Group One Newcomer Programs

Pros:
 They are highly applicable to immigrants that have little or no English proficiency.
 The programs are also designed for students who have limited formal education.
 The programs help in resettling refugee populations by focusing on the development of
language and content.
 The program offers learners a safe learning environment, and this empowers the learners
to take risks in learning social English.
Cons:
 The implementation of newcomer programs is expensive.
 It is not easy to predict student enrollment throughout the year.
 The establishment of newcomer programs is a complicated process.
In the comparison section, I have chosen to compare newcomer programs and structured
immersion programs. One similarity between the two is that they are designed to integrate
English language learners into the education system. Structured immersion programs aim to
move students into mainstreamed classes (Honigsfeld & Cohan, 2015). On the other hand,
newcomer programs focus on settling recent immigrants. One key difference is the fact that the
two have different approaches to teaching the English language. Structured immersion programs
rely on learners receiving instruction in an English only class. The focus of the programs is to
have learners acquire foundational skills. Newcomer programs have instructional plans that are
designed to help in second language development. The programs often feature newcomer classes
and focus on immigrants.

In my opinion, I believe that structured immersion programs are more effective for English
language learners. One main reason is the fact that structured immersion programs are designed
to suit the learner’s level of proficiency. Another reason is the fact that the structured immersion
programs plan instruction in a systematic manner that involves teaching language skills in a
sequence (Honigsfeld & Cohan, 2015). A learner is thus likely to understand the content being
taught.

References

Honigsfeld, A & Cohan, A. (2015). Serving English language learners [Electronic version].
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