About Dual Language Immersion
What is Dual language Immersion?
The dual immersion program is designed to build academic fluency in both English and a second language. Students have the opportunity to develop their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in TWO languages.
The program has three goals:
Bilingualism: High levels of proficiency in English and in a second language (Chinese, French, Spanish)
Biliteracy: High levels of academic achievement in English and in Spanish in all content areas Multicultural Competence: Understanding different cultures and development of high esteem
Why Immersion?
More than 40 years of research consistently documents the power of immersion programs to help students attain high levels of second language proficiency. No other type of instruction, short of living in a second-language environment, is as successful.
Young children especially thrive in this type of instructional environment. In addition, language immersion is also the least expensive way to deliver second-language instruction.
Proven Benefits
The dual immersion program is designed to build academic fluency in both English and a second language. Students have the opportunity to develop their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in TWO languages.
The program has three goals:
Bilingualism: High levels of proficiency in English and in a second language (Chinese, French, Spanish)
Biliteracy: High levels of academic achievement in English and in Spanish in all content areas Multicultural Competence: Understanding different cultures and development of high esteem
Why Immersion?
More than 40 years of research consistently documents the power of immersion programs to help students attain high levels of second language proficiency. No other type of instruction, short of living in a second-language environment, is as successful.
Young children especially thrive in this type of instructional environment. In addition, language immersion is also the least expensive way to deliver second-language instruction.
Proven Benefits
- Academic/Educational
- Perform at or above their non-immersion peers on standardized tests administered in English
- Achieve high levels of functional proficiency in the immersion language, i.e. display fluency, confidence, and native-like levels of comprehension in immersion language
- Cognitive
- Achieve meta linguistic awareness
- Achieve higher levels of proficiency when compared with students in non-immersion language programs
- Attain greater cognitive flexibility and better nonverbal problem-solving abilities
- Outperform monolinguals in the areas of divergent thinking, pattern recognition, and problem solving
- Sociocultural
- allows access to foreign media, literature and art
- helps student understand, navigate, and enjoy intercultural difference
- leads to respect, positive attitudes and an appreciation of linguistic and cultural diversity
- helps students better understand their own culture
- Economic
- World language abilities are increasingly important to national security, delivery of health care, economic competitiveness, and law enforcement in the United States.
- Future high-level, high-paying jobs will require competence in more than one language.