All posts tagged: Immersion

BBC Total Immersion: Icelandic Chill review – ambience, flowerpots and drones in varied day of new music | Classical music

BBC Total Immersion: Icelandic Chill review – ambience, flowerpots and drones in varied day of new music | Classical music

Despite its modest population of about 400,000 – that’s roughly the size of Bristol – Iceland punches significantly above its weight, artistically. Musicians from Víkingur Ólafsson to Björk, and composers from what has been called the First Icelandic School regularly top the bill in concert halls worldwide. But is there such a thing as an Icelandic sound? An afternoon programme of chamber and choral music suggested not. Casting its net wide, the 20th-century European mainstream was much in evidence. Hafliði Hallgrímsson’s Seven Epigrams for violin and cello, stylishly performed by Phoebe Rousochatzaki and Kosta Popovic, might have been by Schnittke. A homage to leading Soviet artists, it included a suitably jittery portrait of Shostakovich. The choral works, impeccably performed by the BBC Singers, were more idiomatically Icelandic, rooted as they were in a plainspoken Lutheranism. Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s sparse yet sonorous Hear Us in Heaven was the standout; Hjálmar H Ragnarsson’s tangy Ave Maria suggested Poulenc. More experimental works, such as Thorvaldsdottir’s quirky Sequences for bass flute, bass clarinet, baritone sax and contrabassoon, were intriguing, if …

Hawaiian Language Immersion Schools Popular, but Number of Qualified Teachers Doesn’t Meet Demand

Hawaiian Language Immersion Schools Popular, but Number of Qualified Teachers Doesn’t Meet Demand

At a time when local schools are facing shrinking enrollment and talks of closure, Hawaiian immersion programs are bucking the trend. Enrollment in schools that teach primarily in ʻōlelo Hawaii — collectively known as Kaiapuni schools — has increased by 68% over the past decade, with the number of campuses run by the state education department growing from 14 to 26. But students tend to have fewer immersion options in middle and high school, and the pool of qualified teachers isn’t keeping up with families’ growing demand. Recruiting qualified teachers is one of the largest barriers to expanding Kaiapuni programs, Office of Hawaiian Education Director Kau‘i Sang said in a recent education board meeting. The Department of Education needs to find a balance between adding more classrooms to meet families’ needs and hiring enough teachers to support existing Kaiapuni schools, she said. DOE plans on opening two new Kaiapuni programs at Haleiwa Elementary on Oahu and Kalanianaole Elementary on the Big Island. “We cannot open classrooms unless we have qualified staff,” Sang said. Currently, DOE …