AJourney from ESL to Spanish Immersion Reveals Relationships between Programs and Methods

E nglish as a second language (ESL) and foreign language immersion classrooms seem different on the surface, but are connected in interesting ways. For one, the number of students served by these programs (i.e. second language leamers) is growing in the United States. From 1995 to 2006, the total primary and sec ondary enrollment increased by 3.7%, while the per centage of English language learners increased by 57% (National Clearinghouse for English Language Acqui sition, 2006). In 2007, 20 % of children ages 5 to 17 spoke a language other than English at home (Planty et aI., 2009). In addition, more students are receiving instruction through a foreign language at school. Ac cording to the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), in 2006, therc were approximately 612 recorded schools in the United States with foreign language immersion programs (partial, total, or two-way immersion models) (CAL 2006; CAL 2010). These numbers have grow