ABSTRACT
This chapter primarily discusses bilingual education with regard to the English Language Learners population with attention to Mexican American students in both traditional bilingual education as well as two-way immersion/dual language contexts. It utilizes the terms "Hispanic" and "Latina/o" interchangeably as referring to individuals who trace their heritage to Spain and the Latin American hemisphere. Bilingual education refers to the use of two languages to teach academic subjects. It differs from world language education (formerly or elsewhere known as foreign language education), which generally focuses on teaching the target language rather than academic subjects per se. Bilingual education saw a rebirth with the arrival of Cubans in Florida following the revolution in Cuba in 1959. The federal 1961 Cuban Refugee Program provided financial assistance and those who had previously worked as educators in the home country were able to become recertified here in the United States.
