Immersion Research & Resources
1. “What Parents
Want to Know about Foreign Language Immersion Programs” (research
from University of Minnesota) by Tara Fortune and Diane Tedick. Parents who are
considering an immersion program for their child usually have many questions.
This digest provides introductory responses to some of the questions most
commonly posed by parents.
2. “Raising Bilingual Children: Common Parental Concerns and Current Research” (research from Georgetown University) by Kendall King and Lyn Fogle. This digest reviews common parental concerns related to bilingual childrearing and shares the current science on bilingual child development.
3. “Chinese Language Learning in the Early Grades” by the Asia Society. Resources and best practices for Mandarin immersion.
Popular Press
1. “More Area Schools Embrace Chinese-Immersion Method” (Wall Street Journal) by Ben Worthen.
2. “Why Bilinguals Are Smarter” (New York Times) by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee. In recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.
3. “Hearing Bilingual: How Babies Sort Out Language” (New York Times) by Perri Klass, M.D. Once, experts feared that young children exposed to more than one language would suffer “language confusion,” which might delay their speech development. Today, parents often are urged to capitalize on that early knack for acquiring language.
4. “The Bilingual Advantage” (New York Times) by Claudia Dreifus. Among other benefits, the regular use of two languages appears to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease symptoms.
5. "Being Bilingual May Boost Your Brainpower” (NPR) by Gretchen Cuda-Kroen. Research suggests that the growing numbers of bilingual speakers may have an advantage that goes beyond communication: It turns out that being bilingual is also good for your brain.
6. “The Benefits of Multilingualism” (Multilingual Living) by Michal Paradowski. The advantages that multilinguals exhibit over monolinguals are not restricted to linguistic knowledge only, but extend outside the area of language. The substantial long-lived cognitive, social, personal, academic, and professional benefits of enrichment bilingual contexts have been well documented.
8. "Learning Languages ‘Boosts Brain’” (BBC). Learning a second language “boosts” brain-power, scientists believe.
9. "Bilingualism good for the brain, researchers say” (Los Angeles Times) by Amina Khan. The skill helps improve multitasking and prioritizing, and helps ward off early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, experts say.
10. "Foreign Languages Fade in Class – Except Chinese” (New York Times) by Sam Dillon. Thousands of public schools stopped teaching foreign languages in the last decade, according to government-financed survey, while a rush by schools in all parts of America to offer instruction in Chinese.