An Integrated Bilingual Curriculum Model

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to directly contribute to the improvement and successful implementation of integrated bilingual education at the kindergarten level. It first offers a theoretical framework including a brief review of the literature on the importance of attitudes and second language learning, bilingualism and cognition, and bilingualism and language acquisition. Based on this theoretical framework, an integrated curriculum model is presented. Bilingual kindergartens were suggested in the Plan for School Desegregation in Boston in 1975. It was not until 1977 that their implementation began. An integrated bilingual kindergarten consisted of having minority language children and a minority language teacher share a classroom with an English teacher and English speaking children. Team teaching in an integrated kindergarten classroom was a new experience for almost all involved. The potential benefits, however, of a linguistically integrated situation were being neglected. In this situation both cul...