Enroll Non-English Speaking Child in Public School

[laodia]

Hi,

I am the OP. I want to thank those who have posted replied. This is much appreciated.

One reply mentioned "Pre-K" (I suppose it means Pre-Kindergarten). I was not aware of Pre-K program before and I have some questions about it.

1. My son will become five in Feb 2015. Will he qualify for Pre-K?

2. Do all/most elementary schools offer Pre-K? Is it paid or free?

3. Is Pre-K a full day or half day program?

It seems that the public education system in the US starts from Pre-K, then K, and then grade 1-12. Am I right?

By the way, we have been teaching our kids English at home, it is that my wife and I are non-native English speakers ourselves. At home we talk to our kids in our native languages, respectively, and talk to them in English only during the English lessons. We plan to spend more time to talk to them in English in the next few months.

[Aggiebuttercup]

It is unlikely you will be able to enroll your younger child in a school-run (free) pre-k. In most districts these classes fill up very quickly and are mostly lower-income students. Many day cares offer a pre-k program, where they teach the kids numbers and letters, etc.

I would highly encourage you to at least teach your children to say the basic words that they need: water, bathroom, food/hungry, stop/no and that they will hear "quiet/no talking", etc. I knew one child who (age 3) was hospitalized for dehydration shortly after she was enrolled in day care because she only spoke Arabic and couldn't tell the day care teachers she was thirsty, and the teachers hadn't noticed that she wasn't drinking much.

If you can get your older child fluent in the English alphabet, that will help; if her only exposure is the Cyrillic alphabet that they will be a difficult transition for her.

Good luck!

[nana053]

He would qualify for preK by age, but not all public schools offer such programs except for special needs or low income children. It is possible that he might qualify as an ESL (English as a Second Language Learner) depending upon the school though.

PreK can either be half or full days, though ime, most public schools have full day preK. However, that does not include after care or before care if you are working.

Public school PreK can be either free or have a small fee attached (for non special needs and/or affluent parents). They do fill up quickly though so you may not be able to enroll him if you are coming in the middle of the school year. It will depend on many factors including how full the class is at that point.

I agree with the other posters that you should start teaching both children English as soon as possible.

[germaine2626]

Since you know English it would be helpful if your children learn to say or understand a few key words or phrases before they arrive. However, I would not be overly concerned if they do not.

It is amazing how fast children pick up a new language in an immersion setting. In all of the schools where I have taught, it is not unusual to have students start, at a wide variety of grade levels, not even knowing one word of English. The English as Second Language Teacher may help with picture cards or something similar to help the children get started (pictures showing a bathroom, or food or water).

And, don't worry if the ESL teacher does not know your specific language, in my, fairly small school district we usually have students speaking 12 or 15 different language at any one time and the ESL teachers are trained to help everyone be successful.

[Coney]

First of all, depending on where you are relocating, there may or may not be other Russian students. Where I am located, there are thousands and thousands. I worked in 2 schools where all students were Russian speaking. There are bilingual Russian classes and ESL classes where most of the students' first language is Russian.

Unlike Europe, the educational system here is not centralized. The documentation that you will need to enroll your children will depend on your local school district. Usually they want proof of residency (the type of proof will vary from district to district) proof your child's age, and some sort of documentation from a doctor regarding your child's health and immunizations. My district also requires documentation from a dentist.

Formal education starts earlier here than in Russia. Again depending on your district, children who will be turning 5 (the specific month varies from district to district) will enter kindergarten. Your son, more than likely will be going to kindergarten, not prekindergarten. Kindergarten is available in the publis schools. You will not have to pay for that. Yeah, I know the "nursery" system is different in Russia and there is less formal education for the youngest ones.

Do both of your children a favor now by teaching them to read and write the English alphabet and how to write their FIRST and LAST names in ENGLISH. Look up the proper way each letter is formed. Also here, the teacher will address your children by their first name in class. We generally do not address people by saying their first and last names together as you do in Russia.

Your 7 year old daughter is going to be very far ahead in math in comparison to her American classmates. Despite the language difference, you may want to see if she could participate during the math block in the grade above her. Never had a problem with a Russian student figuring out the math even if they didn't understand a word that the teacher was saying.

I learned from my Russian students how very, very different American education is from Russian schools.