On Wed, 25 Jun 2003 19:14:54 GMT, "turtledove"
wrote:

Actually....It's more like advice on where some appropriate sites would be
on the following subject: Bilingual Education in Europe (basically any
country other than the US). My group is doing a presentation about
Bilingual Education. We are tasked with finding the pro's and con's.

You have a country which is in the forefront of bilingual education,
with programmes that have been studied world-wide, directly to the
north of you, you know. And it's not in Europe. :-)

Being that the US is the only county I'm aware of (and maybe the UK) that
doesn't teach a second language as part of regular curriculum. Or in other
words, all countries seem to teach English, but the US doesn't focus on
their own children being bilingual.

Hmm. Here in Canada, we teach in either French or English, and the
other language, the one we don't teach in, is taught as a second
language. In that sense, in Anglo-Canada we teach French, not English,
'cause English is our first language.

We teach the second language in any of several ways, including early
and late Immersion. Early French Immersion is for Anglophone kids who
don't speak French, and they enter kindergarten in a class where the
teacher speaks only French. They learn the language and their
kindergarten skills simultaneously. Late French Immersion is the same
only it starts at grade six or seven. It's less routinely available,
which is a shame, because it has some things to recommend it.

Is this good or bad?

Depends on your goal. If you want multilingual citizens, the sooner
you start them, the better. There's a neurological 'window' for the
learning of language and language sounds, and after a certain point it
closes. That's why people who learn second languages as adults
generally tend to have accents, whereas kids tend not to have.

If anybody has website information about school statistics and such and
could forward me the website I'd appreciate it. I've already found some
good information, but every little bit helps.

Here's some stuff for you to look at:

http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/lo-ol/pub...-kit/EF02c.htm

http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~z06gkd/Immersion.htm

http://www.cpf.ca/English/resources/...portsIndex.htm

Both of my kids were immersion students. One stayed right into high
school, and the other I pulled at the end of grade four. They both
still speak French. The one who stayed is pretty well fluent in spoken
and written French, and could easily work in either language. The one
who left isn't fluent in written, but still speaks and understands a
lot. Her boyfriend's grandmother is French speaking and she can
converse without too much trouble with her. The grandmother doesn't
speak English. If you need any input from that perspective, I'm happy
to help.

Goodl luck on your paper.

Cele