TO IMMERSION
OR NO T
TO IMMERSION?
That is the question on many area parents’ minds
BY JENNIFER MARINO WALTERS
ALL ABOUT IMMERSION
Area schools offer two types of immersion
programs: one-way and two-way programs.

One-way immersion programs include
mostly native English speakers who are
learning the target language. Two-way
programs combine native speakers and
learners of the target language.

In both types of programs, students
spend at least half their day learning in
the target language. In partial immersion
programs, students learn math, science
14 Washington FAMILY MARCH 2020
and health in the target language and
the rest of the subjects in English. In full
immersion (less common), all instruction
is in the target language.

The benefits of language immer-
sion are plenty. According to the Center
for Applied Linguistics in Washington,
D.C., learning a language at an early age
enhances children’s brain development,
expands their cultural awareness, helps
them think more flexibly and increases
job opportunities later in life. Bilingual
children outperform monolingual kids in
problem solving, pattern recognition and
divergent thinking.

Studies by the RAND Corporation and
researchers at George Mason University
in Fairfax, Virginia, have also found
that immersion students score better
on standardized reading and math tests
than their non-immersion peers by late
elementary school.

Elisabeth Harrington, supervisor of
the World Languages Office at Arlington
Public Schools (APS), says that APS stu-
dents enrolled in language immersion
programs also eventually outperform their
non-immersion peers in standardized
tests. But she says that’s not usually the
case in the earlier years.

“The benefits of immersion are long-
term,” Harrington says. “Test scores
might be lower at first, so parents just
have to trust the process.”
VARIED EXPERIENCES
When my husband and I were making our
decision, our biggest concern was what
actual immersion families thought of the
program. And we found that while some
families loved immersion, others felt it
wasn’t right for their children.

Melissa Chabot’s son is in the kinder-
garten Spanish immersion program at
Bailey’s Elementary School for the Arts
and Sciences in Falls Church, Virginia. “We
are having a wonderful experience,” she
says. “My son is getting to know kids with
diverse backgrounds and experiences and
learning about other cultures. He loves it.”
Sarah Clark’s sixth-grade daughter and
second-grade son love being in German
immersion at Orange Hunt Elementary
School in Burke, Virginia. Clark’s daugh-
ter is in advanced math and can hold
conversations with her German relatives.

GETTY IMGEAS/E+: SPEECH BUBBLES: MRPLISKIN; CHILDREN: SHAPECHARGE
hree years ago, my husband and I
agonized over a decision—whether
or not to enroll our twin boys, then
in kindergarten, in a Spanish immersion
program the following year. Their school
is one of 17 Fairfax County Public Schools
(FCPS) that offer language immersion
starting in kindergarten or first grade.

And FCPS is not alone. Several school
districts throughout the D.C. area offer
their own language immersion programs
(see sidebar). The enrollment lotter-
ies for a lot of these programs are now
open, which means many local parents are
currently facing the same dilemma we did.