Parental Right of Passage

Layla had her first parent teacher conference last month. I felt like we had passed through a parental milestone. To say that we are proud of Layla is an understatement. She is amazing.

Things are different with Chinese Immersion, so I wasn't sure what to expect with the conference, but it was very well done. We first met with her English teacher, Mrs. Byers, and discussed Layla's reading, writing, social skills, etc. Mrs. Byers said that Layla reads at a very high level, and knows everything that they are learning (like for the entire school year, and it's only October), so she recommended that we start her on some spelling words. She sends home one set at a time and Layla has to pass them off orally and through a written test. There are twelve in the set, she started on set two and is already (just three weeks later) on set six. I was thankful for the teacher's suggestion. She is a great teacher and keeps Layla challenged, which I am grateful for.

Next we met with Xeng Laoshi, the Chinese teacher. Her personality is more cold, and less fun, though overall she is nice. She just isn't the most bubbly, smiley person I've ever met. But Layla seems to like her okay. She didn't speak to us, but had papers on the desk that we read through. Then she asked Layla several questions in Chinese (which were also written on the paper so we knew what she was saying) and then Layla would answer her in Chinese. I took a video of the whole thing and it was amazing! Layla can count to 100 in Chinese and answer all sorts of questions about her name, age, her family, etc. It was definitely a proud parent moment and made me grateful that we decided to put her in the program.

I don't know why it is so amazing or surprising to me that she can pick up Chinese so fast when I took several classes on how kids learn to read and speak foreign languages when I was in college. I know that they pick it up so fast and well. I know how good it is for them and the advantages of learning when they're young. But it still blows my mind because it's my daughter and she's speaking a language that I don't know. Maybe if she spoke Russian like I do, or Cambodian like Mitch, it would be less of a shock.

Anyways, we got her report card and it is no longer an A,B,C,D, or F system. It is based on number points in over 25 different areas. Again, I don't know why I was surprised when I saw that Layla got every point possible in every single area. 100% you could say. She's a smarty pants!!!  I'm grateful, amazed, and proud of our daughter!