Paper Session: Accentuating the Positive: Cross-linguistic Influence in German Immersion Pre-schoolers
Friday, October 22, 10 - 11 am, Room: Campus 
Kirk Martinson, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Recent research on cross-linguistic influence suggests that the amount and type of effect is attributable to the languages involved, specifically the amount of overlap and ambiguity in the surface structure of each language. My presentation reports on the emerging syntax of German immersion pre-schoolers. This study examines whether the facilitative and debilitative effects of this language pairing, found in simultaneous bilinguals, are evident in these "delayed" bilinguals, and how we may capitalize on this knowledge.

Discussion Session: As Demographics Change, Do Models of Immersion Change?
Friday, October 22, 10 - 11 am, Room: Coffman 
Kate Hathaway, Adams Spanish Immersion Magnet School
Susan Furr, Adams Spanish Immersion Magnet School
Carol Markham-Cousins, Adams Spanish Immersion Magnet School
Claudia Kidd, Adams Spanish Immersion Magnet School

The changing demographics of student populations in urban immersion schools require a constant re-evaluation of the teaching models and methods. What began as a one-way immersion program may evolve into a variant of one and two-way models as minority language speaker populations increase in a school. This discussion explores why and how this has occurred at a rapidly growing, urban Spanish Immersion school in St. Paul, MN. Perspectives from parents, teachers and students are presented.

Paper Session: Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education Programs
Friday, October 22, 10 - 11 am, Room: Faculty 
Donna Christian, Center for Applied Linguistics
Kathryn Lindholm-Leary, San Jose State University

This session reports the results of a project to develop Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education (NCELA, 2004), a tool to help programs with planning and implementation. The document includes a review of the research base underlying the principles, along with a set of principles and benchmarks to help programs rate their progress. The principles are intended to apply across dual language education contexts (two-way immersion, developmental bilingual, and one-way immersion education).

Discussion Session: Integrating Language Immersion and Music Teaching for Successful Schoolwide Interdisciplinary Learning
Friday, October 22, 10 - 11 am, Room: Regents 
Ursina Swanson, Park Spanish Immersion School
Corey Maslowski, Park Spanish Immersion School
Kim Wieber, Park Spanish Immersion School
Deborah Lamb, Park Spanish Immersion School
Nyssa Brown, Park Spanish Immersion School

Interdisciplinary teaching involving immersion teachers and music teachers can enhance student learning in classroom and music settings. As immersion teachers, music specialists, and principal, we will share the collaborative curriculum we have built at Park Spanish Immersion School in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Participants will receive handouts of scope and sequence, sample units, and sample lessons. We will facilitate a discussion both to answer questions and incorporate ideas and experiences of those practicing interdisciplinary teaching.

Paper Session: Race and Educational Context: Comparing African-American Students' Experiences in Immersion and Regular Education
Friday, October 22, 10 - 11 am, Room: Alumni 
Michelle Georgette Haj-Broussard, Lafayette Parish School District

Recent research found immersion education to be beneficial to African-American students (Caldas & Boudreaux, 1999). However, immersion education does not exist in a cultural or contextual void. This two-phased mixed-methodology study compared African-Americans students' experiences in Louisiana French immersion classes to African-Americans students' experiences in Louisiana regular education classes. The first phase, compared students test scores while the second phase was a cross-case comparison of both typical and extreme (90% poverty) classes in both contexts.

Paper Session: The Effective Use of Technology in an Immersion Classroom
Friday, October 22, 10 - 11 am, Room: Presidents 
Atsuko Ando, Richmond Elementary School

The effective application of multimedia technology will certainly motivate immersion students to use target languages, and expose them to authentic culture at the same time. A variety of interactive PowerPoint multimedia presentations as instructional materials and the examples of computer projects created by elementary school students in a Japanese partial immersion classroom will be presented.

Paper Session: The Role of Writing in Late Immersion Classrooms
Friday, October 22, 10 - 11 am, Room: Northrup 
Stella Kong, English Department, Hong Kong Institute of Education

This paper reports a qualitative study of the use of writing in the school subjects of biology and history in late immersion classrooms in Hong Kong. The study investigated how writing helps students to learn content and second language in these immersion classrooms. The paper argues that writing in appropriate subject-specific genres can be particularly useful in promoting the learning of both content and second language in the late immersion context.