Native Language Immersion Makes Students Better (fwd link)

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*Native Language Immersion Makes Students Better*

Teresa L. McCarty
<http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/advanced/search?fq%5B0%5D=ts_field_full_name%3ATeresa%20L.%20McCarty>

9/5/14

As Congress considers two bills to support Native American language
immersion, including the Native Language Immersion Student Achievement Act,
it is time to take stock. What does research say about the impact of
Native-language immersion on Native students’ academic achievement? We now
have 30 years—more than a generation—of data on Native-language immersion
in the U.S. and beyond. In this article I highlight key findings from this
research.

But first, what do we mean by Native-language immersion? It may be easier
to begin with what immersion is *not. *Native-language immersion is not
simply “Native language instruction.” It is not a pullout program or a
50-minute class. Native-language immersion is not *sub*mersion, a method
that compels students to learn a second language at the expense of their
mother tongue.

Native-language immersion is voluntary; parents often participate in
immersion themselves to support their children’s language learning at home.
Native-language immersion is additive, building on students’ first-language
abilities as a foundation for learning the Native language as a second
language. Native-language immersion is full-day or most-of-the-day teaching
and learning in the Native language, often complemented by after-school and
summer programs. Native-language immersion systematically incorporates
Native cultural content and culturally appropriate ways of teaching and
learning. Most important, Native-language immersion not only engages
students in learning the Native language, but also math, science, social
studies, music, art, and even English *through *that language. In other
words, Native-language immersion is a whole program that cultivates what
language researcher Fred Genessee calls “the whole child, the whole
curriculum, the whole community.”

Read more at

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/09/05/native-language-immersion-makes-students-better
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