I was surprised to realize I have something to add to this thread:
>
>The programs exist in three basic varieties. Full immersion programs,
like the
one at Maryvale Elementary in Rockville, teach students in a foreign
language
(in Maryvale's case, French) all day every day. Instruction in English
isn't
introduced until the second half of fourth grade, and then only for 45
minutes
twice a week. Partial immersion programs, like those offered by
Fairfax County,
teach students in a foreign language for half of every day, then in
English the
other half. (Fairfax has the largest immersion program in the country,
with
programs in 13 elementary schools.)
>
> Immersion programs are not without controversy. The question is: Do
they work? Does a kid come out of an immersion program as well
educated in the basics as a kid in a regular, English-only program
does, and with a good understanding of a foreign language as well?
>
I have taught at Sylvan Learning Center since last summer as a
part-time gig (another reason NOT to be a teacher: boring
summers/income spent before you return to school!!), and I had two
students who went to the French school in San Diego. It seemed to me
that these kids had been shortchanged by their school. They (i
believe, this may not be correct & feel free to let me know) were
instructed in French primarily and had maybe an hour or two of English
instruction per day, if at all. They were both at Sylvan because their
English language was very low, ie, they were both i think about grade
3, but their English was VERY odd---one boy started out with the
Kinder-level program because he did not have the English sounds, the
other was in the writing program and probably about level 1.5 in
writing in English.
Anyway, now that you have the background--it was nice because we had a
French-Canadian working there, and she could speak French to them,
which they listened to well and responded to perfectly. HOWEVER, in
their language AND behavior, they were *extremely* low. I mean, they
did NOT behave socially in English!! I don't like the pigeonhole kids,
but they were both quite obnoxious, and after a while, I realized it
was not because they were "bad apples"--it was that they did NOT
understand English nearly as well as French, and would act out to
cover their misunderstandings....both boys were sort of "known" in the
center as troublemakers--one even called me a "monkey" repeatedly
(this was not a racial slur or anything, but he was just purposefully
trying to bother me so I would send him off to the center director so
he wouldn't have to do work (i think!). They were always kind of
playing jokes on the older kids--throwing water droplets at them, etc.
After we realized a lot of this behavior was due to their low level
of English, we were able to address that situation. It was also
interesting that whenever the Fr-Canadian spoke to them in English, it
was an AMAZING, notable change in their entire demeanorthey were
happy to share their French knowledge (though they were for the most
part at the pre-production stage), and followed her directions
*beautifully* no matter how many times the other teacher had repeated
her direction ("stop leaning back in your chair," etc)!
My other experience with immersion schools was in a German-English
school also in San Diego. The kids were taught one week in German, the
next in English (or maybe 2 weeks of each). These kids seemed a lot
more confident in themselves, but they did NOT speak German to each
other or to the teacher nearly as much as I had expected (I was always
saying to them, "Auf Deutsch, bitte!!"). However, they understood
their lessons in German VERY well and seemed to be much happier/well
adjusted than the two boys in the school like the first model in the
quoted article.
SO
in conclusion, --I have no conclusion, just wanted to say if you
are going the immersion school route, I dunnojust make sure SOMEONE
is speaking English (like the OPOL model) so they are fluent in BOTH
languages if possible!
Also (if I may be to bold to add), as sometimes the kids seem to think
they are "better" than others b/c they have 2 languages, please remind
your kids it's not something to lord over other kids who don't speak
2! It will cause them more heartache to brag/be overly proud than to
just be like, "I speak two languages, like millions of other
people."---but that may have been some sort of parenting/personality
issue for the French-school boys.
My 2c. just!
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