The immersive method is a new concept of visual education that is better suited to the needs of students in contemporary post-industrial society. The features of the immersive method are: (1) it emerges from interaction with visual culture; (2) it encourages understanding of contemporary art (as an integral part of visual culture); and (3) it…

Students whose first language is not English are the fastest-growing group in public schools in all regions of the United States. Almost 10 million children between the ages of five and 17 live in the homes and communities in which a language other than English in spoken and presently most schools in the U.S. are under-educating many English…

Describes a Japanese language immersion program in a first grade class in Virginia. Participating students spend half their day learning math, science, and health from a teacher who speaks to them only in Japanese. Though there is some controversy, the program works well, with students excelling in all subjects. (SM)

A description of an immersion program for 6-year-old anglophone children modeled on "les classes d'accueil" for immigrant children. The program of intensive instruction in oral and written French is outlined. This school district has found this type of immersion superior to the usual kind. (The text is in French.) (AMH)

Teachers in two bilingual Spanish-immersion kindergarten classrooms structured opening activities to ensure comprehension and participation of children with little or no knowledge of Spanish. Classroom routines are analyzed in terms of scaffolding provided, focusing on specific communication strategies, teacher and peer modeling of Spanish usage,…

Reports on a research study seeking to determine why a large percentage of English-speaking Canadian parents do not enroll their primary-aged children in French immersion programs. (AM)

Students in a grade 2-3, two-way bilingual classroom increased their understanding of scientific practice through a model-based methodology for science instruction. Students collaborated with peers and teachers to create computer models, construct physical models, and talk about their models in the classroom. Aspects of second language usage in…

Jamaica is a Creole-speaking environment, where children enter school with a range of varieties, some of which are closely related to English. The expectation is that they will learn English in school. The appropriate language teaching approach, it is argued, is not English as a mother tongue, English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign…

The school performance of pupils in grades K-2 of the French immersion program in operation in Ottawa public schools is evaluated in comparison with that of pupils in the regular English program. (Author/RM)

The reading skill development of anglophone kindergarten children in French immersion programs in Canada is the subject of the two papers included in this document. The first paper describes a study that examined the English reading ability of both kindergarten and first grade children in immersion programs and compared the results with those of…

A study analyzed and compared the classroom interactional strategies of two teachers of Catalan immersion classes and one teacher of Spanish as a native language in Spain at the kindergarten level. The theoretical framework guiding the study is based on analysis of the native-speaker/non-native-speaker distinction. Two comparisons were made: (1)…

An experimental bilingual bicultural French language program for kindergarten students in a former French-speaking area of Western Newfoundland was initiated in an integrated primary school in September 1975. The experimental class of thirty students was taught entirely in French while the control group received twenty minutes of French per day…

The contents of this book are divided into sections on cognitive and affective studies in bilingual-bicultural education, programs in bilingual-bicultural education: an analysis of total or partial immersion programs, and teacher directed issues: some practical suggestions from theoretical domains. The following papers are in this collection:…

Dual language programs are bilingual education immersion models designed to address the needs of limited-English-proficient students and native English speakers by proving an additive language approach. In this program, English and Spanish are used for the purpose of developing bilingual and biliteracy skills. The project was structured after the…

This paper examines the special challenges that English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students face in succeeding in science classrooms in U.S. schools. Particular focus is on how students in one experimental classroom (a Grade 2 and Grade 3 two-way bilingual English-Spanish class in a small western city) learned to apprehend scientific meaning with…