Matthew, thanks for your article and enthusiasm. The notion of language immersion in every primary school is intoxicating. It could achieve marvels for our children if managed well.

As a music specialist I tried to integrate LOTE with music whenever I could in my teaching. The indications were that it paid off, but the primary school environment threw up many obstacles to efforts by the language teachers and me to maintain continuity and sequence.

For the full-scale integration you advocate perhaps the biggest hurdle would be the recruitment and professional development needed to have enough teachers working with the LOTE in diverse curriculum areas. The height of this hurdle would be directly proportional to the diversity of languages adopted in the thousands of schools throughout the country. Big issues, but where there's a will there's a way.

Perhaps, as a starter, if primary schools Australia-wide tackled integration in a selected handful of learning areas -- say LOTE, music and physical education -- we might make some progress. Perhaps all class teachers and administrators could be expected to learn how to perform a few transactions in the second language -- greetings, farewells, singing the school song, and so on.

Whatever else is done in this direction, I would argue strongly that LOTE and Music should be integrated and supported much more solidly in primary schools. See my own article (published on OLO yesterday) for some reasons:
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7429&page=0

I agree fully. I use the same concepts at home with my children and their grades speaks for them self's.

This should be looked into much more closely. With the right music, concentration is increased 10 fold and I would strongly encourage this concept.

EVO

Thanks Stephen for your comments - my own background is actually music so your article resonated with me...there are lots of issues, obviously, and not least which/how many languages as well as teacher supply/quality. I wish I had answers but while Australia has to deal with state-based education jurisdictions as well as federal policies things remain challenging...I guess my idea is to start with the thinking behind things: that children should be multilingual (like the rest of the [non-anglophone] world) and that we can expect that they should be...I'm sure this will sound like pie in the sky for some people...your practical suggestions are definitely valid and it seems clear that, at least at federal level, there is some willingness to consider a reconceptualisation of languages education.

Lets start with teacher quality. With multiculturalism, class sizes and the overall stress of the job, may have a large impact plus limited resources and funding etc. People forget that teachers are human beings as well, and the human mind is an overall reality that only so much can fit in before heath issues and other related problems come into effect.
The quality that i think you are talking about can only come from the individual. (him or herself). It is very clear to me the overload is a clear factor to the reason why the quality that we have today is so low. The teachers union have pushed many issues concerning the overall success of teacher's and related problems that you know that are above, and the Government as usual has not put enough emphasis on the problem's. They are a great concern to all and to the ones that benefit the most.

The students. I believe not enough attention is given to the forgotten warrior's.

EVO

Thank you for the excellent article again. One point I would like people writing on the topic to avoid or clarify in future would be the the misleading statistic relating to the percentage of Year 12 students studying a LOTE. The often quoted 13% is made up of a large proportion of 1st language learners such as the rapidly growing Background Speakers Chinese group. This is a good thing in itself but it does not refelect on the real picture of the percentage of local students progressing with a new language through their schooling. I think the figure is much more like 6 or 7%. I would be interested in seeing a breakdown of the statistics and for those quoting figures relating to the numbers/percentages of students continuing with a LOTE to Year 12, to use the real % from now on. 13% is far too flattering. The real situation is unfortunately much more discouraging.

Mathew Absalom stated that; Children are like sponges.
That is of course absolutely correct. Sadly, what is also absolutely correct is that adults hardly ever spill clean stuff for those sponges to absorb. I sat next to a teacher & I noticed how she (about 30 yrs old) was correcting a paper with the headline "Foreward" & totally oblivious to the spelling of that word.
Another teacher some time ago was correcting "Lava" to "Larva". And these people want $115 grand a year ? Give us a break!
Is it any wonder that kids can't learn if they're not taught anything ? Remember children are like sponges but unlike a sponge a mind cannot be squeezed. So, let's be more careful what we spill.