In immersion programs, at least 50% of academic instruction is presented through the medium of a second language during some part of elementary and/or secondary school. Immersion programs that begin in grade one teach almost 100% of the curriculum in the second language during the first two years. Immediately following these two years, programming begins to move quickly to a 50/50 model where half the instruction is in the student’s mother tongue and half in the target language. In immersion programs, the target language is used to teach regular academic subjects such as mathematics and science, and students are expected to achieve the same standards in these subjects as students learning through the medium of their first language. 

Immersion programs are a form of “additive” bilingual education because they aim for functional proficiency in both the student’s home language and a second language.

Almost forty years of international experience and research and, above all, the ever-increasing  popularity of the method, have proven that immersion is effective in achieving these goals.

CLIL Conference - PRESENTATIONS