Language Immersion Education for Children, from Nandini Mane
Working Group Against Racism in Children's Resources.Welcome to AZBUKA Russian language school & club. We aim to support parents who recognise the importance of their children’s home languages from the earliest of years. Not only is knowing one’s language crucial to children’s understanding of their own roots and identity, language development is also very closely connected to cognitive development. Hence in a majority English speaking environment, it is crucial that children whose first language is not English, are given the same opportunities to develop their first language skills and cognitive skills as the majority community children. One of the most effective ways of achieving this in the early years is by immersing children in their first language experiences in their nurseries.
Immersion education is based on the idea that a first language is acquired almost unconsciously. Children are unaware that they are learning a language in the home. Immersion attempts to replicate this process in the early years of schooling. The focus is on the content and not on the form of language. It is the task that is central, not conscious language learning. In this early stage, language is acquired automatically, not learnt in a formal way. Simple elements of grammar may be picked up by children informally. The early stages of immersion will mirror the unconscious acquisition of learning of the first language. Only later will the child become conscious of language as a system. For it to succeed, it is advisable that the earlier a language is taught by immersion, the more effective is the learning. Research shows that young children acquire authentic pronunciation better than adults.
In immersion system, the language used to communicate with the child will be deliberately limited in vocabulary. There will be a simplified presentation of grammar and syntax. The teacher will speak slowly giving the child time to process the language input and understand the meaning. This tends to parallel the talk of mother to child (motherese). Such immersion settings regard language errors as normal and important part of the language learning process. Errors are not a symptom of failure. They are a natural part of learning. Immersion teaching avoids constant correction of errors. Language accuracy tends to develop over time and with experience.
The immersion teacher recognises that first language proficiency contributes to proficiency in second language. Concepts attached to words in the first language will easily be transferred to the second language. The focus of immersion classrooms is very much on tasks and curriculum content. Therefore it is easier to adapt to early years curricum.
For language minorities a major reason for bilingual education through immersion is the survival and maintenance of the first language and attendant culture. For language minority children growth in their home language requires nurturing classrooms to ensure tender plants blossom to maturity.
Nandini Mane
Working Group Against Racism in Children’s Resources.
(Referred to Colin Baker’s Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism).