in a safe and productive learning environment.

The student support services team will provide resources and strategies for teachers to use in the classroom and provide strategies and resources for parents at home. Depending on the outcome and the impact on the class, it may be necessary for the student to leave the school.

ISP has been declared nut-free throughout the whole school. We have many students with additional food allergies, and are prepared to work with parents to make the school a safe environment for the large majority of children with food allergies. For example, if a child has a severe soy allergy, that child’s classroom (where the children eat lunch and snack) will be declared a soy-free room.

We believe that all children can become multilingual and thrive within an inquiry-based learning environment. We enroll students from families who value language and cultural immersion, actively model ISP Values, and support our school’s mission and vision. To that effect, we admit children on a first-come, first serve basis.

We begin to accept applications in September of the year prior to the student’s start date. We begin sending out acceptances in late February or early March. Once all places are reserved, additional applicants are placed on a waitlist.

If space is available, we may accept students during the school year.

1. International School of Portland uses MySchool App for inquiries, tour and event scheduling, and applications. To begin your application, go to MySchool App and create an account.  Make sure to create your account using an email address you will have access to throughout the admission season as this will be your primary email contact with our school.
2. The admissions office will notify you if space is available or if your child will be placed on a wait list.
3. In March, we start sending enrollment contracts to new families in the order their application was received. The contracts are due back with a $300 deposit which reserves the child’s space for the fall.

We offer several options for tuition payment plans, as well as financial aid available for those in need. Please see tuition or tuition support for details.

Yes. Re-enrollment for current students takes place in February each year, before any new students are admitted.

ISP does not have an admissions deadline. As long as space is available, we admit children from our applicant pool on a first-come, first-served basis. Children who have not had their third birthday yet are placed on a delayed school schedule for their PreK class. We have three additional start times throughout the year for those who have their third birthday during the school year. Please contact the admissions office for details.

ISP students eat lunch in their classroom and have outdoor, unstructured play at both recess and lunch times. We ask that all students have rain jackets and boots at school so that classes can go outside even when it is raining. The main campus has a large tent on the playground for covered play.

Students are always supervised by teachers and/or administrative staff. ISP also has an Health & Safety Coordinator who is generally on the main campus playground when classes are there.

Click here to read about the “typical day” in preschool and kindergarten.

Parents have the choice to pack their child's lunch or there are four optional on-campus lunch delivery options for an extra charge.

All students may be dropped off at 7:30am at no extra charge. Global Kids Extended-day Program goes until 5:30pm.

ISP policies & procedures are outlined in the Parent & Family Handbook, available to families upon enrollment.  Our Admissions Team can provide you with this Handbook upon request.

No, however many of our families carpool, bike, or take public transportation. Enrolled families may list a carpool need in our weekly parent bulletin by sending information to OwlEditor@intlschool.org. Click here for alternative transportation options.

ISP teachers are experienced professionals from 17 different countries with native-level fluency of the language that they teach. 100% of our teachers have bachelor’s degrees and 40% have master’s degrees. See more information on the staff and faculty through our Directory.

As an International Baccalaureate school, we use a variety of assessments to assist the learning process. From the IB web site:

“Assessment is an important part of each unit of inquiry as it both enhances learning and provides opportunities for students to reflect on what they know, understand and can do. The teacher’s feedback to the students provides the guidance, the tools and the incentive for them to become more competent, more skillful and better at understanding how to learn.”

• Formative assessments help the student – and the teacher – understand the concepts, how much progress they are making, and what they need to do in order to improve.
• Summative assessments are a final assessment of learning, for example at the end of a unit of work, or at the end of the school year. Teachers use rubrics to assess student learning, and they share those rubrics with the students at a grade-appropriate level so students know what is expected of them. Teachers give grades using the rubric so students can see exactly where they need to focus for improvement.

In addition, ISP students take two type of standardized tests:

1. NWEA MAP tests in 3rd, 4th & 5th grades in math, science, and English. ISP students generally perform as well as or better than their peers on these tests even though the math and science tests are administered in English and ISP students study those subjects in Spanish, Chinese or Japanese.
2. Avant STAMPe language proficiency assessment in 2nd through 5th grades. The STAMPe is a developmentally and linguistically appropriate assessment created specifically for elementary-age learners. It helps our faculty and staff measure student growth in Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking; which help support further teaching decisions.  

For more information about International Baccalaureate assessments, please visit the IB PYP website.

ISP technology is used to to supplement learning activities. They have Chromebooks and iPads available for every Elementary student. The degree of use is increased in the older grades, as students develop research and presentation skills. Classrooms also have projectors if needed for larger groups of students.

When students make mistakes, ISP's goal is to present an opportunity to learn and to make better choices in the future. Discipline without understanding on the student’s part is meaningless. So the first step in any infraction at school is a conversation with the child’s teacher or another staff member. If two students have a conflict, the staff member may mediate a discussion between them.

The adult’s role is to help students understand and reflect on their own actions and reactions. Such a meeting can end with resolutions or goals. When a child makes mistakes, behavioral or academic, the best part a parent can play is to let the child own the mistake. If a parent responds emotionally, then the parent owns the incident, and the child becomes a bystander to the parent’s meltdown.

Instead, a parent should ask, ‘Do you understand what happened? Are you happy with the result? Do you feel you did your best? Is there anything you would do differently next time?’”

Studies show that homework rates are generally higher in independent schools, and they are bound to be higher than the national PTA guidelines in a language immersion school such as ours.

The outside limits for homework at ISP are:

• Grade 1: up to 10 minutes plus up to 15 minutes of English reading with parents or alone
• Grade 2: up to 20 minutes plus up to 15 of English
• Grade 3: up to 30 minutes plus up to 15 of English
• Grade 4: up to 40 minutes plus up to 15 of English
• Grade 5: up to 50 minutes plus up to 15 of English

These are outside limits; there may not be this much homework every night. After this amount of time has elapsed, you should stop the child from working further and notify the teacher of what happened. If directions are not clear to the child or to you, notify the teacher. If you think the work is not productive or fruitful, calmly discuss with the teacher what you observed at home.

It is normal human nature to resist work at home after a day of work, but that does not mean we have to have big discussions or dramatic scenes with our children. Instead, we can assist them best by keeping them focused and moving forward, and reminding them that they will have time to spend on their preferred endeavors as soon as they finish.

“Full immersion” is a way of teaching language by completely immersing the learner in that language for most of each day. The learner will hear only the target language for both regular conversation (e.g. talk about getting dressed and eating meals), as well as subject matter learning (e.g. math and science). A significant body of research shows that with language immersion, young children learn their second language the same way they learned their first – by listening, absorbing, imitating, and then trying it out. The more time a child spends hearing and using the second language, the more fluent she will become. Full immersion, which is how ISP teaches, is in contrast to “partial immersion” programs where half the day is taught in English and students achieve a lower level of language proficiency.

Our teachers have many years of classroom experience, and they love children. Knowing that the children will not understand the spoken language at first, the teachers use their warmth, familiar activities, and visual cues to help the children understand and feel at home. For example, the teacher will pick up a scissors while saying “use your scissors” in the target language. The children quickly learn the Chinese, Japanese, or Spanish word for scissors. By the end of the first week, your child will know that the teacher is another grown-up who loves them and who happens to use different words.

ISP admits students with no prior exposure to the track language in preschool and kindergarten. While students with no prior language exposure will speak to their peers and teachers in English, their teachers make a concerted effort to repeat back to them their question or response in the target language and then proceed to pose or answer their question in the target language. Our experience has shown us that after a few months in a full immersion, setting most children will begin to address their teachers in the target language.

In general, it is extremely important that the homeroom teacher uses only the second language in the immersion classroom. Speaking English may help comprehension at a particular moment, but in the long run it becomes a hindrance to learning the second language. If English is used regularly, the child will not focus on the Spanish, Chinese or Japanese instructions – he will simply wait for the English translation.

From preschool into the beginning of first grade, teachers speak to the children in the target language and expect that the children will answer in English. The children naturally use their second language as they become more comfortable with it – first with words, then sentences, then paragraphs. By second grade, the children are generally expected to use only their Spanish, Chinese or Japanese in the classroom.

Starting in first grade, all students study English language arts with English specialists for five to six hours per week. This allows them to grow their English skills to or beyond grade-appropriate levels by fifth grade. English is also used for art, music, PE and library.

Given all of the above, the homeroom teacher will use English as necessary – if a child needs to be comforted, and for issues of discipline and safety when complete understanding is necessary at that moment.

Most of our families do not speak the language their child is learning, so our teachers expect that. Teachers send home weekly emails explaining the class work, enabling parents to engage with their child about the topic of study. Parent notices and report cards are issued in English.

From a recent parent survey:

“The email information I receive from ISP (The weekly newsletter, teacher emails, English teachers, etc.) is instrumental. My 2nd grader is always impressed when I know what she is talking about in library or what project is coming up in English! It makes it easy to use the vocabulary he is learning through student/learner traits, too. “Wow, that Olympian is really a risk-taker!” “I am trying my best to be open-minded.” “I can tell you have been talking about what it means to be caring.”

New families sometimes worry about how they will help their child with homework if they don’t speak the language. ISP parents will tell you that because they don’t speak the language, their children become resourceful and independent learners. The parents’ responsibility is to provide time, place and encouragement – and the rest is the student’s responsibility.

Many children are nervous about starting a new school, whether the program is in English or not. Your child may need some time to adjust to this new challenge. He may need more sleep than usual – an earlier bedtime often helps in the first month. By the beginning of October, every child should be over the initial adjustment and look forward to school.

Encourage your child by telling her how proud you are that she is learning Chinese, Spanish, or Japanese. Take advantage of opportunities to expose your child to the immersion language and culture outside of school. This helps her see that the language is not just something for school, but something for life.

Try not to put your child on the spot to “say something in Spanish” until she shows the initiative herself. Recognize that your child may not speak the language at home for a long time – at pick-up or drop-off you may be surprised to hear your child use her new language when talking to the teacher!

All children will start to use their target language on their own and at their own individual pace. It is not uncommon for children to spend the first year just soaking up the second language. Just like young babies learning their first language, your child’s comprehension will increase daily, and but she may not be ready to speak it for some time. When the children are ready to speak, it’s amazing to see how much they know.

Since children at International School of Portland learn language in the context of every day life, their first words are often phrases like, “more juice please”, or “blue paper.” Because of this, it is awkward for children to be asked to “perform” for others. A request to “say something in Chinese” will seem most unnatural.

Similarly, your preschooler may not understand the concept of translation. He is learning the meaning of his new language, and will start to think in his second language rather than translating his thoughts from English. Once your child shows a readiness to use his second language at home, encourage him to do so. Give him the benefit of the doubt if you are uncertain about his pronunciation or word usage.

Research on this question is both voluminous and unequivocal: studies consistently show that by the end of the elementary grades, immersion students perform as well as or better than non-immersion peers in English and math skills. Nevertheless, in the first few years of any immersion program, there may be certain lags in English language arts. However, there is significant transference of literacy skills between languages, and once formal English instruction is introduced (in first grade at ISP), children catch up quickly.

All our first through fifth grade students study English language arts daily. By third grade the lags are generally gone, and by fifth grade the immersion students’ English skills often surpass those of their non-immersion peers. The ISP English department has a list of recommendations for parents who wish to support their child’s literacy skills at home. Please see the English Instruction page for more details.

ISP students start formal English classes in 1st grade. In first through fifth grade they study English with English literacy specialists for five to six hours per week in classes that are designed to complement their language learning. Students quickly catch up to and generally surpass their English-only peers in the course of elementary school.

International School of Portland’s curriculum content is shaped by the Oregon Standards for Science (which are aligned to the National Science Standards), the National Social Studies Standards, and the Common Core State Standards for Math, which have been adopted by 38 states including Oregon. ISP chose these sets of standards because they represent strong, clear thinking on the concepts children should be learning. These standards provide a minimum benchmark for students and teachers at ISP, with actual student achievements frequently exceeding these academic targets.

ISP applies these standards through the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme, with its focus on student-led inquiry and hands-on engagement. This ensures that our students are gaining essential knowledge, while at the same time developing critical skills for independent, lifelong learning.

Although every child is different, an immersion program will be an exciting and stimulating experience for most children and their families. The ISP program will enable your child to fully appreciate a diverse world, and to communicate freely with people in another language. Being bilingual will enhance job opportunities, and will make it easier to learn a third language. As you contemplate this decision, it is important to remember that your child will realize the full benefits of an immersion program by following the program all the way through fifth grade.

In the early childhood classrooms (preschool and kindergarten), most children speak English to one another even as they quickly start using target language words and phrases with the teachers. By the end of kindergarten and 1st grade, students are able to and strongly encouraged to use the target language when talking with their peers.

We have many ISP students who speak English in the neighborhood, Chinese, Spanish or Japanese at school, and a third language at home. If your family speaks another language at home, we encourage you to continue doing so.

‘Language acquisition’ describes the perfectly natural way we learn our own first language. Typically, parents do not teach their small children grammar; they do not teach their children lists of vocabulary; they rarely correct their small child’s language, unless the child is saying something that is factually wrong. In spite of this lack of specific teaching, all small children master their own mother tongue at remarkable speed. Small children make rather predictable errors as they start to use their mother tongue, but automatically self-correct as they continue to recognize patterns in the language and build proficiency naturally.

Immersion programs make use of the brain’s natural capacity to learn languages in much the same way as we learn our mother tongue. Many factors are involved, but the key one is: we acquire language when the focus is on meaning.

We refer to ‘production’ when children starts to speak a language. Just like babies understand a lot of language before saying their first understandable words, second language learners understand a lot before they start to ‘produce’ – or speak – their second language.

A lot of schools offering immersion programs like ISP observe that the youngest students in these programs may score below other monolingual English-speaking students who take the same standardized test in second grade. However, in our over 20 years of experience and in a significant body of research, we see that most of our students score on par with or better than their monolingual peers by fourth grade.

If the target language at school is not your natural home language, it is not necessary to use it at home. To give your child more exposure to the target language, it is good to find suitable children’s books, DVD’s, recordings and so on. Do not be upset if the child is reluctant to use the target language with you. Languages have strong emotional ties, and it may just not feel right for the child to speak to you in Japanese or Spanish or Mandarin, if this is not the language you normally use.

Yes, he/she might. People are familiar with the term ‘culture shock’ when we go to live in a new country. The symptoms of culture shock can be very subtle, and are easily confused with other issues. In many ways, entering a language immersion program will involve some level of culture shock, but also ‘language shock’.

Add to this all the challenges of entering a new school, and fitting in with a new group of children. All these factors bundled into the first few weeks can have quite a drastic effect on the child’s psyche. The child can appear sad, angry, unsettled or moody. The good news is that these symptoms are normal and temporary, our teachers and counselors are skilled in dealing with them, and our children emerge from the experience greatly strengthened in many ways.

Children who are especially confident and extroverted might try using the new language immediately, and be very proud of showing off new words and phrases. Most children, however, may appear unable or reluctant to use the new language. The brain naturally goes through a ‘silent period’ at the beginning of the acquisition process. The child may appear to be inactive, and not participating, but there is in fact a lot of activity going on within the brain. Think of it as an essential period of incubation.

It is important to recognize and respect this silent period, which can last many months in some cases. There will be no particular advantage in trying to force the child to speak, and in fact we may do more harm than good. In the early stages of language acquisition a child will understand far more than he or she can say or write just as a baby understands a lot before speaking intelligibly. In other words, perception or understanding is always far in advance of production, or active use of the language.

No. A large body of research shows that it is not necessary to postpone starting additional languages. The children will still develop their mother tongue as long as they receive regular input, for example from their parents and family.

Children receive and retain the most benefit from an immersion program from being in it as long as possible. ISP students are developing their target language skills at the same time as they are learning a full International Baccalaureate curriculum including math, science and social studies. The benefits of all aspects of this education grows with each year in the program.

At ISP all subjects are taught in the target language except for English, art, music and physical education (PE) which are all taught by English language specialists in those fields. In grades one through five, students study English one hour per day and art, music and PE for a total of nearly 200 minutes per week. Early Childhood students (preschool, low k and kindergarten) study art, music and physical education with English language specialists once per week.

• Children learning a second language are likely to go through a “silent period” where they are building their receptive vocabulary but are not yet producing language.
•  The silent period is followed by early production of language where students will start to speak in one or two word utterances.
• Gradually, students will progress through a series of stages, building vocabulary and more complex sentence structures until they have reached a level of advanced fluency.

Although all new language learners progress through the same stages, the length of time each student spends at each stage may vary greatly.

• Children master the concrete, everyday, ‘here and now’ type of language relatively quickly and easily.
• By the end of the first year in an immersion classroom children will show good comprehension and may sound very fluent to the casual listener. On closer scrutiny the child will still have a rather limited command of the language.
• Doing academic work in a foreign language is immensely more challenging than merely speaking, and calls for a much deeper and more sophisticated range of both language and logical skills.
• This Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP – a term coined by Canadian researcher Jim Cummins) can take several years to build. It is compounded by the fact that school children, irrespective of the language they are working in, are maturing and developing both their academic skills and their ability to use language to apply these skills at the same time.

Many of us imagine bilingual to mean ‘perfect’ proficiency in two or more languages, but this is very rare. Even outstandingly bilingual individuals tend to have one language that is stronger than the other. In general, by the end of fifth grade, ISP students are sufficiently proficient in their ISP target language to conduct a significant aspect of their lives in that language.

For example, the student will be able to study at college in a country where that language is used, or use the language at work, or collaborate professionally with speakers of that language etc. The student will be able to appreciate and derive enjoyment from the cultural heritage of the language, including enjoying films, novels, plays etc. in that language, and develop an understanding of the economic, political and social life of countries where that language is spoken. This is far above the type of language we need for tourism or occasional social contacts.

By the end of elementary school, a child who has been in the immersion program from the beginning will certainly be bilingual in many important respects. They will speak mostly without accent; they will use gestures and expressions typical of a native speaker; they will respond spontaneously in the target language; they will have mathematical and scientific competency in the target language.

There are three payment plans available:

• FULL PAY PLAN – $300 paid upon signing contract. The entire balance of Plan B tuition paid on or before July 31.
• 60/40 PLAN – $300 paid upon signing contract. Sixty percent (60%) of the balance of Plan C tuition paid on or before July 31. The remaining balance of tuition paid on or before January 1 of the following year.
• 10 MONTH PLAN – $300 paid upon signing contract. The balance of tuition paid in ten (10) equal monthly installments on the first of each month, starting August 1. Monthly collections will be administered through the FACTS program.

Yes. Tuition is reduced by 10% (in the least expensive program) for the 2nd child, 15% (in the least expensive program) for the 3rd child. The discount is based on the Plan B rate for the selected enrollment option. See tuition for more information.

We strive to include most expenses within tuition so that parents are not “nickle and dimed” with extra fees. Field trips, books and performances as well as most school supplies and cultural costumes are included in tuition. Parents must provide a small list of durable school supplies, lunch (send from home or purchase through ISP lunch programs), and after school care if required. There are no other mandatory fees.

The school raises money through a small number of fundraisers throughout the year, and asks every family to contribute annually to the ISP Fund and/or to the Auction Special Appeal. Participation is valued at literally any dollar amount. See giving for more information.

We strive to make our program accessible to as many children as possible. To this end, we provide tuition support for up to 20 percent of our students each year – significantly more than the national average.

To learn more, please visit our Tuition Support page

To learn more about Tuition and Tuition Support, please visit:

Affording International School of Portland

Tuition Support

It is important that you and your child’s teachers have clear, open communication to help your child with successes and struggles that may occur. At the very least, you will receive weekly e-mails from your child’s teacher, in person parent/teacher conferences in November and March, and a formal report card in November, March and June. In addition, we encourage parents to get involved in class activities (i.e. field trips, class parties, special projects) and to contact the teacher proactively with any questions or concerns – while they are still small questions or concerns! Teachers generally have time for short conversations on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after school, and can always schedule longer meetings if necessary. If you pick up your child right as school closes, it’s always great just to pop in and say hello.

“The email information I receive from ISP (The Owl, specialist news, teacher emails, English teachers, etc.) is instrumental. My 2nd grader is always impressed when I know what she is talking about in library or what project is coming up in English! It makes it easy to use the vocabulary he is learning through student/learner traits, too. “Wow, that Olympian is really a risk-taker!” “I am trying my best to be open-minded.” “I can tell you have been talking about what it means to be caring.”

We encourage parents, grandparents and special friends to be involved in the school for the benefit of students, the rest of the community, and themselves.

• At a minimum, parents should:
• Keep up to date on their child’s class and school-wide activities
• Keep up to date on their child’s individual schoolwork, homework and progress
• Participate as requested

Other tips:

• Show confidence in the choice you have made for your child, and not become over-anxious if, for example, a well-meaning relative comments that your child seems behind other children in his or her English reading. Tell them you have made a choice for your child to become a global citizen!
• Be modest in your expectations that your child will speak the new language in front of you or your family and friends. Many children don’t like doing this because it is unnatural.
• If you are fortunate enough to be able to travel together to countries where the language is spoken, allow your child to show as much initiative as possible. This produces some delightful moments.
• Children rise to our expectations. Make sure you encourage a positive attitude towards academic achievement, without being unrealistic.
• You can support the school by being an ambassador for us, recommending us to others, and being knowledgeable so that you can refute the sometimes inaccurate or uninformed views of other parents.
• Support the school very concretely by volunteering in a range of roles, and by contributing to the ISP Fund as you are able. We always need additional financial support to enable us to keep our tuition below actual costs.

The most effective way to communicate depends on the subject at hand. For easily answered questions or small concerns, e-mail is the best vehicle. Teachers check it often and will generally respond quickly. However if an e-mail would be long or complicated, or you have a pressing concern, it is much better to set up a time to meet with the teacher and/or administrator in person. Parents can contact any staff member to request a meeting.

At times teachers can have quick conversations at pick-up, but it is best not to count on these times as there will be other people around and the teacher may have other meetings.

Please do not let concerns grow unaddressed. Address any concern directly with your child’s teacher. If your concern is not resolved, please speak with the Head of School or Head of Early Childhood.

There will usually be at least one other child in the kindergarten class who has just started the language, so your child won’t be alone. Try to expose him or her to the language before school starts – watch short videos (you might find some on the web), check out music from the library, look for a library story time in that language. It doesn’t matter if your child is not understanding the words – don’t put pressure on her to get meaning. The idea is just to get her used to the sounds and rhythm of the language so that it sounds familiar when she gets to school.

Your child may experience a bit of frustration at the start – feeling like she doesn’t understand anything when other children do. It may help to prepare your child for that feeling, let her know that it’s ok and that other children feel it too. Children’s brains are remarkably flexible in kindergarten, and they start understanding before they even realize it.

Encourage your child by telling her how proud you are that she is learning Chinese, Spanish, or Japanese. Take advantage of opportunities to expose your child to the immersion language and culture outside of school. This helps her see that the language is not just something for school, but something for life.

Try not to put your child on the spot to “say something in Spanish” until she shows the initiative herself. Recognize that your child may not speak the language at home for a long time – at pick-up or drop-off you may be surprised to hear your child use her new language when talking to the teacher!