Understanding Language Immersion Programs

A board member of Think Bilingual, Dr. Hind Louali supports multiculturalism and access to resources that promote bilingual education. Dr. Hind Louali is also the founder of the French School of Austin: Ecole Jean-Jacques Rousseau, an independent private school in Texas that fosters English- and French-language proficiency through a dual-language immersion program.

Language immersion is a way for people to learn foreign languages by incorporating lessons about the culture of the country and using its native dialogue as an instructional tool. Rather than reading from a textbook and memorizing individual words and phrases, it emphasizes conversing in and listening to the language. This facilitates active engagement with it by enabling people to practice using it in everyday scenarios and furthering understanding of cultural significances, which can help people adapt to the language faster and talk more fluently.

There are several types of language immersion programs, including total immersion. In these settings, students speak in the foreign language for the entire duration of the class. There are also partial immersion programs, which focus on teaching about the culture of the country and spend only half of class time on how to speak the language.