A :+: P :+: E :+: P

The following are just a few to get you started. Some of them provide URLs for other bilingualism websites as well.

This page is maintained by the Ecole Bilingue de Berkely in California.
It includes a lot of other websites about bilingualism.

A site for parents who would like their children to grow up bilingual
The URL below answers questions parents have about raising children bilingually:

An article by an American university researcher showing the cognitive benefits of bilingualism

Research continues to demonstrate the positive cognitive gains associated with bilingualism. However, it should be noted that the more proficient one is in the second language, the more one will benefit cognitively. Most of us do not attain balanced bilingualism unless we live from childhood in a bilingual community, but even partial bilingualism has cognitive benefits.

A very readable summary by a parent of a lecture given the Professor of Linguistics at MIT, Boston, at the German international school in Boston
The lecture refers to the cognitive, social and cultural benefits of being bilingual.

There are many websites about bilingual education. However, many of them refer to controversies over bilingual schooling in the United States and are not really helpful for our situation in Thailand. These sites should be read with caution. The Wikipedia article on “Bilingual Education” may be helpful for an overview on the different kinds of bilingual education throughout the world and the issues regarding them. It also provides many web addresses for further research.

When entering a website that discusses bilingual education, the following questions need to be asked:

Is this form of bilingual education designed for immigrants and minorities or majority language speakers? (For example, is it for Spanish speakers in the US or for Thai students in Thailand?
Is the bilingual program designed for speakers of a small and powerless language to enable them to be educated in the majority language? (For example, Navajo Indians in America; Akha people in Thailand.)
Does the bilingual program phase out after three or four years or is it ongoing?
Does “bilingual education” in the web page refer to two-language education, monolingual immersion (e.g. Maths taught in English only), dual language teaching (both languages used by the same teacher to the same students) or “parallel immersion” (subjects are taught in two languages by different teachers, as at Ektra)?
Are the students in the bilingual program from poorly educated, socio-economically disadvantaged homes (many bilingual programs in the US and among minorities have this as a feature)?
Are parents enthusiastic and supportive of the bilingual program?
Are school and district administrators supportive