Immersion programs are great, in general. However (and I say this having taught in an immersion school), it can be difficult to accommodate grade-skipping or subject-area acceleration in that context, depending on the nature of the program.
Since the aim is language acquisition, many programs are hesitant to accelerate students through because the goal is to give them exposure to as much of the target language as possible. In smaller programs, scheduling can be pretty tight (we shared teachers across grade levels in my program, meaning that acceleration for math or English reading was not a possibility without cutting the student's time in the target language... which was a big no-no given the school's mission for target language acquisition).
BUT, bigger, differently-staffed, or differently-organized programs may not have these issues. I had a great experience teaching in an immersion program, and the mother of the gifted kid in my class thought well of the experience. While her kid was not as challenged in English (I taught her at her level, but she was kind of an island and often opted to participate with the class even if it was pretty boring for her) as may have been the case in an English-only school, she spent half her day (third grade and up... K-2 was target-language-only) learning a language and culture that very few white kids get to experience.
So... you know... look into policies. And look at the kiddo in question. Like any other type of school, things that are great for one kid won't be great for another, even if those two kids look similar on paper. Some gifted kids (I'm like this) think of language as a delicious puzzle to be figured out. Others (my husband) are just beyond frustrated at not being able to communicate or understand high-level information.
Last edited by smacca; 12/17/12 07:56 AM.
