This article describes the practical application of an innovative bilingual preschool program that involves two-way immersion of both English and Chinese in classrooms. This has not been written about extensively, especially in the context of early childhood classrooms in Asian countries. The primary goal of the two-way immersion kindergarten is…

Describes sociohistoric influences on the development of Papahana Kaiapuni, an indigenous language-immersion program in kindergarten through grade 12 in selected public schools in Hawaii. Highlights the importance of parental activism and the value of this program as a model for other threatened languages. (SLD)

Immersion is defined as a method of foreign language instruction in which the regular school curriculum is taught through the medium of the language. The foreign language is the vehicle for content instruction; it is not the subject of instruction. Different questions pertaining to the following subjects are answered: (1) long-range goals of a…

Elementary two-way immersion (TWI) programs continue to proliferate throughout the United States, but the number of successfully implemented secondary TWI programs remains small. Many districts with TWI cohorts that are reaching the upper elementary grades must now make complex decisions about whether and how to extend their programs into middle…

The Hawaii State Department of Education offers a growing number of Hawaiian language immersion schools for its students. The article presents the history of immersion schools in Hawaii, examining criticisms of immersion schools, discussing their benefits, and explaining necessary components for success. (SM)

A comparison of the salient characteristics of Canadian and United States bilingual education programs suggests various settings where it would be desirable to introduce children to schooling in their home language. These settings include: (1) the various ethnic communities in the United States, (2) multilingual developing countries, (3) parts of…

This collection of essays on multilingual education includes the following: "A Global Perspective on Multilingualism and Multilingual Education" (G. Richard Tucker); "Psycholinguistic Perspectives on Multilingualism and Multilingual Education" (Jasone Cenoz, Fred Genesee); "Curriculum Decision-Making in Content-Based…

Current educational research and possible directions for the improvement of second language education in schools are discussed in the light of current Canadian political and economic influences. The Ontario Ministry of Education has proposed three levels of proficiency in French as reasonable objectives to be achieved by secondary schools in their…

The development and coordination of interdisciplinary immersion programs in French and Spanish at Boston College are chronicled, and some issues of federal grant support are discussed. The programs, currently involving the history, theology, philosophy, fine arts, management, and sociology departments and soon including political science, consist…