Does anyone know of any research on language immersion programs and Montessori?
I ask because our daughter attends a new pre-school Montessori program that was originally planned to have a language immersion component.
There are three teachers in the school: one who speaks to the kids only in English, one just in Mandarin, one just in Spanish. And they had planned to have an after school (12:30-2:30 pm) immersion time, taught only by the relevant language teacher.
However, the folks running the school have decided that this approach goes against the Montessori method because children are not getting to choose which language to talk in during that immersion time.
However, we (and a number of other parents) feel that language is a very different animal from other subjects and that language immersion has such powerful benefits that it will be a real loss if the kids are able to opt out of it.
Anyone aware of research that would support either position?