Language immersion programs have become increasingly popular in cities and towns across the country.  If approved by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the Boston Chinese Immersion Charter School (BCICS) will launch in the Fall of 2011 and become Boston’s first Chinese immersion school program.

Language immersion programs are not a new concept; they were first introduced in 1965 in Montreal, Canada to provide English-speaking students living in a predominantly francophone province of Quebec with the opportunity to learn French.  According to the Center for Applied Linguistics, “children who learn a second language are more creative and better at solving complex problems than those who do not…Knowing a second language also gives people a competitive advantage in the workforce. These are some of the compelling reasons for parents to encourage the development of a second (or third) language with their children.” Chinese immersion schools have been well established in New York and on the West Coast, in San Francisco and Portland, Oregon.

Please read more here.