Two program models are available to guide elementary students toward proficiency in a language other than English: the Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) model or the immersion model. A district's choice depends on its linguistic goals and teacher availability.
FLES Model
- Instruction generally begins in preschool or kindergarten and continues through elementary school.
- The most effective programs meet for at least 30 minutes, three to five days a week.
- Students learn grammar indirectly rather than through direct instruction.
- Ideally, a bilingual/multilingual grade-level teacher teaches the world language. The majority of FLES programs, however, employ K–5 or K–12 licensed world language teachers.
- Individual schools and districts usually write their own curriculums.
- Content-enriched FLES programs use a foreign language to teach subject content from the regular school curriculum. Science and mathematics lend themselves to content-enriched FLES programs because they are laden with cognates that assist in language acquisition. A subject such as social studies, however, might require more sophisticated language.
Immersion Model
- In partial immersion programs, students are instructed in a language other than English for 20–50 percent of the school day.
- In total immersion programs, teachers instruct students in all content areas in the target language, with the exception of language arts.
- Two-way/dual immersion programs tend to be offered in a magnet school setting. Often 50 percent of students are native English speakers and 50 percent are native speakers of the additional language that will be offered at the school, such as Chinese or Spanish. Approximately half of the instructional time is in English, with the other half in the non-English language.
