Bilingual Education: The "Immersion" Model in the North American Context

Although non-English-speaking minority groups have largely attributed school difficulties to an inability to learn both English and subject matter at the same time, recent experiences in North America suggest that it is possible to do so successfully. The purpose of this paper is to account for these apparent contradictions by examining first the characteristics of education for the majority group child. The possibility of programs based on the successful model of immersion education for several target groups is then considered. It is suggested that the advent of successful immersion education may motivate bilingual teachers to reconsider their methodology for creating bilinguals.