S. Department of Education presented a five-year grant to University Research Co's - URC Center for Human Services to work in collaboration with McDaniel College. The project is intended to act as a source to McDaniel to expand and execute a high quality bilingual education/ESL teacher-training program. By this project, CHS/McDaniel will offer various professional development openings to public school teachers and administrators, including workshops, graduate courses in bilingual education, field experiences, and a rigorous summer training institute. (Bilingual Education: Training for All Teachers) The language immersion programs that are now provided in the United States came from Canada. They wanted their English-speaking population to learn French. Canadians realized English-speaking students were not getting adequate French to get minimum grades in school and to get jobs in French speaking areas of Canada. In 1975, Canada's first French immersion program began and by 1980 this program was launched in the United States. Canadian programs are now confronting troubles with higher number of children with circumstances other than English, which means they must expand more specialty programs. Since their expansion thirty years ago, language immersion programs have attained a reputation in Canada, but in the United States they have grown swiftly in the past 25 years. This expansion is mainly due to the melting pot effect in the United States. People from many different environments are shifting to the U.S. And urgently want to learn English. (Cargas; Ryan, 2002)

In California, the Proposition 227 abolished the bilingual education. But studies have shown that bilingual education programs are helpful. The only means of actually finding the result of bilingual education on English language development is to observe the results of controlled scientific studies. In these studies, groups are evaluated that vary only with respect to the application of the first language. This research constantly shows that children in correctly structured bilingual education programs get English at least as well and usually better than students in all-English programs. Also, the number of students who leave is fewer in bilingual programs. (Krashen, 2000)

Bilingual education is very helpful for English language development. But this truth is not clearly appreciated. The following are the allegories with...

English language growth is not the only aim of bilingual education. A second commendable aim is the progressing development of the first language. Research authorizes that enduring progress of the first language has a constructive effect on cognitive development, has useful benefits, and encourages a strong logic of biculturalism. But most people think that the bilingual education argument is between sensible people who want their children to learn English and illogical extremists who want to stop their children from learning English. This misinterpretation must be rectified at once, if the anti-bilingual education movement is to be blocked. The message must be given clearly that bilingual instructors are mainly worried about English language development and that correctly planned bilingual education programs are very useful for English language development. (Krashen, 2000/2001)
References

Bilingual Education: Training for All Teachers" Retrieved at http://www.urc-chs.com/services/education/bilingualeducation.html. Accessed on 20 March 2005

Canales, JoAnn; Ruiz-Escalante; Jose Agustin. "A Pedagogical Framework for Bilingual Education Teacher Preparation Programs" Proceedings of the Third National Research Symposium on Limited English Proficient Student Issues: Focus on Middle and High School Issues. Retrieved at http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/symposia/third/canales.htm. Accessed on 20 March 2005

Cargas, Rachel; Ryan, Tricia. (May 7, 2002) "Bilingual Education" Rachel Cargas's Online Research Portfolio. Retrieved at http://tiger.towson.edu/users/rcarga1/researchpaper.htm#BilingualeducationoriginatinginCanadaAccessed on 20 March 2005

Krashen, Stephen. (August 22, 2000) "Bilingual Education Wasn't a Cure" New York Times. Retrieved at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/klet4.htm. Accessed on 20 March 2005

Krashen, Stephen. (Winter, 2000/2001) "Bilingual Education Works" Re-thinking Schools Online. Vol: 15; No: 2. Retrieved at http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/15_02/Bi152.shtml. Accessed on 20 March 2005

The Teacher's Workshop" Professional Development Resources for Teachers. Retrieved at http://www.teachersworkshop.com/. Accessed on 20 March 2005