Foreign language classes in the i-Immersion program will be conducted using the i-Immersion methods, which include the following key aspects of proven techniques:
- Repetition and Diversity
- Total Physical Response (TPR)
- Multiple Intelligences ensures students are exposed to diversified content that are suited to their individual learning styles.
- Total Physical Response Storytelling (TPRS) integrates gestures and creative embellishment of stories to engage students.
- i-Immersion FLEx Activity Blocks
Repetition and Diversity
The i-Immersion Method is based on the sound principal that repetition is key to students learning a World Language. The goal at i-Immersion is to provide adequate opportunities for repetition of key vocabulary and phrases while ensuring that students are engaged in a diverse array of activities. It is our job to ensure students are having fun and continuing to learn and they never get bored or don’t feel challenged. While working on a thematic unit about food and nutrition for example, students may use the same vocabulary and grammatical content to do all of the following:
- Sing a song/choreograph a dance about healthy food and nutrition
- Write a short poem about healthy food and nutrition
- Watch a short PSA or program about nutrition (in target language)
- Design and play a board game or Bingo Game highlighting healthy foods
- Create a special art project that integrates foods and phrases
- Read a story about harvesting healthy food
- Take a field trip to an organic farm or other venue to find sustainable food
Total Physical Response
Total Physical Response is a commonly used teaching method that is based on the premise that even very young learners (babies and toddlers) have the capacity to easily understand and respond to a new language.
At this early stage, you can say that a young learner has “a language-body conversation” because the adult speaks and the infant or toddler answers with a physical response such as looking, smiling, laughing, turning, walking, reaching, grasping, holding, sitting, running, and so forth.
I-Immersion relies on this teaching method and the science behind it to work with children as young as 14 months old in our Tot & Parent classes.
Multiple Intelligence
The Multiple Intelligence Theory is based on the basic principle that individual children are “smart” and learn things in different ways such as through music, reasoning, nature, pictures, numbers, other people, their own physical being, etc.
To that end, i-Immersion seeks to present content in diverse ways to ensure that each child’s unique learning style is met. For example, a typical i-Immersion class may include storytelling, picture and word identification games, drawing and art, music and dancing, physical/tactile play and verbal/communication activities.
Total Physical Response Storytelling (TPRS)
Physical Response Storytelling, or TPRS, is a method for teaching world languages. The teacher uses funny stories to help students apply words and phrases learned in class. It’s based on the philosophy that “Learning is a function of repetition.”
The i-Immersion Activity Blocks
The i-Immersion program provides students an immersion environment where active language play and instruction is conducted daily. The program offers children ages 14 months through the fifth grade a rich and varied schedule, which balances routine with new events and activities to keep kids engaged in their language learning. Students in the i-Immersion program are guided towards target language fluency through what we called Activity Blocks.
Through a variety of activities, students in the i-Immersion program can expect to achieve oral and written fluency in Mandarin and Spanish and a strong interest in another culture!