Foreign Language immersion Education is a method of teaching a second language (also called L2, or the target language). Unlike a standard language course, where the target language is simply the subject material, language immersion uses the target language as a teaching tool, surrounding or immersing students in the second language. In-class activities, such as science, math, social studies, technology, and history, and those outside of the class, such as bathroom breaks and assemblies, are conducted in the target language.
Today's immersion programs are based on those founded in the 1960s
in Canada when middle-income English-speaking parents convinced
educators to establish an experimental French immersion program
enabling their children 'to appreciate the traditions and culture of
French-speaking Canadians as well as English-speaking Canadians'.
Immersion programs are the fastest growing and most effective type of foreign language program currently available in U.S. schools. Immersion students can be expected to reach higher levels of second language proficiency than students in other school-based language programs. Becoming bilingual opens the door to communication with more people in more places, and many parents want to provide their children with skills to interact competently in an increasingly interdependent world community.
One of the key principles of immersion education is that linguistic
and
cultural knowledge is a resource—the more you know, the better off you
are.
