1. You can please some of the people some of the time… But you can’t please all of the people all of the time. An alternate approach to secondary language education … Three women and a man

2. America is behind the rest of the world when it comes to bilingualism, with only 9 percent of the population reporting fluency in a second language. 52 percent of Europeans, report fluency in a second or third language

3. Immersion education long-term progressive education in a second language, accompanied by the learning of other subjects through the medium of that second language Classes are segregated where everyone is in the same boat until they learn English, or the second language (Spring, 2000) Often ESL classes are taught primarily using English immersion with some limited support for the student's native language (Porter, 1998)

4. Does one language dominance unify or alienate ? Does multi-language education build bridges or undermine cultural/ national integrity?

5. Immersion programs : Canada - French, Hebrew, Ukrainian, German in over 2100 schools beginning in kindergarten United States : Uninterested in developing a second language 5 % of elementary 40 % of High school College level per capita decrease

6. Exposure, development of social interaction, student involvement Incidental learning of language, television, computers, pop culture

7. Cognition Linguistic Society of America Learning development Strong ties to their ethnic roots Global market Cross cultural awareness and understanding To reject a child’s language in school is to reject the child! Loss of identity Feeling of cultural rejection

8. Ability to compare and contrast the way in which their two languages are organized Development of flexible thinking Deeper understanding of language and how to use it effectively Lack confidence Much less likely to participate in class activities

9. Immersion programs : Development of empowerment Development of social interaction Transformation through exposure Retention of cultural identity United States : Contributions Additive Transformative Social action