A class in the Dual Immersion [ DI ] program looks like this:

• 22 Students
• about 50% are native English speakers
• about 50% are native Spanish speakers
• Core classes are taught in English and Spanish
• Concepts they learn today in English will be advanced tomorrow in Spanish
• When they start in Kindergarten, every other day their eyes will be wide because it's a different language.
• Each day when in that class, they will be a little more comfortable with that different language.
• Today the child may be pressed to figure out each word, but tomorrow he or she will help others.
• With each passing year, they will learn more easily in that other language.
• Confusing?  Apparently not according to this BBC article [ 3/15/2007].

   

  "A team from Goldsmiths, University of London, analysed some primary school children in England using two languages in maths and English lessons.

  They found that, far from confusing them, having two languages deepened their understanding of key concepts."

The key to a DI program is not that they are learning a second language, but that they are learning in a second language.  At the end of the program they will have learned all the educational material required, and acquired a second language.

Here are some benefits

• Cognitive development
• Critical and creative thinking
• Being a model 50% of the time, helping fellow students
• Learning to appreciate other cultures
• Becoming bilingual and biliterate
• Learning how to learn another language

What does progress look like?  An Amazing Case

One might think that with the switching between languages, teachers, and subjects, that the children would struggle to stay on grade level.  Studies show that students in bilingual immersion programs out perform their peers in English only models.  Again we refer to Collier and Thomas' 2004 report, for the following data:

Collier Thomas 2004 : Figure 3 : Northern Maine ELL Achievement by Program On the Terra Nova in English Reading

Numbers on the left side of the graph show the percentile ranking per grade for English reading on the Terra Nova assessment measure. Please see the Collier Thomas paper for full information on the test and statistics.

A school district in Northern Maine wanted to reestablish the heritage language of the community, French.  The goal was to provide a 50/50 program in this socially and economically homogenious community.  The economic situation was depressed with community losing its young adults as they went elsewhere for better jobs.  Most grandparents in this community spoke French, but their children were discouraged from speaking French, since their dialect was considered street language.  It is these children's children that are the subject of this study.

As it turned out, about half the parents preferred their children remain in an all English environment.  Half the parents wanted the DI program for their children.  Figure 3 shows that the two groups started out with similar performances in English testing.  However, at the end of 4 years, the DI children were performing well above average while the English only group was only approaching average.  These unexpected results indicate that rather than negatively impact the learning of English, being in a DI program learning both English and French was actually beneficial to that program's students.

Please read Collier and Thomas' article to get the full story.