The present research study was conducted to explore how structured Spanish instruction (30 minutes, twice a week, for a semester) impacts the level of class participation and on-task behavior and the reading fluency rate of a group of self-contained, special needs, elementary school children (grades K-5). Data for this mixed methodology study were…

Young students come to world language classrooms with genuine excitement about the possibility of being able to speak a language other than their own. When world language teachers connect second language instruction to students' general education curriculum content, the opportunity presents itself to potentially increase students' ability to speak…

The demands on the early language teacher and the limited lesson time seem to be some of the reasons for the lack of learners' engagement in interpersonal communication in early language programs. Although the research on the role of the classroom teacher in early language programs is scarce, there is evidence that the classroom teacher can play a…

The Dearborn Public Schools, with 18,300 students, is located in the Detroit urban area with the largest concentration of Arabic-speaking people in the United States. In order to prepare the students for the 21st century skills and global awareness and in response to parents' requests, the author in collaboration with the school principal and…

In this article, the author describes her experience of teaching Mandarin Chinese at Stopher Elementary School in Louisville, Kentucky. Through growing and learning with her students, the author has become a firm believer in the importance of early childhood language acquisition and a passionate advocate for world language education.

This article describes three big programs from Delaware where the less commonly taught languages find their home in Delaware elementary schools. Odyssey Charter School, located in Wilmington, is one of the very few Greek-language-focused public schools in the nation. The school began in 2006 as a Greek immersion program that concentrated on the…

The impetus to begin Bilingual Buds came about six years ago when the author, pregnant with twins and commuting into New York City, was reading about the numerous cognitive benefits for children of acquiring a second language early in their lives. She was surprised to learn that even by the age of six months, children begin to lose the ability to…

Planning to start or expand a K-8 critical language program? Looking for support in doing so? There "may" be help at the federal level for great ideas and strong programs. While there have been various pools of federal dollars available to support world language programs for a number of years, the federal government's interest in assuring strong…

This article describes the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School (PVCICS), a regional public charter school in western Massachusetts, which opened in 2007 and the only Chinese immersion school in New England. The school draws students from over twenty-five towns and cities in a predominantly rural area of Massachusetts that includes the…

Asia Society remains committed to promoting the teaching and learning of Chinese in American schools as an integral part of the broader agenda of building students' global competency, the key goal of its Partnership for Global Learning. Under the leadership of Asia Society's new Vice President for Education Tony Jackson and with continuing…

In 2006 the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) submitted and received a three-year Foreign Language Assistance Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education to write and pilot a K-4 content-enriched Mandarin curriculum and to build online professional development modules to support the curriculum. Once funded, ODE formed an advisory…

Because interest in Chinese instruction, as well as in languages such as Arabic, Korean, Yoruba, Urdu, and Hindi, is new in the K-12 context, teacher educators do not have many established settings where teacher candidates can observe and engage in best practice. At Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, with the support of grant funds from…

Maloney Interdistrict Magnet School (MIMS) is the only elementary school in Waterbury that has a world language program and is one of only two elementary Japanese programs in Connecticut. In the past 15 years, more than 1500 students have participated in its Japanese Language and Culture (JLC) Program in grades Prekindergarten through 5th. The JLC…

The Atse Kituwah Academy (New Kituwah Academy) houses the new Cherokee immersion school in Cherokee, North Carolina. Cherokee is located on the Qualla Boundary in the mountains of the western part of the state, the contemporary homeland of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). In 2005, a comprehensive study of the health of the Cherokee…

Studies on second language acquisition show that the earlier a child is exposed to instruction the more likely he or she will be successful in attaining high levels of proficiency. The author knew that if real change were going to take place in Linden, New Jersey, the ideas and beliefs that embody multiculturalism and multilingualism would have to…