What factors contribute to oral proficiency in bi-cultural children?

Abstract

When I started looking for a research area for this action research project in the two schools where I teach, I focused first on the German-as-a-foreign-language class in the German School of the East Bay. I have been teaching this class for three years now. The students are on level 4, which means in this school that they will be mingled with the students, who are coming up the native-speaker-track on the next level. This was a concerning fact to me, since I do not see that these students are able to be successful in a non-sheltered classroom.