When visiting Dual Language Immersion (DLI) programs within today's public schools, sociocultural divides and linguistic barriers between parents of each represented language group become quickly recognizable. Should it be a priority of DLI programs to foster intercultural parental relations as a means for improving student learning? If given the…

Harrisonburg, Virginia, a community nestled in the fertile hills of the Shenandoah Valley, is emblematic of the demographic changes taking shape in the U.S. for some years now. The town's agricultural industry has attracted a large number of immigrant workers from Central America. In addition, Harrisonburg's refugee resettlement center has drawn…

Experiential learning theory places experience at the center of learning. Kolb's four-stage cycle of experiential learning suggests that effective learners must engage fully in each stage of the cycle--feeling, reflection, thinking, and action. This research assesses the alignment of Kolb's experiential learning cycle with the week-long Summer…

Many teachers of foreign languages struggle with finding alternative ways of exposing their students to the target language. At Kent Gardens Elementary School (KGES) in McLean, Virginia, many students participate in an immersion program from first grade to sixth grade. These students spend half of every school day immersed in French while learning…

Many classrooms have interactive whiteboards and several computers and many schools are equipped with a computer lab and mobile labs. However, there typically are not enough computers for every student in each classroom; mobile labs are often shared between several members of a team and time in the computer labs needs to be scheduled in advance.…

The information on two-way bilingual programs presented in this volume was gathered as the first phase of a study for the National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning. Two-way bilingual programs integrate language minority and language majority students and provide instruction in and through two languages. This…