The following article is an adapted and abridged excerpt from The Language Immersion Life: A Guide for Families by Millie Park Mellgren (2017). This book features answers to the most common questions Dr. Mellgren was asked as an elementary immersion principal. The volume features commentary and data gleaned from surveys given to hundreds of former…

The job description for a homeschool Spanish teacher has many of the requirements one would expect. The candidate must be fluent in Spanish, love working with children, be willing to work with all kinds of learners, communicate well with parents and students, and have great enthusiasm for teaching. The Home School Assistance Program (HSAP) classes…

Imagination, creation, and innovation are three powerful words that present many possibilities in the world language classroom. When learners can see themselves as language users, they take ownership of their learning experience and become more invested in and engaged with the topic being studied. This heightened sense of investment in turn leads…

It is no exaggeration to say that language learning is the very foundation of global competence and the most deeply effective way for students to be able to "investigate the world, recognize perspectives, communicate ideas, and take action," which is the definition of global competence developed by Asia Society Vice President for…

Certain aspects of the implementation of language immersion programs in Delaware are unique given the state's size, demographics, and role in national education initiatives including Race to the Top, Common Core, and Smarter Balance. The Delaware experience typifies what every state, district, or even school goes through as they try to provide…

Studies on second language acquisition show that the earlier a child is exposed to instruction the more likely he or she will be successful in attaining high levels of proficiency. The author knew that if real change were going to take place in Linden, New Jersey, the ideas and beliefs that embody multiculturalism and multilingualism would have to…

Asia Society remains committed to promoting the teaching and learning of Chinese in American schools as an integral part of the broader agenda of building students' global competency, the key goal of its Partnership for Global Learning. Under the leadership of Asia Society's new Vice President for Education Tony Jackson and with continuing…

Many new teachers come into the teaching profession without the benefit of methods courses and numerous veteran teachers find that their long-ago methods courses do not have high transference to today's language agenda or today's students. Understanding that teachers want to teach to standards and appeal to students' interests in learning…

In this interview, Eve Wallwork, a junior at David W. Butler High School in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC) School District, talks about her research project on the field of early language learning. Wallwork shares the most important findings of her research, the benefits of early language learning, and her plans in the future.

From 1969 to the late 1980's, most French programs in schools were based on a traditional foreign language instructional model, usually offering 30 minutes a day of French language instruction in elementary grades, increasing to 50 minutes a day in middle school. Contingent on funding and political swings over time, programs expanded from…

During the summer of 2005, a longtime Japanese teacher at a K-8 school in southwestern Pennsylvania unexpectedly resigned. The school, unable to recruit a new teacher for the 2005-2006 school year, chose to suspend the teaching of Japanese and to establish a committee to examine the foreign language program within the overall school curriculum. In…

It has long been the assumption of many in the field of second language teaching that learning a second language helps to promote and enhance native language skill development, and that this correlation is direct and positive. Language professionals have assumed that learning a second language directly supports the development of better skills,…

In June 2001, Asia Society's National Commission on Asia in the Schools released its report which concluded that "young Americans are dangerously uninformed about international matters" (National Commission on Asia in the Schools, 2001 p. 6). Since then, Asia Society has been leading a major national initiative to stimulate teaching and…

This article presents the steps taken over three years (2003-2006) by the Consortium for Assessing Performance Standards, a New Jersey Grant Project to create a database of thematically organized, integrated performance assessment tasks at the benchmark levels of proficiency, novice-mid, intermediate-low and pre-advanced as defined by the ACTFL…