中美英语教学2004年第四期The Impact of English Immersion on Children.doc

The Impact of English Immersion on Children ——Xiaohua Liang，Zhongnan University of Economics and LawAbstract：This article does some researches on the impact of English Immersion on children．Through the practice and observation of children in the immersion program，we find that English Immersion has the following impacts on children：1)The English language learning is immersed into the process of thematic activities．Children in the Immersion learn English naturally, joyfully and systematically．They tend to cooperate wel1．2)The language immersion is an integrated model in which children feel no cultural barriers．3) English learning enhances the learning of Pinyin，and vice versa．4)There is little gap between genders．5) Social and economic difference does not influence their learning．6)English rhyming，chanting and songs arouse great interest in them．7)Drama makes children very confident in their performance．They learn to think and settle problems through the performance．English immersion gives children cognitive development and enforces the language they are learning． KeywordsEnglish Immersion; Thematic activities; Gender difference; Social and economic background I．Introduction 11 Background As the deepening of China’s reformation and further development，English becomes more and more widely used in China．People pay much more attention to English learning．After the heat of TOFEL and GRE，people come to realize that the English language learning is a prolonged process and should be learned from a very young age．The idea of training their children to be the best makes the parents invest more than ever in their children’s education．They compete not to fall behind．So English learning for children is extremely hot and welcomed in China now. Prof. Qiang Haiyan，together with Canadian Psycholinguist Linda Siegel and some other Chinese professors，has founded the English Immersion Program in ChinaAudio-lingual，Audio-visual Method was popular in the late 1 950s and 1970s in North Am