On Mackworth Island, not far from Portland, the Mackworth Island Preschool Program at the Maine Educational Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing/Governor Baxter School for the Deaf (MECDHH/GBSD) helps deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing children flourish. At MECDHH/GBSD, instructors immerse students, 3-5 years old, in American Sign Language…

This article presents a model for a short-term interdisciplinary study abroad program designed specifically to foster intercultural competence. It provides a description of a one-month interdisciplinary General Education Summer Abroad Program in Valencia, Spain, that attempts to sensitize students to cultural differences, to engage students to a…

Recent years have brought increasing attention to studies of language acquisition in a country where the language is spoken, as opposed to formal language study in classrooms. Research on language learners in immersion contexts is important, as the question of whether study abroad is valuable is still somewhat controversial among researchers…

The Atse Kituwah Academy (New Kituwah Academy) houses the new Cherokee immersion school in Cherokee, North Carolina. Cherokee is located on the Qualla Boundary in the mountains of the western part of the state, the contemporary homeland of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). In 2005, a comprehensive study of the health of the Cherokee…

This article describes three big programs from Delaware where the less commonly taught languages find their home in Delaware elementary schools. Odyssey Charter School, located in Wilmington, is one of the very few Greek-language-focused public schools in the nation. The school began in 2006 as a Greek immersion program that concentrated on the…

In immersion programs, language is not directly taught, but rather embedded into the content of a lesson. The target language is the medium of the lesson, not the object of the instruction. A story provides a language experience and encourages students to participate actively in the lesson. Children are also more apt to learn and retain ideas and…

Presents a total Spanish immersion program designed to improve students' spoken Spanish and deepen their cultural awareness under the auspices of a natural and informal environment. Students and their teachers meet in the forest at the end of the week from 40 to 50 hours and converse solely in Spanish. (Author/CK)

In parts of rural New Brunswick (Canada) a milder form of French immersion instruction was developed in the late 1970s. It is called "Extended Core French" or "Single Subject Immersion, grades 7-12." Twenty to 30 percent of students in these programs can reach the oral proficiency level achieved by Early Immersion Students.…

The impact of a grade two enrichment program in a French immersion course is evaluated. Small group activities under the supervision of a parent, grade six students, and a grade two monitor provided opportunities to practice French in a stimulating environment. Significant oral skills gains were measured. (Author/MSE)

Describes weaknesses in the sociolinguistic competence of second-language (L2) learners as documented by research in immersion contexts. The article discusses findings with reference to adolescent native speakers' use of question forms, conditionals, and second-person pronouns across two levels of formality in written and oral productions. (48…

This article describes a learning context in which the first grade classroom teacher creates a learning community where she uses different teaching strategies to encourage children's second language use and learning. The first graders share, discuss, and learn both the second language (German) and content.

Reports on the speech difficulties of four French immersion anglophone students participating in a three-month interlinguistic exchange. Each student was interviewed three times, and the transcripts were analyzed for linguistic, sociolinguistic, and sociocultural errors in oral French and for performance evaluation by the students. (51 references)…

This paper describes the partial immersion program (PIP) at Key Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia. In this program, which has completed its seventh year, half the day is taught in English and half in Spanish. The review of the program, which included classroom observations, teacher and staff interviews, and student assessment, revealed a…

The current situation of foreign language education at all educational levels in the United States, is examined with emphasis on new developments in instruction, testing, and program design. In a section titled "The Foreign Language Crisis," the combination of declining foreign language enrollment and increasing need for language skills…

A key to closing the achievement gap between students who come to school speaking a language other than English and native English speakers is adoption of two-way bilingual immersion (TWBI) programs. The bilingual immersion approach fosters excellent academic achievement and positive school attitudes in students of any ethnicity who participate.…