The presentation describes the development of Katoh Gakuen’s English Immersion Program - the first English immersion school in Japan, and the only one with accreditation from the Japanese Ministry of Education and the prestigious International Baccalaureate Organization.
The presentation will highlight two areas of interest:
1) The overall organization of the program and how the program came into existence. The school has developed a unique model of bilingual education in order to meet the challenges and goals of the school. A video and discussion of how students learn academic content through a foreign language will be presented.
2) What we have learned from our experience as a pioneer in immersion education in Japan will be shared. Areas of discussion include – first and second language development, language and identity, and implications for language instruction in non-immersion contexts.
