WHY IMMERSION TEACHING WORKS Words
WHY IMMERSION TEACHING WORKS Words
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Index
As a Canadian immersion teacher, I was enthused to see the letter from John Whelpton about the Canadian immersion experience (South China Morning Post, June 11). I would like to take this opportunity to expand upon and challenge some of his views.
I agree that the Canadian immersion and bilingual schools have been successful in producing functionally bilingual students. In the province of Manitoba, there are French, Ukrainian, and German immersion schools; Hebrew bilingual schools; and a school for native Indian students. English immersion programmes are popular for students from the province of Quebec as well as from countries such as Libya and Japan. However, Mr Whelpton's suggested condition that teachers in these schools must be fully bilingual may be unnecessary. For example, primary teachers can and do function with a smaller vocabulary than secondary teachers.
Secondly, it is doubtful that students will use English because they ''understand and accept the objective of making English the language of the classroom'' which is a rather sterile motive. One reason that Canadian immersion programmes work is because of the commitment to Whole Language Learning, that is, children learn a language, (first or second), by using it to transmit or receive meaningful messages that are interesting, real and important.
They want to make their needs and desires known and to understand the world around them. Immersion programmes integrate language and content in an activity-based, child-centred manner so that the child is motivated to use the second language as a tool to transmit and receive messages related to social and academic interests. In addition the second language is modelled throughout the school, is encouraged and rewarded, and thus becomes the language of choice. It is not necessary to ''abandon'' Cantonese; an immersion programme should provide some daily instruction in the first language.
Mr Whelpton's third argument that all the students in one class need to be at approximately the same level of English proficiency when they switch to English is unrealistic and unprofitable. How does a teacher group children who have a huge vocabulary but poor grammar skills and others who have correct grammar but a poor vocabulary?
Also, suppose the students have similar language abilities but different learning styles! The odds are that a teacher, at any point in time, will be teaching at a level that is too difficult for one-third, too easy for one-third and appropriate for the final one-third of the students. Hence the concept of Co-operative learning : students in heterogeneous groups with a mixture of personalities, talents and weaknesses (a more realistic reflection of life) learn better as they co-operate, instead of compete, and depend on each other for support and information.
This type of learning environment frees the teacher from the traditional lecturing mode in favour of circulating, monitoring and challenging the students to make use of their different experiences to expand their knowledge and skills.
I support immersion programmes not simply so that Hong Kong remains ''competitive as an international business centre'', but because children who learn a second language partake in an educational experience that expands their horizons in addition to their cognitive, social and affective capabilities; important goals of education indeed.
Sources : Adapted from the South China Morning Post, 22.06.94
Vocabulary
// odds
chances Return
// immersion teacher
To immerse yourself is to cover yourself completely in something, e.g. water in the bath. Immersion teaching is the practice of teaching a target language entirely in that language, initially in language classes and then across the curriculum. Return
1. This passage is
(a) an editorial response to a letter
(b) a newspaper article
(c) a letter in response to a letter
(d) a newspaper editorial
2. How would you describe the writer's style?
(a) written in an academic style
(b) written in a journalistic style
(c) written in a personal style
(d) written on the basis of widespread research in the area
3. How would you describe the writer's attitude towards the Canadian immersion programme:
(a) balanced - prepared to weigh up the pros and cons
(b) unenthusiastic
(c) supportive
(d) critical
4. In paragraph 8 the writer is:
(a) outlining her personal opinions
(b) reviewing possible courses of action
(c) describing possible effects of an immersion programme
(d) outlining what has already taken place
5. In paragraph 2 the writer:
(a) agrees completely with Mr Whelpton's argument
(b) agrees partially with Mr Whelpton's argument
(c) disagrees completely with Mr Whelpton's argument
(d) is overwhelmingly critical of Mr Whelpton's argument
6. According to the writer the Canadian immersion programme has been a success:
(a) because students accept the objective of making English the language of the classroom
(b) because students study in classrooms where everybody is at about the same level
(c) because the students can use their first language freely
(d) because it works towards real life goals
7. According to the writer which of the following will teachers in the Canadian immersion programme NOT do?
(a) monitor students' progress
(b) challenge students' ideas
(c) lecture constantly to the class
(d) circulate around the classroom
8. According to the writer the reality of classroom teaching:
(a) is more straightforward than Mr Whelpton describes
(b) is more difficult to control than Mr Whelpton describes
(c) is more lively than Mr Whelpton describes
(d) is more complicated than Mr Whelpton describes
9. In paragraph 3 'sterile' is closest in meaning to:
(a) uninformative
(b) unusual
(c) stereotypical
(d) uninspiring
10. In paragraph 4 'integrate' is closest in meaning to:
(a) incorporate
(b) intensify
(c) interlock
(d) interchang
11. In paragraph 4 'they' refers to:
(a) Canadian immersion programmes
(b) Whole Language Learning
(c) messages
(d) children
12. In paragraph 8 'affective' is closest in meaning to:
(a) emotional
(b) rational
(c) reasoning
(d) affirmative
13. In paragraph 7 'in favour' could NOT be replaced by which of the following?
(a) instead of
(b) in place of
(c) in spite of
(d) as an alternative to
14. Why does the writer use a colon in paragraph 6 ?
(a) to give evidence for the point made
(b) to provide a reason
(c) to introduce the consequence
(d) to explain the term
15. In paragraph 8 "competitive as an international business centre " is in inverted commas because:
(a) the writer is using direct speech
(b) the words are used in an unusual way
(c) the words quoted are a translation
(d) the writer is quoting from another source
16. In paragraph 8 'cognitive' is closest in meaning to which of the following:
(a) recognition
(b) recording
(c) reasoning
(d) reference
Frequency
Index
As a Canadian immersion teacher, I was enthused to see the letter from John Whelpton about the Canadian immersion experience (South China Morning Post, June 11). I would like to take this opportunity to expand upon and challenge some of his views.
I agree that the Canadian immersion and bilingual schools have been successful in producing functionally bilingual students. In the province of Manitoba, there are French, Ukrainian, and German immersion schools; Hebrew bilingual schools; and a school for native Indian students. English immersion programmes are popular for students from the province of Quebec as well as from countries such as Libya and Japan. However, Mr Whelpton's suggested condition that teachers in these schools must be fully bilingual may be unnecessary. For example, primary teachers can and do function with a smaller vocabulary than secondary teachers.
Secondly, it is doubtful that students will use English because they ''understand and accept the objective of making English the language of the classroom'' which is a rather sterile motive. One reason that Canadian immersion programmes work is because of the commitment to Whole Language Learning, that is, children learn a language, (first or second), by using it to transmit or receive meaningful messages that are interesting, real and important.
They want to make their needs and desires known and to understand the world around them. Immersion programmes integrate language and content in an activity-based, child-centred manner so that the child is motivated to use the second language as a tool to transmit and receive messages related to social and academic interests. In addition the second language is modelled throughout the school, is encouraged and rewarded, and thus becomes the language of choice. It is not necessary to ''abandon'' Cantonese; an immersion programme should provide some daily instruction in the first language.
Mr Whelpton's third argument that all the students in one class need to be at approximately the same level of English proficiency when they switch to English is unrealistic and unprofitable. How does a teacher group children who have a huge vocabulary but poor grammar skills and others who have correct grammar but a poor vocabulary?
Also, suppose the students have similar language abilities but different learning styles! The odds are that a teacher, at any point in time, will be teaching at a level that is too difficult for one-third, too easy for one-third and appropriate for the final one-third of the students. Hence the concept of Co-operative learning : students in heterogeneous groups with a mixture of personalities, talents and weaknesses (a more realistic reflection of life) learn better as they co-operate, instead of compete, and depend on each other for support and information.
This type of learning environment frees the teacher from the traditional lecturing mode in favour of circulating, monitoring and challenging the students to make use of their different experiences to expand their knowledge and skills.
I support immersion programmes not simply so that Hong Kong remains ''competitive as an international business centre'', but because children who learn a second language partake in an educational experience that expands their horizons in addition to their cognitive, social and affective capabilities; important goals of education indeed.
Sources : Adapted from the South China Morning Post, 22.06.94
Vocabulary
// odds
chances Return
// immersion teacher
To immerse yourself is to cover yourself completely in something, e.g. water in the bath. Immersion teaching is the practice of teaching a target language entirely in that language, initially in language classes and then across the curriculum. Return
1. This passage is
(a) an editorial response to a letter
(b) a newspaper article
(c) a letter in response to a letter
(d) a newspaper editorial
2. How would you describe the writer's style?
(a) written in an academic style
(b) written in a journalistic style
(c) written in a personal style
(d) written on the basis of widespread research in the area
3. How would you describe the writer's attitude towards the Canadian immersion programme:
(a) balanced - prepared to weigh up the pros and cons
(b) unenthusiastic
(c) supportive
(d) critical
4. In paragraph 8 the writer is:
(a) outlining her personal opinions
(b) reviewing possible courses of action
(c) describing possible effects of an immersion programme
(d) outlining what has already taken place
5. In paragraph 2 the writer:
(a) agrees completely with Mr Whelpton's argument
(b) agrees partially with Mr Whelpton's argument
(c) disagrees completely with Mr Whelpton's argument
(d) is overwhelmingly critical of Mr Whelpton's argument
6. According to the writer the Canadian immersion programme has been a success:
(a) because students accept the objective of making English the language of the classroom
(b) because students study in classrooms where everybody is at about the same level
(c) because the students can use their first language freely
(d) because it works towards real life goals
7. According to the writer which of the following will teachers in the Canadian immersion programme NOT do?
(a) monitor students' progress
(b) challenge students' ideas
(c) lecture constantly to the class
(d) circulate around the classroom
8. According to the writer the reality of classroom teaching:
(a) is more straightforward than Mr Whelpton describes
(b) is more difficult to control than Mr Whelpton describes
(c) is more lively than Mr Whelpton describes
(d) is more complicated than Mr Whelpton describes
9. In paragraph 3 'sterile' is closest in meaning to:
(a) uninformative
(b) unusual
(c) stereotypical
(d) uninspiring
10. In paragraph 4 'integrate' is closest in meaning to:
(a) incorporate
(b) intensify
(c) interlock
(d) interchang
11. In paragraph 4 'they' refers to:
(a) Canadian immersion programmes
(b) Whole Language Learning
(c) messages
(d) children
12. In paragraph 8 'affective' is closest in meaning to:
(a) emotional
(b) rational
(c) reasoning
(d) affirmative
13. In paragraph 7 'in favour' could NOT be replaced by which of the following?
(a) instead of
(b) in place of
(c) in spite of
(d) as an alternative to
14. Why does the writer use a colon in paragraph 6 ?
(a) to give evidence for the point made
(b) to provide a reason
(c) to introduce the consequence
(d) to explain the term
15. In paragraph 8 "competitive as an international business centre " is in inverted commas because:
(a) the writer is using direct speech
(b) the words are used in an unusual way
(c) the words quoted are a translation
(d) the writer is quoting from another source
16. In paragraph 8 'cognitive' is closest in meaning to which of the following:
(a) recognition
(b) recording
(c) reasoning
(d) reference
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