Discusses a learning module on Acadian history used in a French immersion setting that focuses on a theatrical arts approach. (Author/VWL)

Describes immersion education as practiced in Canada, outlining immersion programs' background, structure, methodology, and outcomes. Suggests that, to achieve the outcomes of immersion education developed for majority language groups, some minority language groups may require programs beginning in the first language and continuing in both the…

Administrative problems that have been solved or accepted during eight years of early immersion programs are discussed including choosing locations, staffing, costs, logistics, and the need for suitable pupil progress reporting. (JMF)

Reasserts, in response to a review of a book about language immersion programs, that the linguistic failure of immersion programs has major theoretical implications, focusing on the failure of immersion students to reach nativelike language proficiency and the failure to emphasize language accuracy. (two references) (CB)

Provides a dialogue that is a series of semi-structured interviews with a language educator who taught French for 4 years before becoming a full-time mother. After 9 years, she became involved in teaching in a French immersion program in Canada. The interviewer is a senior lecturer at Macquarie University in Australia. (Author/VWL)

Discusses two questions: (1) What has the recent research conducted in French immersion programs in Canada contributed to understanding of second language acquisition?; and (2) What has it contributed to the broader field of applied linguistics? Considers research in the coming decade, and discusses obstacles that may be faced in Canada in…

Discusses goals of teaching French as a foreign language as set forth in the "Recommended Statement of 16+ National Criteria for French" and compares them to the goals of Ontario's bilingual immersion program. Discusses the feasibility of accomplishing these goals within the framework of the compulsory education system in Great Britain.…

Illustrates the pedagogical potential of advertising messages in the French immersion classroom. Students learn to develop a critical analysis of the advertising messages they see and hear. (Author/VWL)

Summarizes an experiment where a 12-year-old boy was sent to a College d'Enseignement Superieur (C.E.S.) to learn French for six months in France. Evaluates the results of the experiment and how the pedagogical approach can be applied to language teaching in the United States. (SED)

Applies constructs of language as economic and symbolic capital, transnationalism, investment, and imagined community to analysis of interviews with immigrant parents living in Vancouver, Canada. These parents promote multilingualism by maintaining their family language and enrolling their children in French immersion programs. Argues they view…

French immersion teacher training should have its own structure, philosophy, and criteria, and should not be confused with or diluted by other types of teacher training. At Simon Fraser University, French immersion teachers spend twelve months specializing in immersion, with six months spent in classroom practice. (MSE)

Describes research on core, extended, and immersion French as a second language programs in Canada over the past decade. Results show older learners tend to be more efficient learners in some aspects of second language learning, but there may be some advantages to starting earlier in an intensive program. (BK)

There is more to French immersion programs in Canada than social class analysis. Program success is determined not by social class per se, but by use of appropriate strategies, staff, resources, and curriculum implementation. (CJ)

Canadian Parents for French is an association of concerned parents supporting the French language programs, particularly immersion and core programs, in the Canadian school system. They are investigating solutions to problems in individual districts and are a force with which the government must reckon. (JMF)

In response to an earlier article on the effectiveness of French immersion, research on immersion, and the best second language teaching approaches for Canadian schools, it is argued that French immersion research has been misinterpreted and misrepresented and that the stated view on second-language teaching is an extreme one. (22 references) (MSE)