FAQ About Sejong Academy of Minnesota
Where will Sejong be located?
Our first round of survey responses indicated that Minneapolis would be a central location for the majority of the respondents. The Board will make a final determination of location by the Fall of 2012.
Will busing be available?
Busing will be provided for students living within the school’s district. Those students who live outside the district boundaries will need to make other arrangements for transportation, such as car-pooling or Public Transit. Sejong will help families connect with others in their area who want to coordinate transportation.
What about diversity? Won’t the majority of the students be Korean-American?
While early survey results show the majority of families interested in Sejong have Korean-American children, it is too soon to predict the school’s demographics. Immersion is an increasingly attractive educational option in Minnesota and if existing immersion schools like Yinghua (Mandarin Chinese) are any indication, Sejong is likely to attract students from the school’s neighborhood, and others who have no ethnic-heritage tie to the language.
Adult adopted Koreans have also advised us that growing up as a minority in America (and often times a minority in their own family) they would have welcomed an environment that normalized their experience, via peers and role-models who shared their ethnic heritage.
I can’t read Hangeul and don’t speak Korean. How can I help my child with homework?
Many parents of Sejong students will not be experienced in the Korean language. Homework, especially in the early elementary levels will be given in English to support the concepts taught in the classroom and to help insure that students develop the English vocabulary to be able to discuss what they are learning in both languages. Sejong is also committed to helping families connect with Korean-American community resources, including language-learning and other cultural enrichment opportunities.
My child will be not be able to begin in Kindergarten. Isn't 4th grade too late to begin at an immersion school?
Although Kindergarten is the best time to start in an immersion program to ensure the highest level of bilingual proficiency, there is still much to benefit from entering a language immersion program in 1st, 2nd, 3rd or even 4th grades. The board of Sejong Academy, with the advice of education and immersion experts in Minnesota and across the country, is developing a curriculum that will support the language and educational needs of students at each grade level.
In the first year of operation, only students in grades K-1 will receive education in full Korean immersion, while students in grades 2-4 will spend a larger percentage of the day in English, with Korean language arts and one or two additional classes (such as art, music, health, or physical education) taught through the Korean language.
For students starting in Kindergarten or 1st grade in 2012, full immersion will remain through grade 2. In grade 3, an English Language Arts class will be introduced. Each grade-year thereafter, the ratio of Korean to English will gradually become 50:50 by middle school. (More details will be available soon.)
Sejong Academy's list of interested families already includes a good number of children at all grades levels, including the upper grades. Please sign up your children today to show your desire for Sejong Academy to open in 2012!
FAQ About Immersion Education
"What Parents Want to Know About Immersion Education" by Tara Fortune at the University of Minnesota Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition:
www.cal.org/resources/digest/0304fortune.html
"Top Ten Answers for Parents about Immersion Education" from the American Council on Immersion Education (ACIE) newsletter archives:
www.carla.umn.edu/immersion/acie/vol10/may2007_parentsten.html
"Why Immersion?" by Julie Sweitzer, parent of immersion students:
www.carla.umn.edu/immersion/acie/vol4/Feb2001_WhyImmers.html