All three of my kids were/are in French immersion from Pre-K to mid-elementary (eldest through 4th grade, middle through 2nd, youngest just started 3rd). I don't think that it hurt their English skills.
If exposure to French during the school day boosts French language skills, shouldn't lack of exposure to English during the day hurt English language skills (which are vastly more important in the U.S.)? The NYT article quoted below suggests it does. It also seems odd to teach a subject such as American history in French.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/nyregion/19bilingual.htmlLooking for Baby Sitters: Foreign Language a Must
By JENNY ANDERSON
New York Times
August 18, 2010
...
In recent years, a number of neuroscientists and psychologists have tried to untangle the impact of bilingualism on brain development. �It doesn�t make kids smarter,� said Ellen Bialystok, a professor of psychology at York University in Toronto and the author of �Bilingualism in Development: Language, Literacy and Cognition.�
�There are documented cognitive developments,� she said, �but whatever smarter means, it isn�t true.�
Ms. Bialystok�s research shows that bilingual children tend to have smaller vocabularies in English than their monolingual counterparts, and that the limited vocabulary tends to be words used at home (spatula and squash) rather than words used at school (astronaut, rectangle). The measurement of vocabulary is always in one language: a bilingual child�s collective vocabulary from both languages will probably be larger.
�Bilingualism carries a cost, and the cost is rapid access to words,� Ms. Bialystok said. In other words, children have to work harder to access the right word in the right language, which can slow them down � by milliseconds, but slower nonetheless.
At the same time, bilingual children do better at complex tasks like isolating information presented in confusing ways. In one test researchers frequently use, words like �red� and �green� flash across a screen, but the words actually appear in purple and yellow. Bilingual children are faster at identifying what color the word is written in, a fact researchers attribute to a more developed prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain responsible for executive decision-making, like which language to use with certain people).
Ms. D�Souza said that both of her sons lagged their peers by almost a year in verbal development. Her pediatrician recommended speech therapy, and one son�s preschool teacher expressed concern that he did not know the alphabet. But when both started speaking, at around 3 years old, they were able to move fluidly among three languages. She said that her older son tested in the 99th percentile for the city�s gifted and talented program.
�The flexibility of their thinking helps them in nonlinguistic abilities like science and math,� she said, speaking of her children. �But at the same time the normal things � the alphabet � they have trouble with that.�
One arena in which being bilingual does not seem to help is the highly competitive kindergarten admission process.
�It doesn�t give you a leg up on the admissions process,� said Victoria Goldman, author of the sixth edition of �The Manhattan Family Guide to Private Schools.� It is one piece of the bigger puzzle, which includes tests scores, interviews and the ability of a child to follow directions. �Speaking another language is indicative that you are verbal, but you have to be behaved.�
George P. Davison, head of school at Grace Church School, a competitive downtown school, said that bilingualism tended to suppress verbal and reading comprehension test scores by 20 to 30 percent for children younger than 12. �If anything, it can have a negative effect on admissions,� he said.
Ms. Bialystok said that for a child to retain a language, a nanny probably would not do the trick. �It�s an interesting solution; it gives young children a consistent exposure,� she said. �But how long will the nanny be around, and who else will the child use that language with?�
