A study compared the narrative structures in stories told by monolingual Swedish-speaking children (n=19) and Finnish-speaking immersion students of Swedish (n=19), all in fifth grade. The immersion students had been taught in immersion since kindergarten. Subjects each told a story based on a wordless picture book, which was then analyzed for a…

This British collection of essays on intensive second language instruction is divided into four groups. A section on intensive courses outside Britain includes: "Intensive Courses in a German Youth Hostel"; "Intensive German from an Austrian Perspective: An LEA Initiative"; and "Integrating Intensive Sessions into the…

This document is the second of two reports of the findings of the 1991 "Sciences...humaines" Assessment for grades 8 and 10 conducted in Franco-Manitoban schools and in French immersion programs in Manitoba, Canada. The report on the French immersion course is presented in parallel French and English versions, and a separate report, in…

This paper describes and evaluates a Hebrew immersion program for Jewish day school students at Mt. Scopus College in Melbourne, Australia. Specific sections address the following: (1) the first year; (2) the second year; (3) designing the evaluation of the program; (4) results of the evaluation (including academic outcomes, student and parent…

Articles on immersion and bilingual education include these: "Terminological Considerations Regarding Content and Language Integrated Learning" (Tarja Nikula, David Marsh); "Educazione bilingue e multiculturale, istruzione bilingue, immersione totale: quattro nozioni da definire" ("Bilingual and Multicultural Education,…

The design and effectiveness of the Amigos program, a two-way Spanish-English bilingual immersion program in Cambridge (Massachusetts) are described. In the program, half the instruction is in English, half in Spanish from kindergarten through eighth grade. Half the students are native Spanish-speakers and half are native English-speakers. The…

The academic achievement of limited-English-speaking (LEP) students has long been a major national educational concern. This digest focuses on: (1) factors that promote or inhibit academic achievement in a second language; (2) the length of time needed for LEP students to achieve at comparable levels in school with their native English-speaking…

An evaluation of Manitoba's French immersion programs at the levels of grades 3, 6, and 9 focused on program effectiveness in teaching listening comprehension and speech skills. The results for grade 6 are presented here. The first section describes the framework of the immersion curriculum and the listening and oral skills targeted in it. The…

A study evaluated two El Paso, Texas bilingual education program types, including a state-mandated transitional model (n=18 schools, 5,607 students) and a bilingual immersion program (n=19 schools, 4,717 students). Both programs are designed so students will exit after grade 4, but some continue in grades 5 and 6. Student characteristics are…

Canada's French immersion program began in 1965 in response to anglophone parent demand for bilingual French/English instruction. Instruction entirely in French begins in kindergarten, and formal English instruction begins in third grade. The program's popularity has caused rapid expansion, with success attributed to changing attitudes toward…

Ottawa's program of middle French immersion (MFI) instruction, beginning in fourth grade, was evaluated when the first cohort reached sixth grade. Results of the study were compared with those of other groups, particularly the early French immersion (EFI) program and late French immersion (LFI) program students. The evaluation also added data from…

The purpose of this guide is to provide a resource for the development of modern and classical language curricula at the local level in North Dakota schools. The guide contains two sections, one dealing with modern languages, the other with Latin. Each section provides an overview of current philosophy, objectives, methods, and resources in…

This paper discusses and advocates the application of structured immersion, or transfer instruction, to the elementary school curriculum in English as a second language (ESL). It is proposed that transfer instruction, bridging bilingual or ESL programs and the mainstream all-English curriculum, helps children transfer the concepts and skills they…

A study investigated the extra-curricular use of French and English by 289 anglophone and ethnic minority fifth and sixth grade students in Montreal. The students were divided into three groups: (1) French sector children in regular French classes; (2) French sector children who were recent immigrants and enrolled in a 10-month familiarization…

An eight-week summer program was conducted to prevent 80 high-risk adolescents from dropping out of high school. The 32 females and 48 males selected for the project were all residents of rural areas of northern Louisiana who had been identified by their public school guidance counselors as being at high risk of dropping out. The program model…