A Brief History of Language Immersion

Today there are over 300,000 American students enrolled in immersion programs, but where did this all begin?  In the 1960s Canadian parents were worried about the state of French education in schools.  The parents proposed an experimental immersion program that taught students Canadian French for half the day and English for the other half.  The students were taught to appreciate their French heritage and speak both of the official languages of Canada.  The program was so popular that it expanded all over the country and eventually fed in to the U.S. In Louisiana there was a fear that Creole would disappear if the newer generations did not learn it.  Thus, Louisiana also adapted the immersion program.  Other unique immersion programs include Gaelic in Ireland and Hawaiian in Hawaii.