Immersion
As North Carolina is no stranger to students from countries where English is not the native language, school districts are implementing English as a Second Language programs. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System offers such an ESL program promising success to those students with limited English. “The English as a Second Language (ESL) program seeks to help limited English proficient (LEP) students attain English proficiency and achieve at high levels in such core academic subjects as math and language arts”("Esl program," 2011). Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools are dividing the way they approach the teaching of English to theses students between age, elementary vs. middle and high School, and proficiency of the individual student. “Children are often able to acquire a foreign language much easier and faster if they begin their course of study at an early age” (Redbord, 2001).
Elementary students participate in mainstream classes and receive instruction in English as a Second Language (ESL) based on each student’s proficiency levels and grade level. Small-group instruction is designed to develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in English ("Esl program," 2011). By integrating ESL students in an English speaking classroom, CMS has taken the angle of teaching through immersion, instruction entirely in English. With immersion, “teachers strive to deliver lessons in simplified English so that students learn English and academic subjects”("English-language learners," 2004).
Elementary students participate in mainstream classes and receive instruction in English as a Second Language (ESL) based on each student’s proficiency levels and grade level. Small-group instruction is designed to develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in English ("Esl program," 2011). By integrating ESL students in an English speaking classroom, CMS has taken the angle of teaching through immersion, instruction entirely in English. With immersion, “teachers strive to deliver lessons in simplified English so that students learn English and academic subjects”("English-language learners," 2004).
Results of Immersion
Research provides evidence that the most successful way to learn a foreign language is through use of the immersion method. “There is so much more to communication than words, and that is where people get lost when trying to use the classroom version of a language...The whole rhythm of communication will be different in the real world, so immersion makes the real world the classroom” ("Immersion as A," 2012). Several studies have concluded that children who learned language through immersion scored better in standardized testing than those children who learned through dual language or bilingual education instruction. An extensive evaluation of test scores in California confirms the success of immersion teaching amongst students.
Based on 3 years' test scores, this report concludes that California's LEP students not only had sufficient test scores through English immersion, but they made significant gains in reading and writing in English as well as math. The greatest gains were made in school districts that chose the strictest interpretation of the initiative and implemented the most intensive English immersion programs. Scores found through the implementation of bilingual programs were largely stagnant. Most interesting is that the youngest students, as measured by test scores, benefited the most from English immersion while older students, who had already spent years in bilingual education programs, benefited least (Amselle, 2000).
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system is on track with its choice in curriculum for ESL. In comparison to schools systems found in regions of the United States where the population of LEP students is far greater, such as New York and Florida, CMS is utilizing similar outlines in their ESL programs. Changes in curriculum have occurred in the past few years in LEP populated states, such as Florida “...eliminating a bilingual program has led to higher test scores and greater social interaction amongst ESL students and native English speaking students” (Orlando Sentinel, 2010). CMS is keeping abreast of the trend with its elementary students and immersion. English as a Second Language program guidelines for Charlotte-Mecklenburg revert back to the fact that studies prove that immersion yields a greater success rate.
Based on 3 years' test scores, this report concludes that California's LEP students not only had sufficient test scores through English immersion, but they made significant gains in reading and writing in English as well as math. The greatest gains were made in school districts that chose the strictest interpretation of the initiative and implemented the most intensive English immersion programs. Scores found through the implementation of bilingual programs were largely stagnant. Most interesting is that the youngest students, as measured by test scores, benefited the most from English immersion while older students, who had already spent years in bilingual education programs, benefited least (Amselle, 2000).
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system is on track with its choice in curriculum for ESL. In comparison to schools systems found in regions of the United States where the population of LEP students is far greater, such as New York and Florida, CMS is utilizing similar outlines in their ESL programs. Changes in curriculum have occurred in the past few years in LEP populated states, such as Florida “...eliminating a bilingual program has led to higher test scores and greater social interaction amongst ESL students and native English speaking students” (Orlando Sentinel, 2010). CMS is keeping abreast of the trend with its elementary students and immersion. English as a Second Language program guidelines for Charlotte-Mecklenburg revert back to the fact that studies prove that immersion yields a greater success rate.