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    Structured Immersion: An Alternative To Traditional Bilingual Education

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    Independence Institute
    Independence Institute IB-2000-O Cara Morlan Published July 26, 2000 Traditional bilingual education is based on the theory that the best way for minority language students to achieve English proficiency is to first strengthen their skills in their native tongues. Under this approach it will take a student four to seven years to become proficient in English.

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    Structured Immersion: An Alternative To Traditional Bilingual Education

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    Independence Institute
    2K views11 pages
    Independence Institute IB-2000-O Cara Morlan Published July 26, 2000 Traditional bilingual education is based on the theory that the best way for minority language students to achieve English proficiency is to first strengthen their skills in their native tongues. Under this approach it will take a student four to seven years to become proficient in English.

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    Structured Immersion: An Alternative to Traditional Bilingual Education

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    Independence Institute IB-2000-O Cara Morlan Published July 26, 2000 Traditional bilingual education is based on the theory that the best way for minority language students to achieve English proficiency is to first strengthen their skills in their native tongues. Under this approach it will take a student four to seven years to become proficient in English.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    2K views11 pages

    Structured Immersion: An Alternative To Traditional Bilingual Education

    Uploaded by

    Independence Institute
    Independence Institute IB-2000-O Cara Morlan Published July 26, 2000 Traditional bilingual education is based on the theory that the best way for minority language students to achieve English proficiency is to first strengthen their skills in their native tongues. Under this approach it will take a student four to seven years to become proficient in English.

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    Issue Backgrounder Number: 2000-O0Date: July 26, 2000 Structured Immersion: DAn Alternative to Traditional Bilingual Education Traditional Bilingual Education is based on the theory that the best way for minority language students to achieve English proficiency is to first strengthen their skills in their native tongues. Under this approach students learn to read and write in their native language while supposedly receiving an increasing amount of English instruction. Under this approach, it will take a student anywhere between four to seven years to be redesignated as English proficient. The promised benefits under this approach are continual progress in academic subjects and that parents can be involved in their child’s education. There are three other main approaches to bilingual education. Submersion, in which no special assistance is provided to the limited English proficient (LEP) students who simply take regular classes with the mainstream students -- the sink or swim approach. Second is English as a Second Language, in which children attend regular classes with an additional class each day for English instruction. Finally, there is the Structured Immersion approach: after one year of intensive English instruction, children are placed in a special class with similar students and a specially trained teacher who can take into account their English proficiency and who provides English instruction in every subject. Under this increasingly popular approach, the teaching of English occurs simultaneously with the teaching of all other subjects. The national debate regarding bilingual! education has arisen due to the fact that despite the good intentions of many educators across the country, traditional bilingual education has failed to provide the vast majority of /Janguage minority students (those students whose primary language is not English) with the main skill necessary for academic, financial, and social success in today’s competitive market: mastery of the English language. Without such knowledge Hispanic students are not receiving the same opportunities for success and achievement as their peers, and are being denied the opportunity to achieve the American dream of making a better life for themselves. California has implemented a solution that warrants serious consideration. In California, children enter school speaking one of 140 different languages, yet only Spanish-speaking students are put into traditional bilingual education programs. These students are then the immigrant group that does the worst in school, has the highest dropout rate (50% for Hispanic immigrants compared to about 10% of whites and blacks), the lowest test scores and the lowest college admissions.[1] With only 5% of students each year being found to gain proficiency in English, California was achieving a 95% failure rate.[2] In early 1996, parents and students at 9" Street Elementary in California decided that they would no longer tolerate the inferior education of their children. They came up with a solution: Proposition 227. Proposition 227 mandates that students be placed in a Structured Immersion program for one year during which they receive intensive instruction in English language skills. After the first year they are transferred to a special classroom where, with peers of similar abilities and a teacher who understands their special language needs, they receive all instruction for their academic coursework in English. After two years of hard work and despite the opposition of the chairmen from both parties, all four governor hopefuls, and nearly all the newspapers and educational organizations, the people of California declared that Spanish-speaking students would no longer be content being second class citizens and receiving a second class education by being the only immigrant students subjected to traditional bilingual education. On June 2, 1998

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