Paper Session: Bilingual Student's Contribution to Latin American Community Development
Saturday, October 18, 3:00 pm, Room: State III 
Claudia Baldwin, Adams Spanish Immersion School

Adams Spanish Immersion students in St. Paul, MN collaborated with students in Mexico, Colombia and Bolivia on a science research project on water contamination and purification. The results were shared through a video conference. A plan to improve water in the aforementioned communities was started.

Session Handouts (in PDF): PowerPoint               

Discussion Session: Creating New Words for Effective Indigenous Language Medium Education
Saturday, October 18, 3:00 pm, Room: Kellogg II 
Larry Kimura, College of Hawaiian Language, University of Hawai'i at Hilo

Creating new Hawaiian lexicon for current and evolving Hawaiian medium curriculum content is vital for an indigenous language that has not been the medium of education for over 100 years. New words are effective tools for successful indigenous immersion education and they reinforce native cultural viability in an ever-changing world.

Paper Session: Integrating Technology in the Immersion Classroom
Saturday, October 18, 3:00 pm, Room: Governors II 
Joe Wacker, Scenic Heights Elementary
Chia-Hsuan Cheng, Scenic Heights Elementary
Dave Eisenmann, Minnetonka Public Schools
Tingting Wang, Excelsior Elementary

The purpose of this session is to demonstrate the use of technology in instruction as it relates to the immersion classroom. Participants will be exposed to the use of the SMART Board, sound files and websites that make instruction come alive!

Paper Session: Signing Strategies for Reading
Saturday, October 18, 3:00 pm, Room: Great River Ballroom IV 
María Reyes- Wrede, Park Spanish Immersion
Rosa Sala-Healey, Park Spanish Immersion

The audience will become familiar with Bethanie Tucker's "Signing Strategies for Reading". We have adapted these strategies to the Spanish immersion classroom. When beginnng readers learn the letters of the alphabet and their sounds, they will also learn hand signs to go with them. This kinesthetic approach helps students decode any unfamiliar words.

Paper Session: Starting a Language Immersion Program: Dos and Don’ts
Saturday, October 18, 3:00 pm, Room: Kellogg III 
Kimberlie Musto, University of Minnesota

This session reports on a small study that was designed to learn the process for proposing and implementing a language immersion program. Information shared in this session was gathered through a review of the literature and interviews with adults who were instrumental in developing immersion programs.

Session Handouts (in PDF): PowerPoint               

Paper Session: Supporting Struggling Readers in Immersion
Saturday, October 18, 3:00 pm, Room: Great River Ballroom I 
Kaari Rodriguez, Lakes International Language Academy

A portion of first graders in our Spanish immersion school struggle with literacy. This case study of support services for struggling readers at one early, full immersion program will provide specific ways research can be applied to instruction and to decisions regarding the best use of limited support services and resources.

Paper Session: Why Do They Leave? Student Attrition Revisited
Saturday, October 18, 3:00 pm, Room: Capitol 
Nicole Boudreaux, Lafayette Parish School System

While immersion student attrition is recognized as a major programmatic issue, little research exists in the U.S. regarding its extent and causes. Based on five years of research, the presenter addresses attrition trends at the K-5 level of a large French immersion program, ending with a discussion on possible interventions.

Session Handouts (in PDF): Powerpoint               

Paper Session: Wordless Picture Books: Versatile Immersion Tools Beyond Third Grade
Saturday, October 18, 3:00 pm, Room: Governors III 
Tracy Nelson Maurer, Lakes International Language Academy

Immersion education can benefit from integrating the undervalued but highly versatile wordless picture book as a teaching tool beyond grade 3. Teachers and parents of older L2 learners will discover new insights to these engagingly effective books.

Paper Session: Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration and Reading (WIC-R) in a Secondary Immersion Classroom
Saturday, October 18, 3:00 pm, Room: Kellogg I 
Martha Johnson, Highland Park Junior High

WIC-R is a guiding principle of the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) Program. I incorporate WIC-R into every unit I teach. This session will focus on practice-based examples of using WIC-R in a secondary Spanish Immersion classroom.