Language immersion education instruction exclusively focuses on the target language, particularly when the students are young. It is not an elective added to an English-based curriculum. Language immersion schools also ensure that students’ language comprehension is enhanced by a rich variety of target language-related activities, both inside and outside the classroom.

Yes. Children who enter language immersion programs at the beginning of their early childhood education are more likely to become biliterate to a greater extent than students who start later on. However, with additional resources and support, students can successfully matriculate into a language immersion program and succeed at any age.

Yes. There are three primary models of language immersion: full, partial, and two-way. Our model is Full Immersion, where nearly all subjects are taught in the target language at the lower grades (K-2), and English instruction usually increases in the upper grades (3-6). Partial immersion occurs when 50% of subjects are taught in the target language. In some programs, the material taught in the target language is reinforced in English. Two-Way Immersion is when two different groups of students are combined to facilitate learning a second language. For example, one group may be native English speakers seeking to learn a target language. The second group natively speaks the target language and is learning English.

Research shows that language immersion can actually improve students’ cognitive proficiency in English and heighten symbolic reasoning and math skills relative to their monolingual peers. A RAND study* showed that by grade 5, immersion students were 7 months ahead of their non-immersion peers, and by grade 8 they were 9 months ahead of their non-immersion peers in reading – equivalent to nearly an entire school year’s progress. *RAND Study link: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9903.html

Yes. Language immersion programs are growing in the United States as foreign language classes decline in monolingual schools. According to available data from Studica, language immersion programs grew 94% in the United States between 1981-2011. However, a Pew Research Center survey found that only 20% of K-12 students across the United States are enrolled in foreign language classes, compared to Europe’s 92% enrollment statistic. While the rest of the world is becoming more global, students in the US are at risk of falling behind.