Anyone with step kids know what Bubba, Jr. needs

[tsap seui]

He graduated from 9th grade recently. We will get a letter from his teacher and his 9th grade paperwork from the school...or try at least. Anything else someone can suggest the American school system will ask for?

 

I am so happy right now the only thing I can call myself, and my wife is FREE, so that is how I will sign my name for a bit.

 

FREE

[credzba]

He graduated from 9th grade recently. We will get a letter from his teacher and his 9th grade paperwork from the school...or try at least. Anything else someone can suggest the American school system will ask for?

 

I am so happy right now the only thing I can call myself, and my wife is FREE, so that is how I will sign my name for a bit.

 

FREE

 

I ab-so-lutly know, my daughter graduated 10th grade in China, and started school here in America in 11th grade.

Mine is for Texas school district, but you guys up north should at least be similar.

 

You need to go to his school, and get notorized copy of his grades (in english) to bring to america. Best go back as far as 7th grade, because they will give hime credit for our hs courses that are taught in China in 7 and 8 grade. The schools know what to do.

 

Also, they will accept advanced courses (e.g. +20 to the grade) if the school marks the classes as advanced courses deserving advanced credit.

 

English can count as English in america, Chinese can count as a foreign language.

Government (China government) can count for government credit here.

As much as possible try to understand what material is taught in the courses he has so that it can be allocated to a corresponding course in America.

 

Some students come to america, and move back a grade, for example your son might do 9th grade over again.

If he is in the top quarter of his class in China, he will know all the 10th grade material in America alread (thus he is already re-doing a year). So don't do that minus one grade thing unless he struggles already in China.

 

The classes he wont have a CLUE about are American history. This actually took me sitting and cliff-noting the chapters for her along with explanation of why people moved west in "The westward movement" and other amazing things in american history. On top of having no basis for the history, it is all in english explaining things with words not in normal vocabulary. These were the toughest classes.

 

Our daughter was top 2% in China school, and breezed through Math and Science (she told me she didn't have a clue what the teacher was saying) but she already knew the material in Chinese. She needed (used) one of those electronic translators for words every day at school. You can buy them cheaper in China than America so save some money and buy it there. The thing is, buy one that has science technical words. It wasn't obvious to me that Hydrogen wouldn't be hydrogen in China, but sure enough it is some other word.

 

English, we put her in English as a second language for the first semester, she asked to move to regular classes before December. English class was not the challenge I expected.

 

OH .. PE .. perhaps boys wont have as strong a reaction, but our daughter came home in tears, she could not imagine ANYONE being so cruel as to make them walk IN THE SUN for 30 minutes around the track. She took dance after that .. inside.

 

I looked around for the public school with the highest percentage of asians before we bought our house. In Texas your school is based on where you live. I purposely bought a house in the right area that would give her the highest probability of finding some friends who spoke Chinese. Sure enough she did, and it really helped, because she couldn't even understand the homework assignments from the teacher at the start, but her chinese friends would translate the assignment for her.

 

If you want, contact me on PM, I can ask my daughter to call your son there in China, and tell him more what he needs.

Edited July 15, 2011 by credzba (see edit history)

[tsap seui]

He graduated from 9th grade recently. We will get a letter from his teacher and his 9th grade paperwork from the school...or try at least. Anything else someone can suggest the American school system will ask for?

 

I am so happy right now the only thing I can call myself, and my wife is FREE, so that is how I will sign my name for a bit.

 

FREE

 

I ab-so-lutly know, my daughter graduated 10th grade in China, and started school here in America in 11th grade.

Mine is for Texas school district, but you guys up north should at least be similar.

 

You need to go to his school, and get notorized copy of his grades (in english) to bring to america. Best go back as far as 7th grade, because they will give hime credit for our hs courses that are taught in China in 7 and 8 grade. The schools know what to do.

 

Also, they will accept advanced courses (e.g. +20 to the grade) if the school marks the classes as advanced courses deserving advanced credit.

 

English can count as English in america, Chinese can count as a foreign language.

Government (China government) can count for government credit here.

As much as possible try to understand what material is taught in the courses he has so that it can be allocated to a corresponding course in America.

 

Some students come to america, and move back a grade, for example your son might do 9th grade over again.

If he is in the top quarter of his class in China, he will know all the 10th grade material in America alread (thus he is already re-doing a year). So don't do that minus one grade thing unless he struggles already in China.

 

The classes he wont have a CLUE about are American history. This actually took me sitting and cliff-noting the chapters for her along with explanation of why people moved west in "The westward movement" and other amazing things in american history. On top of having no basis for the history, it is all in english explaining things with words not in normal vocabulary. These were the toughest classes.

 

Our daughter was top 2% in China school, and breezed through Math and Science (she told me she didn't have a clue what the teacher was saying) but she already knew the material in Chinese. She needed (used) one of those electronic translators for words every day at school. You can buy them cheaper in China than America so save some money and buy it there. The thing is, buy one that has science technical words. It wasn't obvious to me that Hydrogen wouldn't be hydrogen in China, but sure enough it is some other word.

 

English, we put her in English as a second language for the first semester, she asked to move to regular classes before December. English class was not the challenge I expected.

 

OH .. PE .. perhaps boys wont have as strong a reaction, but our daughter came home in tears, she could not imagine ANYONE being so cruel as to make them walk IN THE SUN for 30 minutes around the track. She took dance after that .. inside.

 

I looked around for the public school with the highest percentage of asians before we bought our house. In Texas your school is based on where you live. I purposely bought a house in the right area that would give her the highest probability of finding some friends who spoke Chinese. Sure enough she did, and it really helped, because she couldn't even understand the homework assignments from the teacher at the start, but her chinese friends would translate the assignment for her.

 

If you want, contact me on PM, I can ask my daughter to call your son there in China, and tell him more what he needs.

 

 

Thanks so much buddy. Fengqi is my main concern when we hit the shore running. We live in a very small town and I have only seen a few Asians in it. Hopefully one of the familys has a son or daughter he can talk to. When we get back home my first step is to contact the school, even before we start to move into our apartment and are staying in a hotel....his school is my primary concern.

 

I am copying this and sending it to my wife's computer so she can read it. And yes, thanks to you I will buy him the best translater we can find. He has a small one and I bought a good one for him mom when we got together.

 

Fengqi was in the best middle school in Fushun. It cost his fathers mother 18,000rmb to get in and he is in the top 10% there. he took biology, chemistry, english, Chinese, and algebra 5 years ago that I saw. I will folow your advice.

 

My fear is his english and understanding his teachers....as well, like you stated....history.

 

I have entertained the thought of 9th grade again but if he only understood english (can't carry a full conversation with me) he, like your daughter could probably have skipped some of their current grade in science and math.

 

Gonna be an experience. He is my primary concern. I will be spending my time getting them accustomed to America but his challenge is uppermost in both of our thoughts. I'll be there for him, maybe have to sit in on history class too.

 

Thank you so much.

 

Rawknee

[Randy W]

 

. . .

 

And yes, thanks to you I will buy him the best translater we can find. He has a small one and I bought a good one for him mom when we got together.

 

 

. . .

 

 

 

Thank you so much.

 

Rawknee

 

 

The Besta models seem to be the best in terms of how much dictionary power they carry. They come with a DVD full of technical and other dictionaries that you can load onto it. I don't like the way it handles pinyin (you have to translate each syllable into a Chinese character before it will continue), but it seems to be perfect for the Chinese speakers.

 

The model I bought is the CD-980, a top-of-the-line for the Chinese market. Dan recommended an equivalent one that's sold in the US, but I forget the model number for that one.

 

http://s.taobao.com/search?q=%22cd-980%22&keyword=&commend=all&ssid=s5-e&search_type=item&atype=&tracelog=&sourceId=tb.index&rt=

[tsap seui]

 

. . .

 

And yes, thanks to you I will buy him the best translater we can find. He has a small one and I bought a good one for him mom when we got together.

 

 

. . .

 

 

 

Thank you so much.

 

Rawknee

 

 

The Besta models seem to be the best in terms of how much dictionary power they carry. They come with a DVD full of technical and other dictionaries that you can load onto it. I don't like the way it handles pinyin (you have to translate each syllable into a Chinese character before it will continue), but it seems to be perfect for the Chinese speakers.

 

The model I bought is the CD-980, a top-of-the-line for the Chinese market. Dan recommended an equivalent one that's sold in the US, but I forget the model number for that one.

 

http://s.taobao.com/search?q=%22cd-980%22&keyword=&commend=all&ssid=s5-e&search_type=item&atype=&tracelog=&sourceId=tb.index&rt=

 

Thanks Randy. I will look for that model, or similar. As usual, you da man!!!

 

tsap seui

[DongDong]

Once you pick a school you are comfortable with, I¡¯m sure you will be calling the admissions director about a few things. I would expect they will tell you all the things you will need ahead of time. For instance, up to date shot records are a big thing this year for us. Even though we have health insurance and the doctors say we have what our daughter needs, the school is requiring more.

Here are a couple of posts from before that may or may not help.

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?/topic/32174-does-your-step-daughterson-adapt-well/page__p__419589__hl__%2Bkids+%2Badjusting__fromsearch__1#entry419589

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?/topic/43098-need-advice-on-chinese-daughter-of-my-fiancee/page__p__571399__hl__school__fromsearch__1#entry571399

 

Other than that, I spend a lot of time getting to know the teachers and making sure they understand my daughter¡¯s needs¡­ which I am pretty sure you will do anyway, TSAP

I hope he makes the adjustment easily/quickly and finds good friends. Best of luck, Dad!

[credzba]

Once you pick a school you are comfortable with, I¡¯m sure you will be calling the admissions director about a few things. I would expect they will tell you all the things you will need ahead of time. For instance, up to date shot records are a big thing this year for us. Even though we have health insurance and the doctors say we have what our daughter needs, the school is requiring more.

Here are a couple of posts from before that may or may not help.

 

http://candleforlove...__1#entry419589

 

http://candleforlove...__1#entry571399

 

Other than that, I spend a lot of time getting to know the teachers and making sure they understand my daughter¡¯s needs¡­ which I am pretty sure you will do anyway, TSAP

I hope he makes the adjustment easily/quickly and finds good friends. Best of luck, Dad!

 

 

 

 

Oh yes I forgot shots.

 

Even thgough we had all the CR/1 shots to get immigration there were more needed for school.

 

Be sure and save the shot records so they don't have to get the immunizations again.

 

Also, we found that the county health office could give most of the required shots for 20$, vs over 200$ from the travel agency shot place.

[tsap seui]

Once you pick a school you are comfortable with, I¡¯m sure you will be calling the admissions director about a few things. I would expect they will tell you all the things you will need ahead of time. For instance, up to date shot records are a big thing this year for us. Even though we have health insurance and the doctors say we have what our daughter needs, the school is requiring more.

Here are a couple of posts from before that may or may not help.

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?/topic/32174-does-your-step-daughterson-adapt-well/page__p__419589__hl__%2Bkids+%2Badjusting__fromsearch__1#entry419589

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?/topic/43098-need-advice-on-chinese-daughter-of-my-fiancee/page__p__571399__hl__school__fromsearch__1#entry571399

 

Other than that, I spend a lot of time getting to know the teachers and making sure they understand my daughter¡¯s needs¡­ which I am pretty sure you will do anyway, TSAP

I hope he makes the adjustment easily/quickly and finds good friends. Best of luck, Dad!

 

Thanks buddy. Yep, as soon as we get a few things into the apartment to make it a home my next step is go to school. And it looks like I will be a "school dad" for a bit until I feel everything is okay for our son. Bedford has around 5,000 residents, so as you can imagine there is ONE high school. Not many to pick from.

 

I remember you guys getting the visa like it was yesterday...looked at your timeline and just saw it was almost 3 years ago...and almost fell off my perch. I must be having a ton of fun the way time is passing.

 

tsap seui

[tsap seui]

Once you pick a school you are comfortable with, I¡¯m sure you will be calling the admissions director about a few things. I would expect they will tell you all the things you will need ahead of time. For instance, up to date shot records are a big thing this year for us. Even though we have health insurance and the doctors say we have what our daughter needs, the school is requiring more.

Here are a couple of posts from before that may or may not help.

 

http://candleforlove...__1#entry419589

 

http://candleforlove...__1#entry571399

 

Other than that, I spend a lot of time getting to know the teachers and making sure they understand my daughter¡¯s needs¡­ which I am pretty sure you will do anyway, TSAP

I hope he makes the adjustment easily/quickly and finds good friends. Best of luck, Dad!

 

 

 

 

Oh yes I forgot shots.

 

Even thgough we had all the CR/1 shots to get immigration there were more needed for school.

 

Be sure and save the shot records so they don't have to get the immunizations again.

 

Also, we found that the county health office could give most of the required shots for 20$, vs over 200$ from the travel agency shot place.

Very helpful once again buddy.

 

Do you think he will need two copies of his birth certificate? Two applications have us down to one white book now. We use your guide as the law. I don't mind getting more white books for this and that but my lil' Chinese bean counter is getting ancy as she sees this one trip costing upwards of $11,000. I jes smile at her and say our dream has come true, a few more dollars thrown at it is nothing.

 

THanks to all of you for your help. In one effect I am totally unprepared for SUCCESS from the State Department. Too long under the gun, and too afraid to think in terms of an actual visa....as the hurt would be too bad if another failure.

 

tsap seui

No longer needing to be gun shy

[credzba]

Do you think he will need two copies of his birth certificate? Two applications have us down to one white book now. We use your guide as the law. I don't mind getting more white books for this and that but my lil' Chinese bean counter is getting ancy as she sees this one trip costing upwards of $11,000. I jes smile at her and say

 

 

No need.

Once in the US of A, that green card and social security card is all you need.

 

My wife and I were going on a vacation to Wisconsin, and she was asking what we needed at the airport for id, I said "just your drivers license" and she was surprised we could go everywhere with only a drivers license for identification.

 

You know Tsap, thats your NEXT set of challenges .. DRIVING !!

 

When my wife got here she said no need to drive, I can take a bus where ever I need to go.

I bought her an electric bike anyway, but that only lasted about 1 month.

 

She arrived in August, and was driving her own car by November. We live in Texas though, here a car is manditory.

[tsap seui]

Do you think he will need two copies of his birth certificate? Two applications have us down to one white book now. We use your guide as the law. I don't mind getting more white books for this and that but my lil' Chinese bean counter is getting ancy as she sees this one trip costing upwards of $11,000. I jes smile at her and say

 

 

No need.

Once in the US of A, that green card and social security card is all you need.

 

My wife and I were going on a vacation to Wisconsin, and she was asking what we needed at the airport for id, I said "just your drivers license" and she was surprised we could go everywhere with only a drivers license for identification.

 

You know Tsap, thats your NEXT set of challenges .. DRIVING !!

 

When my wife got here she said no need to drive, I can take a bus where ever I need to go.

I bought her an electric bike anyway, but that only lasted about 1 month.

 

She arrived in August, and was driving her own car by November. We live in Texas though, here a car is manditory.

 

Yep, I'm already hearin' about you needa teach me to drive car. They are needed here too, although our first apartment is within 6 blocks of a grocery store, bank, etc. Bedford ain't big, 5,000 people and 4 stop lights total. No busses or taxis.

 

We will have plenty to keep us busy, at least we'll be together for a change. I've got to get things started quickly as an investor is looking into buying another house for me to renovate for him.

 

Wenyan is out getting Fengqi's 9th grade papers with their proof of his 7th and 8th grade and taking them to the notary/translater for another white book. Fengqi was taking

math

physics

biology

geography

history

English

Chinese

chemistry

His math I don't know what it wa for 9th grade but it looked to me like he was taking algebra-1 4 yearsago. Once he gets up to speed with english he should do well, other than American history, etc.

 

I am couped up in the dang home with some of the things Wenyan is trying to go buy as I would just have to stand outside/down the street to keep the prices down. That is starting to suck. Fushun is only 1.3 million and unless it's a big shop where they can't change the prices when my face walks into the door, we're screwed. Oh well, thank goodness we're gona live in America...I am starting to feellike I live in a gilded cage here. At lest I can walk in the park with no extra charge, only stares like I fell from the sky.

 

Thanks for you help, I am sure to have many more questions, especially having been out of the loop with my 24 year old daughters schooling for a few years now.

 

tsap seui

[tsap seui]

 

. . .

 

And yes, thanks to you I will buy him the best translater we can find. He has a small one and I bought a good one for him mom when we got together.

 

 

. . .

 

 

 

Thank you so much.

 

Rawknee

 

 

The Besta models seem to be the best in terms of how much dictionary power they carry. They come with a DVD full of technical and other dictionaries that you can load onto it. I don't like the way it handles pinyin (you have to translate each syllable into a Chinese character before it will continue), but it seems to be perfect for the Chinese speakers.

 

The model I bought is the CD-980, a top-of-the-line for the Chinese market. Dan recommended an equivalent one that's sold in the US, but I forget the model number for that one.

 

http://s.taobao.com/search?q=%22cd-980%22&keyword=&commend=all&ssid=s5-e&search_type=item&atype=&tracelog=&sourceId=tb.index&rt=

 

 

Randy, Wenyan found that Besta CD-980 in Fushun. It is 1,398rmb here. A good 500 more than your link showed to buy it online, but much less than I thought it would be here. The lil' rabbit buys clothes over that site you listed but I can't get her to let them ship something like the tanslater.

 

Anyhow thanks a bunch for the advice and link. Looks like we'll be getting it for Bubba, Jr.

 

tsap seui

[Randy W]

 

Randy, Wenyan found that Besta CD-980 in Fushun. It is 1,398rmb here. A good 500 more than your link showed to buy it online, but much less than I thought it would be here. The lil' rabbit buys clothes over that site you listed but I can't get her to let them ship something like the tanslater.

 

Anyhow thanks a bunch for the advice and link. Looks like we'll be getting it for Bubba, Jr.

 

tsap seui

 

 

I understand - but you can buy insurance (or even EMS shipping), if you still want to pursue that.

[tsap seui]

 

Randy, Wenyan found that Besta CD-980 in Fushun. It is 1,398rmb here. A good 500 more than your link showed to buy it online, but much less than I thought it would be here. The lil' rabbit buys clothes over that site you listed but I can't get her to let them ship something like the tanslater.

 

Anyhow thanks a bunch for the advice and link. Looks like we'll be getting it for Bubba, Jr.

 

tsap seui

 

 

I understand - but you can buy insurance (or even EMS shipping), if you still want to pursue that.

 

Never thought of that Randy. I'll run it buy lil' rabbit.

 

I feel more brain dead by the day.

 

Now we got a small red book that is Fengqi's Jr. High School Dipolma. Some of the numbers are out of 100. Some are out of a possible 50...example 48. One is out of a possible 70...example 68. Three are out of a possible 30.

 

And there is nothing that says what sort of math he has taken...just says math.

 

We haven't gotten the white book yet, thank goodness. Looks like I need to get lil' rabbit to translate each symbol for me and try and get a teacher to break down what "types" of math, etc the kid has taken.

 

Turning in a white book with scores of 30, 48, 68 is gonna do him injustice when 30 is the highest he could have gotten and the other two are only 2 off of the possible highest he could have gotten.

 

I'm at a loss. The "diploma" is the size of a marriage book and one page of grades. I'll push on my best.

 

tsap seui

[credzba]

Randy, Wenyan found that Besta CD-980 in Fushun. It is 1,398rmb here. A good 500 more than your link showed to buy it online, but much less than I thought it would be here. The lil' rabbit buys clothes over that site you listed but I can't get her to let them ship something like the tanslater.

 

Anyhow thanks a bunch for the advice and link. Looks like we'll be getting it for Bubba, Jr.

 

tsap seui

 

 

I understand - but you can buy insurance (or even EMS shipping), if you still want to pursue that.

 

Never thought of that Randy. I'll run it buy lil' rabbit.

 

I feel more brain dead by the day.

 

Now we got a small red book that is Fengqi's Jr. High School Dipolma. Some of the numbers are out of 100. Some are out of a possible 50...example 48. One is out of a possible 70...example 68. Three are out of a possible 30.

 

And there is nothing that says what sort of math he has taken...just says math.

 

We haven't gotten the white book yet, thank goodness. Looks like I need to get lil' rabbit to translate each symbol for me and try and get a teacher to break down what "types" of math, etc the kid has taken.

 

Turning in a white book with scores of 30, 48, 68 is gonna do him injustice when 30 is the highest he could have gotten and the other two are only 2 off of the possible highest he could have gotten.

 

I'm at a loss. The "diploma" is the size of a marriage book and one page of grades. I'll push on my best.

 

tsap seui

 

Yes, I remember, and my wife had to translate the chinese for the school too.

The important thing is for you to be able to tell them what the courses covered. The school where our daughter went was willing to do all they could to give her credit, they just needed some justification.

 

As for the 29 out of 30 problem, make sure it is documented, and the school will do the conversion.

We even had some luck having the school in China add the annotations for advanced classes, and converting to out of 100.

 

The thing is to get advnaced classes marked because that gives your son the ability to have 120 out of 100 (however that works )