Language immersion

Under immersion (from the Latin Immersio: immersion; therefore also German " language bath " ) is understood in linguistics and pedagogy, a situation in which people, especially children, are placed in a foreign language environment in which they - casual or gewünschtermaßen - acquire the foreign language. Unlike the use of language learning in immersion, the acquisition of foreign language strictly follows the principles of the parent language acquisition.

In many multilingual cultures, such as the Netherlands Antilles, the language acquisition is by immersion an everyday matter of course, the one foreign language teaching is often largely replaced.

Pedagogical

Pre-school education

In immigration countries like Canada, where a majority of children attended pre-school programs, immigrant children learn the local languages ​​(English and French) has always been by immersion. However, Canadian kindergartens are also bilingual and often offer in regions with strong linguistic minorities also a native language support, for example, Mandarin Chinese, German or Inuktitut.

In Germany, the share of daycare centers where children a foreign language (except German ) can acquire by immersion is still less than 1%.

Education

In many multilingual cultures in which the official language is not the language spoken by the population language, students learn foreign languages ​​at schools its not by teaching, but by immersion.

While this practice is often classified as educational policy failure in poor countries, efforts are being made today in some rich countries, on the contrary, to explore the possibilities of immersion, for example, to create an alternative to traditional foreign language teaching in schools. This has already been tested on the breton Diwan- schools, Sorbian- German-speaking countries ( project Witaj ) and at the elementary school Simonswolde in East Friesland, where the students are also taught in Low German.

However, also appear in German-speaking lately more and more schools that offer already from the first year of primary school through immersion education. In Switzerland immersion classes are not uncommon, and also in Germany, the demand for English-language immersion on the part of parents skyrocketing.

The advantage of the English immersion classes from the first grade of elementary school consists essentially in that students without a permanent reminder that they develop a foreign language, learn the English language almost incidentally. While they participate in mathematics, sports or home and social studies, they encounter English technical terms and learn these words only by the repetition and application. Since the primary school teachers already fooling every step, his pupils falls well as the understanding is not difficult. In the course of time, so a framework of basic concepts that will help students understand better their work instructions developed. Towards the end of the second class then the first already relatively complex English texts can itself present.

English-language immersion education is an additional challenge and an additional class preparation for the teacher. He not only has a lot more visual aids ( flash cards, clip arts, images) present, but also enter into a greater extent on the reactions of his students and for example present a case in an alternative way, if the student fails to echo, or statements the students return in English. In addition, it is useful to work with English or American online resources to invent, not every new teaching material must.

Adult education

In language lessons for adults it was mainly Maximilian Berlitz Delphinius who has tried to make the principles of immersion available.