Sixth International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Education: Connecting Research and Practice Across Contexts

Paper/Best Practice Session (1 hour)

French

One-Way Second/Foreign Language Immersion

Elementary (K-5)

Integrating content and language has been the cornerstone of immersion education since its inception. Today, with so many more standards and other curriculum demands, that integration is as much a necessity as it is an ideal. This unit brings together Science, Common Core Language Arts and World Language standards.

This unit was written for second grade, one-way French immersion, but the concepts are applicable for any grade level, any language.  We will begin with a very brief look at the Minnesota Earth Science standards and FOSS "Air and Weather" module as the content anchor and then identify Common Core Language Arts standards (Informational Reading; Speaking, Viewing, Listening; Media Literacy) and the ACTFL World Language standards to create a fully integrated, language-rich, content-based unit.

For this unit I took a dual track approach.  That is to say, there are focus-on-form activities during the science unit itself, and there are science-based lessons going on during French language arts instruction as well.  Any time taken away from the hands-on science lesson to attend to language will be made up in the language arts lesson that focuses on science content.  This "double dipping" approach strengthens both areas of instruction.

Science notebooks are an ideal medium for focus-on-form lessons during a science lesson.  We will look at a student's science notebook entry and examine ways to reinforce language accuracy and communicative competency, all the while keeping the science lesson moving.  Next we will look at a language arts lesson, which uses weather-related texts to teach and practice informational  skills.  Finally, I will share ideas about communicative assessments, and how they might be shared between science and language arts instructional time.

One of the greatest challenges teachers face today is finding enough time, and this is especially true in immersion.  Given the sheer number of standards we are expected to meet during the school year, it is simply not possible to teach units in isolation.  Luckily for us, integrating content and language is a desirable alternative, as we know that when learners are interested in a topic, they are motivated to acquire language to communicate.