Although human beings communicate mainly through talking and listening, schools tend to spend little classroom instruction time helping ELLs develop their English oral language skills, writes Wayne E. Wright. In reviewing the research on ELLs' oral language development, Wright concludes that bilingual programs give ELLs the best opportunities to…

It's one of the ironies of United States culture: We love our history as "a nation of immigrants," but at the same time, we're conflicted about immigration and the changes it brings. In this article, Patricia Gándara examines the research on one area of debate: whether multilingualism should be considered a problem to be fixed, or a…

The Huntsville (Alabama) City Schools conduct annual Spanish-, French-, and German-language immersion workshops that move the classroom to a home or church, replace the teacher with native speakers, and extend the 55-minute period to 24 hours. (Author/JM)

Describes the use of two-way immersion education to provide students with opportunities to understand and appreciate other countries and cultures. The main features of two-way immersion education are bilingual language instruction, cross-cultural understanding, and international exchanges. Includes case study of two-way immersion at the Alicia…

The traditional U.S. classroom's milieu has distorted and refused to recognize the language and cultural richness of African-American students. Milwaukee's two immersion schools, Victor Berger Elementary School and Parkman Middle School, place the African-American students and their culture at the center of the educational process. Results have…

The globalization of economies, the digitization of work, pressing health and security issues, and changing demographics have dramatically changed our world. Unlike previous generations, U.S. high school graduates will routinely buy from the world, sell to the world, work for international companies, manage employees from other cultures and…

A parent and communications professor describes his family's long-standing participation in home schooling, highlighting efforts to provide socialization and service education, uphold academic standards, and integrate learning activities into everyday life. Home schooling is a labor of love. Children benefit from experiencing the focused attention…

For children at Victor Berger Elementary School, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, African-American culture is the foundation of all instruction. Attempting to bring quality education to a de facto segregated student population, this immersion program features an integrated curriculum, high expectations for staff, school uniforms, and newfound pride among…

To provide male role models (and help save the endangered African-American male), a Miami principal assigned 20 black kindergarten boys to an African-American male teacher and 23 black first grade boys to a white male teacher. Focusing on attendance, academic achievement, student partnerships, gentlemanly manners, and appropriate school behavior,…

Hadi-Tabassum believes having a separate life context for each language she learned in childhood enabled her to switch easily among five different tongues. She states that the success of dual immersion bilingual programs is largely dependent on whether they immerse students in each of the involved languages separately and help students have a…

Demographic, economic, and social realities make linguistic and cross-cultural competence essential skills for today's students. This article discusses three innovative program types that build on basic education while enriching it through second languages: second-language immersion for native English-speaking students; developmental bilingual…

A new urban legend claims, "As a result of the state dropping bilingual education, test scores in California skyrocketed." Krashen disputes this theory, pointing out that other factors offer more logical explanations of California's recent improvements in SAT-9 scores. He discusses research on the effects of California's Proposition 227,…

Instead of viewing English learners as a problem needing remediation, educators should build an enriched bilingual program for all students. In successful two-way programs, both language groups stay together throughout the school day, serving as peer tutors for each other. After five or six years, English learners can demonstrate English and…

Several Maryland schools are experimenting with Roots and Wings, a collaborative project of Saint Mary's County Schools, the state education department, and Johns Hopkins University. Funded by the New American Schools Development Corporation, the pilot project's goals are to guarantee every child's successful completion of elementary school and to…

In 1998, California voters approved Initiative 227, requiring that all limited-English children be provided an English-immersion program for 1 year or longer as needed. Hispanic parents are leaders in the movement. Dire predictions that bilingual children in English-language classrooms would fall behind have not materialized. (Contains 18…