Language immersion programs have grown in popularity and numbers in the United States during the past 25 years. Many States offers immersion programs in Spanish, French or Chinese in their public schools. It exists more than 448 schools in 2011(Center for Applied Linguistics, 2011). This number continues to grow and in 2014 there are more than 500 immersion schools in the U.S. These programs start as soon as kindergarten or when children are entering first grade.
Immersion has been developed mainly because foreign languages are seen as an enrichment for the children. However in some States, such as Louisiana and Hawaii, the second language is part of a cultural heritage. These …show more content…
Although its rapid decline, due to the dominance of the English Language, French was still commonly used until the twentieth century, especially in the southern part of the State, in Acadania. In 1921, the Louisiana Legislature passed a law prohibiting the use of French in public schools. Furthermore, this regulation was accompanied by the common belief that the Louisianans who spoke French were uneducated and ignorant. For this reason, grandparents and parents stop teaching French to their children, as they did not want them to be stigmatized (St-Hilaire,