Or those that have new teachers. This is the sort of thing parents might have to fundraise for, but it makes a huge difference in how well your program will work.

http://www.carla.umn.edu/institutes/2015/imm_chnjpn.html

Immersion 101 for Chinese and Japanese

An Introduction to Immersion Teaching

June 22–26, 2015 (Teacher Session) June 22–23, 2015 (2-day Admin Session)

Target Audience: Pre-service and novice K–12 Chinese and Japanese immersion teachers, administrators, district personnel or policy makers, and specialist teachers in immersion schools. It is not meant for experienced immersion teachers.

New Chinese or Japanese immersion teachers and administrators will receive a research-based introduction to the challenges, options, and issues in the unique world of immersion education (K–12). Targeted institute participants include one-way (world language) and two-way immersion educators who teach subject matter through Chinese or Japanese for 50–100% of the school day and promote continued development of English (amount of instructional time in English varies by grade level).

On the first two days, the focus will be on issues of interest to new immersion teachers and administrators. Administrators and district personnel will have an opportunity to engage with key issues in immersion program design and implementation for character-based languages, and discuss strategies for meeting those challenges with an experienced immersion administrator. During the following three days, novice teacher participants will be introduced to effective practices that inform language and literacy-attentive curriculum development and instruction with non-cognate, character-based languages whose writing system differs from English.

During this institute, you will: Become familiar with the educational philosophy, research, and essential practices of immersion education as well as distinguishing characteristics and goals of various program models; Connect with colleagues and strengthen your professional network; Discuss the unique role immersion education plays in public education and explore leadership strategies for addressing immersion issues at the school, district, and community level; Examine effective classroom management practices for immersion teachers new to teaching and learning in the U.S.; Learn about best practice for character teaching and learning in immersion classrooms; and Collaboratively create lesson plans that systematically attend to language and literacy development.