Immersion programs have long been considered the gold standard for school-based language revitalization, but surprisingly little attention has been paid to the quantity and quality of the input that they provide to young language learners. Drawing on new data from three such programs (Kaqchikel, Western Subanon, and Maori), each with its own…

In addition to fostering bilingualism and biliteracy for all students, one of the main goals of Two-Way Immersion (TWI) programs is building positive cross-cultural relationships (). This can lead to TWI programs having ambitious goals for the kinds of bridges it can build between students, families, and communities, which is a challenge when the…

Kindergarten in Victoria, Australia is the preschool year, attended by children who are four going on five, and who will go onto primary school the following year. These are part-time programs, run over a small number of sessions per week, typically for 3-5 hours per session for 10-12 hours per week. North West Brunswick Kindergarten, in the…

Describes immersion education as practiced in Canada, outlining immersion programs' background, structure, methodology, and outcomes. Suggests that, to achieve the outcomes of immersion education developed for majority language groups, some minority language groups may require programs beginning in the first language and continuing in both the…

Describes the birth of French immersion programs in the Montreal elementary schools. (AM)

A special journal issue on French language immersion programs in Canada consists of these articles: "The Immersion Phenomenon" (H. H. Stern); "For My Kids, It's French without Tears" (Judy Gibson); "A 'First' for a Toronto High School" (Claire Mian); "The Teachers, Key to the Success Story" (Andre Obadia);…

A Massachusetts two-way bilingual education program provides initial first-language (L1) literacy development for all students, teaches half of the curriculum in L1 and half in L2 by third grade, and selectively integrates native and non-native speakers of the target language. Both target groups meet academic and linguistic goals by fifth grade.…

This article discusses the history of the St. Lambert bilingual education experiment in Montreal, Canada, and bilingual education in general. The experimental project was begun because parents did not feel that the traditional language classes were successful in teaching their children French. The belief that native language skills would suffer,…

The Hawaiian Language Immersion program (HLI) is described and evaluated. HLI began in 1987 with two small classes on two islands and within 6 years had grown, in response to parent interest, to serve 621 students in grades K-7 in 6 schools on 5 islands. Participating students are taught entirely in Hawaiian until grade 5; in grades 5 and 6 one…