Is french immersion overwhelming for some kindergartners?

I know people who have gone there and left after Kindergarten and others who have gone all the way through the program at Robert Goddard French Immersion. From what I have heard, K is spent teaching them basic French and then from 1st grade on, lessons are only taught in French (except for English classes).

Do you speak French? Because if it is difficult for you to help your child with their homework etc. then it might be hard for them to continue in that school.

One person I know who left after K did so because she felt her child was not safe there. The French Immersion program is located in the same building as the Montessori program so she said that the younger kids were constantly leaving messes in the bathrooms and they were terribly smelly. The schools solution to this was to prop the outside doors near the bathrooms open, leaving it free to anyone to just walk inside. I do not know if this is still a problem but you have more than 1000 kids in this building from ages 3 - 13 or 14. That is a huge range.

I suggest you drop in one day unannounced and see if you can have a look around. Like I said, I also know people who have had all three of their kids go there and have been pleased with the school. It depends if it is a good fit you and your family.

Not that it helps you right now, but the county is also looking into starting a Spanish Immersion school, but who knows when that will be up and running. You might also look into some of the private schools. My kids go to Holy Redeemer in College Park and they take both Spanish and Italian in K-3rd and then they choose one to study. My son is in 6th and his Spanish class is taught mostly in Spanish. Next year, it is only in Spanish.

mindful, I do agree that learning any second language is better than not. Even if a student doesn't have a chance to use it, having an appreciation for other cultures is an important benefit.
Ironically, I took quite a few years of French in high school and college, and when I would assist my son with his lessons, it "came back" to me pretty quickly as far as reading it, but my ability to speak it fluently is poor.
My husband took German in school, and he also wishes he'd taken Spanish. Ironically, he has been using the "Rosetta Stone" software to learn Spanish this past year, and he is surprised at how I can pick up individual words that are similar to French, much more easily that he can relate any words to the German he knows.

lockmama, thanks for sharing your experience thus far. i would be curious to know whether the frustration does in fact ease after a few months, as they said. seems like it requires a lot of practice and drilling at home, which I know I could handle. but can my daughter handle it? still sorting it all out...

Thank you for your reply, heathy11. I was referring to the French Immersion Program in Prince George's County, Maryland at Robert Goddard Elementary School. But your response was still helpful to me. I was wondering the same thing: wouldn't it be better to learn Spanish? Still, I think it's valuable to know any second language.