Bilingual education

In bilingual education, students are taught in two (or more) languages. It is distinct from learning a second language as a subject because both languages are used for instruction in different content areas like math, science, and history. The time spent in each language depends on the model. For example, some models focus on providing education in both languages throughout a student's entire education while others gradually transition to education in only one language. The ultimate goal of bilingual education is fluency and literacy in both languages through a variety of strategies such as translanguaging and recasting. There are several different ways to categorize bilingual education models, one of the most common approaches is to separate programs by their end goal. This is the approach used below, though it is not the only possible approach. For a more comprehensive review of different approaches to bilingual education worldwide see bilingual education by country or region and intercultural bilingual education. In a maintenance bilingual education program, the goal is for students to continue to learn about and in both languages for the majority of their education. Students in a maintenance bilingual education program should graduate being able to have a discussion about any content area in either language. Two common forms of maintenance bilingual education are two-way/dual language immersion and developmental (late-exit) bilingual education. Both programs are considered language immersion programs. A program that utilizes two languages, known as a dual language program, typically places students in classrooms with a mixture of native speakers for each language. One popular approach to dual language programs is the 90/10 model, where in the early grades 90% of instruction is conducted in the student's native language and 10% is taught in their second language. As the student advances, this proportion changes until an equal amount of time is spent on both languages.