Delaware Recruits Immersion Teachers

From http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20120814/DW08/208140327/Teachers-immerse-languages?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Delaware%20Wave|p

Teachers immerse in languages
Foreign educators to aid proficiency
by Andrew Staub
August 14, 2012

[M]ore than 340 kindergarteners … will dive into foreign languages this year, spending half their school day being taught in Mandarin Chinese or Spanish.

The four immersion programs, spread among three schools across the state, have already proved a popular draw, with interested students quickly outnumbering the available slots at some schools.

The classes will focus on building language proficiency rather than grammar. Students will learn academic content through Spanish or Chinese as well as English, and classes will have a teacher for each language, according to the Department of Education.

With Gov. Jack Markell putting in a $1.9 million annual investment, the DOE wants language immersion to reach 10 programs next year and 20 programs by 2015. Five years after that, the goal is to have 8,000 K-8 students in immersion programs.

Finding qualified bilingual teachers has been a challenge.

Read the full article at http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20120814/DW08/208140327/Teachers-immerse-languages?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Delaware%20Wave|p