Benefits Of Language Immersion Programs

Foreign language immersion schools are becoming increasingly popular as ways to help children acquire a second language

. How does a language immersion program work, and what are the benefits of enrolling a child in one?

The objective of a foreign language immersion program is to enrich the education of the students by helping them to develop cultural awareness and to excel academically. Children enrolled in a language immersion program learn all of their school subjects in the second language, allowing them to become proficient more quickly than if they were simply studying the language itself. In full immersion programs, the teachers use only the foreign language in the early grades and then begin to gradually introduce the study of English until there is an even distribution of the immersion language and English by the 5th or 6th grade. Through secondary school, typically one or two courses continue to be taught in the second language.

Immersion programs are currently the most effective way to teach a foreign language in the U.S. school system, allowing students to attain higher proficiency levels than students in other language programs. Short of sending a child to China, enrolling him or her in a Chinese bilingual school program is the best way for that child to learn Cantonese. The same is true for Spanish, French, or any other language being taught. As the world becomes more interdependent, speaking a second language opens a variety of opportunities for students and equips them with a greater insight into other cultures as well as their own.

Other benefits to the language immersion system include enhanced cognitive development and capabilities. The process of learning to understand the teacher in the immersion language helps children develop a wider range of problem-solving skills as well as to think more critically and flexibly. As a result, bilingual students do just as well and usually better in other academic areas, like math, than do their monolingual peers. While students' English skills may experience a temporary lag (especially in full immersion programs), after a couple of years of English instruction, the gap disappears. And in fact, learning a second language in this way actually enhances their ability to use English.

Some of the advantages, then, to an immersion program include full exposure to the second language, rapid and advanced language acquirement, furthered cultural appreciation, greater social and economic opportunities, heightened cognitive development, and better performance in school including English language arts.

by: Art Gib

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