Exploration 1 - Response to Q3

Q3 - It started off with the story about Maria, and the difficulties she had in class because she didn't understand english. While this probably isn't hard evidence, it shows and classic example of how a non-english speaking student struggles when suddenly thrust into a situation where only english is being spoken. It talked about how she spent very little time in class and was always off in her ESL classes and the like.

The author presented a little background history on the bi-lingual education which helped to set the stage, at least for me, as to why these types of programs might be considered necessary.

She then presented the types of programs that are available and this set the stage for the next section which I think is the heart of the matter: Which is the more effective program? Bilingual, or immersion?

The best evidence I saw was the section about the effectiveness of these two programs and why they are so varied. The author mentioned some statistics which leaned heavily toward immersion by saying that reading and math scores of California elementary students showed a big increase at a school which used the English immersion technique.

Overall I didn't find one kind of evidence that persuaded me more than another. While some programs may seem to be more effective than another, this can be due to outside factors which the author mentions, such as the teacher's proficiency in both languages, student comprehension, and use of both languages at home as well as in class.