IMMERSION PROGRAMM

ASSIGNMENT 2

Propose a plan for introducing a type of bilingual education program during primary or secondary education in a context that you are familiar with (e.g. if you are teaching in Japan, you may consider writing about introducing an English-Japanese bilingual program), if you are in Australia you may consider an Indigenous-English bilingual-bicultural program. Discuss why you would suggest introducing that type of program and why you think the chosen structure (early or late/partial or total immersion, etc.) was chosen.

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INTRODUCING AN ENGLISH – INDONESIAN BILINGUAL PROGRAM FOR VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

BACKGROUND

Indonesian high school is divided into two groups; those are general high school and vocational high school. The general high school prepares the students for continuing study to the university, while the vocational high school prepares the students for entering job field which need semi professional workers. The percentage is 70% for general high school and 30% for vocational high school of the total number of high school all over Indonesia in the past. However, it changed up side down nowadays become 70% for vocational school and 30% for general high school because of the demand of job field to employ the ready-use workers. The output of the vocational school, hopely, will be able to survive with the skills they have based on each department.

There many kinds of vocational school which divided into groups of business management, information and technology, and tourism and arts. In this case I will focus on the school I have been teaching at, that is business management group. There are three main departments at this school; accounting, secretary, sales department. As I mentioned that the government policy on the high school is changing now, we will see slightly what happened to the Indonesian education now.

In general, education is one of the biggest issues of Indonesian development program right now. The government has allocated wide range of money to develop education in particular vocational education. As a result, many new schools were built and many new teachers were employed. As one of the biggest population countries in the world, the biggest number of population is children within school ages between 6 to 17 years old. Therefore, the Indonesian government put education on the top of Indonesian development issues.

One of the most significant policies in education was taken by the central government. That is, teaching other languages (the most popular languages used in the international relationship) in formal education. English is the most popular languages being taught in Indonesian schools. Some other schools taught German, French, Mandarin, Arabic and Japanese as the optional languages. English has been taught from secondary level to the tertiary level. However, a long with the globalization era, the education department initiated to introduce English since elementary school (grade 3). Even though, it was not all of the schools could implement this policy, because not all of the schools have teacher with English background. Some of the kinder garden or pre-schools introduced English as the additional subject in the curriculum. It is usually run by the private schools.

In addition, the Indonesian education department took program classifying school into national standardized, international standardized, ISO standardized. For the international standard, the school must fulfill certain circumstances. Such as the school must teach some subjects in English. These programs were run in order to up grade the quality of the Indonesian education in general.

Moreover, Indonesian government has taken another significant policy in the last five years. That is called “Otonomi Daerah” or regional autonomy, where every region or district can undertake its own policies, in some certain areas, to develop its region. In this case the local government has authority to make some policies for regional development. For example in education, although the central government still take control in the whole education policies but in some particular cases, the local government could take its own decision and develop its own program. Such as, in developing curriculums, building new schools and employing new teachers. This is really a good chance for the local government, education department in particular to develop education program in order to have better output of school and better local human recourses. In this case, I will introduce an English - Indonesian bilingual education program, which is, called “immersion program”.

WHAT IS IMMERSION PROGRAM?

Immersion based on bilingualism means the students study regular subjects in second language. They can use the language orally and writtenly in daily life. According to Berthold (1995, p.1) cites Genesee (1987:1) who says;

‘Immersion is the form of bilingual education in which students who speak the language of the majority of the population receive part of their instruction through the medium of a second language and part through their first language. Both the second language and the first language are used to teach regular school subject, such as Mathematics, Science, or Physical Education, in addition to language arts. The same subjects are never taught using both languages concurrently or during the same academic year. Different subjects are taught through the medium of each language. Generally speaking at least 50 per cent of instruction during a given academic year must be provided through the second language for the program to be regarded as immersion [my emphasis]. Program in which one subject and language arts are taught through the second language are generally identified as enriched second language program.’

Based on the definition above, then, Berthold (2003) conclude that, immersion is teaching of a range of subjects (such as Mathematics, Science, and History) through second language to the students who do not initially speak this second language. This is done for at least 50% of the school day, and where the ultimate goal is to produce bilingual students. It is very important to understand what immersion is, so that everyone who is involved in the program has the same understanding and direction to reach the goal.

LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION

There are some considerations we should concern before deciding what language we will use for the instruction of immersion program. In the case of bilingual education in Indonesia, I will recommend ‘English’ as language instruction for some reasons;

1. English is an international language which most of people use in the international communication.

2. Indonesia need much more people who can speak English for international purpose.

3. Indonesia is located in between the biggest continents, the biggest oceans and some big countries. As a result Indonesia will be the traffic center of international trade.

4. Most of knowledge or science and technology development is written in English.

5. The alphabet between Indonesian and English are similar so that the student will not have much problem in the beginning of the program.

6. For the region will get benefits because they will have human recourses with English qualified ability. It means that they will have access for the international relationship.

Based on those reasons above we can conclude that bilingual in Indonesia is additive bilingualism. Meaning by learning the second language people will get many advantages, without any threatened for the first language existence. Berthold (2003, p. ) says ‘This applies to a speaker whose first language (L1) is dominant and prestigious and is in no way threatened by the acquisition of a second language (L2). The second language is seen as a positive addition of another socially relevant language to a well establisher first language, which will continue to maintain its position of importance, if not dominant’. For example when Japanese who acquires English or Indonesian who acquire English. English will not damage Indonesian language. Moreover, it will enrich Indonesian language vocabularies. As a matter of fact that there are many Indonesian words which came from other languages, such as Arabic, English, and Sanskrit. In other words, learning English as a second language will have positive impacts for Indonesian. Not only linguistic impacts, but also social and culture impacts, and even economic impacts. Indonesian will get many advantages of running this program.

GOAL OF THE PROGRAM

Every program must have certain goal to reach, as well as in immersion program. The goal can be initiated from anybody or whoever. But the whole elements who will be involved in the program must understand and responsible to succeed the program. At least we can answer some questions deal with immersion, as Berthold (2003, p. ) said that there are some questions that have to be concerned before running the program;

1. What effects will there be on the students’ first language?

2. How proficient will students be in the second language?

3. What happen to their acquisition of skills and content knowledge of subjects taught through the second language?

4. At what age should the child become “immersed”?

These all questions should be answered before the problem arise in the middle of the program. Because immersion is comprehension program, it involves many elements in the program. Every element can sit together and formulate the goals. The goals may be vary based on the need and significance of bilingualism in Indonesia. We can formulate the goals as below;

1. Give the students chance and maximize their academic ability to study subjects in second language (English).

2. Prepare the students for their future study that will deal with English.

3. Prepare the students to be able to communicate by using international language, especially when they want to have international relationship.

4. Prepare the next generations who have ability to adapt knowledge and technology written in English.

5. The other goal can be formulated based on the regional need.

TYPE OF PROGRAM

There are three types of immersion programs, which have been done by some countries in the world, such as Canada, Australia,USA, etc. Those are;

1. Early immersion, this type of immersion program starts from kindergarten or elementary school grade 1 to grade 11. The most popular example of this type of immersion program has been done by Canada, and sponsored by Swain & friends from the Ontario Institute for Study in Education (OISE). They have been doing research on early immersion for many years to see the effectiveness of the program.

2. Middle immersion, this program is also called delayed immersion. This program is started at year 8 or grade 3 of elementary school. Swain and friends also have done research.

3. Late immersion, this program is started from secondary school grade 1 to 3 (Indonesian Secondary Schools). Canada is the most popular country in immersion program. Late immersion, for example, researches have been done by Genesee in Montreal. He found that a very significant evident on his research. It shown the achievement of late immersion compare to early immersion was slightly different. The common percentage language used in these three types of immersion is 100% and 50% or in other word people called total immersion and partial immersion.

Each of immersion programs has its advantages and disadvantages. However, based on the regional potential and local government capability to support this program, I will recommend ‘partial late immersion’ as the choice because; it will deal with many factors, such as teachers availability, students and parents response, and financial support. Berthold (1995, p. ) identified the advantages of late immersion; ‘Students more cognitively developed, and hence learn more quickly. Students are volunteers, self-motivated rather than parentally motivated and easier to develop a continuity program’. The other advantages based on Indonesian bilingual education; English has been studied since grade 3 of elementary school, so the students will not have many difficulties in the beginning of the program. In addition of late immersion, we can afford the goal with minimum local government financial support capability in particular and small number of teachers. Because, it does not need long time to run the program.

WHO WILL RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PROGRAM?

Here is one of the most important steps of immersion program. Because, if it is unclear who will responsible for the program, it is impossible the program will run well. Perhaps people will see that teacher is the most responsible element in the program. However, if we learn from the history of immersion program from some countries, we will see that teacher is not only the one who responsible for the successful of the program. Besides the teachers or educators, parents and government (education department) have the same role and responsibility to support the program.

Parents, for example, will participate on supporting the program by convincing the children to join and study hard in the program. In some cases, parents could be the initiator of the program and convinced the teachers or even the government to run the program. As Berthold (2003, p. ) says, ‘[t]he role of parents is also critical. Without support of parents there will be no children within the program’. However, parents support is not enough yet. The solid educators and administration staff must support it. As well as strong willingness and support from the government (education department) to succeed the program.

In addition of late immersion, there is possibility for the parents to support the financial need, although the local government had allocated certain amount of fund in education program. However, because this program is out of the regular programs, so it needs more financial support. At the same time, government has to fund many other schools spread out the country. Therefore, (Berthold, 1995, p. ) says ‘ …the choice of program style will have to be made by the educational, school and general communities working together’. Those three elements must work together to support the program, otherwise, it will collapse in the middle of the way.

TEACHERS AVAILABILITY

Teacher availability is an urgent issue in Indonesian education. The number of the schools or students is unbalance to the teachers availability. However, as the first program, it does not need too many teachers employed. The government could employ the teachers available at the moment to be the immersion teacher. So far, there are some teachers from my district who have been studying in Australia. They have been introduced to the immersion program at The University of Southern Queensland. At least they have knowledge and know how to run immersion program. The program will be partial late immersion, so that, few teachers are enough to run the immersion program for the beginning. What subject they will teach is based on their skills background. We will see the further explanation on the next session.

CONTENTS AREA

Basically there are similarities in the case of subject taught in Indonesian schools with modern country schools. There are Mathematics, Science, Geography, Physical Education, Arts & Music, and some other local contents. It is important to consider the most possible subjects to be taught in second language. The subjects could be understood comprehensively by the students. Berthold (1995, p. ) says; ‘A role of thumb is that those themes or subjects which;

· Contain the least amount of language and

· Are easiest to demonstrate physically, graphically or symbolically are the areas one would find easiest to begin with’.

Based on the explanation above there are some subjects that we can teach in second language, particularly at vocational school, such as Mathematics, History, Music & Arts, Geography, Physical Education, English, and two local contents; Computer class and Home Industry class. Because my school based on the business management group, so I will suggest teaching Math, History, and Computer in English in the beginning of the program besides English subject itself. On the words, we can choose the main subjects based on the departments of the school, for example accounting, secretary, and sales. The question arises then, how can we get the teaching materials?

It always becomes a big question when the program will be started. We can learn from the experience of immersion from other countries ever, how they can get the teaching resources. Most of the teaching materials were created by the teachers in the beginning. They translated the subjects into the instructional language, and then they gave the copy to the students. Another way is by finding out the authentic material from the English speaking countries.

It is quite possible for Indonesian teachers to get the authentic material from Australian teachers, because they have had good relationship for long time ago. For example students and teachers exchange program. Some local governments have been engaging relationship with some states in Australia for long time. Such as, Central Java local government with Queensland Education Department and some other big cities in Australia. For teachers from Kalimantan, they have connection and good relationship with some LOTE teachers from Queensland (Toowoomba). In the future this relationship can be extended, such as transferring teaching resources among the LOTE teachers from both countries or students and teachers exchange program. And also we can learn from other local governments who have had relationship with Australian teachers. Or we can search on the internet because it is quite easy to get online materials nowadays.

STUDENTS SELECTION

For the first time, it will be a big issue because people did not know about immersion. The program must be introduced to the public first, parents and students in particular. Considering the large number of the students at school with limited teachers, it is impossible to have many classes of immersion program. One class is enough for the first time program. The program can be introduced to the parents and students, and they could join in the program with its all risk and responsibilities. Another way that can be done by the school is, for example, the school makes some criteria which student can be received in the program. There is a model class in Indonesian schools, which contain students with high motivation, and high ability. This class model can be included in the immersion program.

SUCCESSFULNES IMPLICATIONS

Once the program was run, many possibilities could be happened. Many unpredictable problems are possibly to happen. There is always failure possibility, but we can learn from the successful program of other countries in the world such as Canada, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, etc. The closest countries we can learn are Australia and Brunei Darussalam. Australia is very popular in the world with Benowa late immersion and Brunei Darussalam with its bilingual education program (EFL).

It is very important for the teachers and education department to have such a study tour or study comparison to Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, etc. which have been succeeded on the immersion program.They can learn and observe the immersion program in those countries, so that they have good description about immersion program and know how to run immersion program. In the future, teachers training or sending them to study in English speaking countries are very important. Because of we will need much more teachers for the continuing the program in particular when we want to extend the program. The teacher must not always an English teacher, but also they can be other specialist teachers who have English background or bilingual teachers. The most important thing is they have high motivation, integrity, and loyalty to succeed the program. As Berthold (1995, p. 259) says;

‘No one element in the choice of immersion program stands alone. They are all inextricably linked and intertwined with one another. Whatever is decided, there must be long-term planning and resourcing designated to ensure success. Why start what will not be finished?’ .

Reference:

Berthold, M. J., 1993. The staircase model: Language awareness to content teaching. In Proceeding of the First Biennial Conference (pp. 38-46). Newcastle: Australian Association of Language Immersion Teachers.

Berthold, M.,1995. Initiating an immersion program. In Berthold, M. (Ed.). Rising to the Bilingual Challenge (pp. 252- 274). Canberra: NLLIA.

Berthold, M.,2003. Study Book. Immersion Language Teaching. The University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba.

Baker, C., 2002. Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. 3^rd edition. Multilingual Matters LTD, Sydney.

Jones, G. 1992. The expectations and limitations of bilingual education in Negara Brunei Darussalam. In Conference Proceedings of the Ninth National Languages Conference (pp. 162-1720. Darwin: Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations.