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Dual-Language Programs On the Rise

According to the Department of Education, with the addition of 39 new and expanded programs this fall, New York City now has about 180 dual-language public school programs. In Utah, 9% of public school students are enrolled in such programs and in Oregon, 10% with more states, such as North Carolina and Delaware, planning to take part in the trend. “I want two things,” Governor Jack Markell of Delaware (D) told the New York Times. “I want students from Delaware to be able to go anywhere and do any kind of work they want to do, and I also want to attract businesses from around the world, to say, ‘You want to be in Delaware because, amongst other things, we’ve got a bilingual work force.’”

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Investing in German

Why and where to learn the übercool language of economics, engineering, and design

According to the latest estimates by the Goethe–Institut, around 14.5 million people worldwide are learning German as a foreign language. While German is ranked as the tenth-most-spoken language in the world in terms of native speakers, it is ranked fourth in terms of non-native speakers, behind only English, French, and Mandarin Chinese. Sociolinguists at the University of Duisburg-Essen have recently found that German is also the fourth-place language in terms of gross national product (GNP) yielded by its speakers, following English, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish. German is increasingly popular in developing countries such as India, Brazil, and China, but also is the most-spoken language in the European Union.

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Free Trip to Spain

Salamanca, Castilla y Leon
Salamanca, Castilla y Leon

Our amigos at the Tourist Office of Spain and Castilla y León Tourism are inviting teachers, study abroad advisers and school administrators, who currently offer or are highly considering expanding study abroad programs for their students to learn Spanish in Spain, to participate in a familiarization trip and workshop that will take place in Castilla y León, Spain from November 15th thru November 20th, 2015.  The itinerary is being finalized but the purpose of this trip is to visit language schools as well as to get acquainted with the destination through guided tours and cultural activities.

This fam trip and workshop include:

  • Visits to language schools in Castilla y León region.
  • Round-trip plane ticket in economy class from the US to Madrid.
  • Four night hotel accommodation included in the final program.
  • All of the meals included in the final program.
  • Transfers included in the final program.
  • Sightseeing tours in Castilla y León region.

This trip represents an excellent opportunity to learn more about the extensive educational and tourist opportunities Castilla y León has to offer.

If you are interested, email [email protected]

For more information on studying in Spain, visit:

http://www.spain.info/en_US/reportajes/aprender_espanol_en_espana.html

http://studyinspain.info/es/index.html

http://www.turismocastillayleon.com/turismocyl/enhttp://redhispanistas.es/ven-y-aprende

Putting the Benefits of Bilingualism into Practice

biling blackboardThe National Science Foundation’s Partnerships in International Research and Education (NSF PIRE) has awarded a $5 million dollar grant over five years to help translate the scientific benefits of language learning from the lab to the classroom. Research has shown that speaking two or more languages makes minds more open to learning and more flexible, so now’s the time to find out how students can make the most of it.

Judith Kroll, distinguished professor of psychology, linguistics, and women’s studies at Penn State University is the principal investigator on this project, which is leveraged by partnerships with the U.S. Agency for International Development and by international counterpart funding by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, Spain’s Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and Germany’s Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

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Arabic is America’s Fastest-Growing Language

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 26: Aliza Fatima, 12, of Queens and a descendent of Pakistani parents, participates in the American Muslim Day Parade on September 26, 2010 in New York, New York. The annual parade celebrates the presence and contributions of Muslims in New York City and surrounding areas. The parade, which attracts hundreds of participants, concludes with a bazaar selling food, clothing, and books from various Muslim nations. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) recently released Census Bureau data from the 2014 American Community Survey (ACS) showing that a record 63.2 million U.S. residents five years of age and older speak a language other than English at home. The number is up 3.6 million since 2010 and reflects that more than one in five U.S. residents now speaks a foreign language at home. Of these languages, the fastest-growing was Arabic. The findings of the CIS’s report “reinforce other studies, which show that Muslim immigration is the fastest growing bloc of new immigrants. Every year the United States voluntarily imports more than a quarter of a million– or 280,000– Muslim migrants (this figure includes permanently resettled immigrants, guest workers, refugees and foreign students),” according to Breitbart.

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1 Million U.S. Mandarin Speakers by 2020

U.S. President Barack Obama Visits ChinaThe 100,000 Strong Foundation, a national non-profit created in 2013 to dramatically increase the number and diversity of U.S. students studying in China and learning Mandarin, will lead the 1 Million Strong effort, a sweeping new initiative announced by President Barack Obama to expand to expand the number of U.S. students studying Mandarin by 2020 from 100,000 to 1 million. The increase would be five-fold: currently, approximately 200,000 K-12 students are learning Mandarin in the United States.

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The U.S. Needs Latino Teachers

WHIEEH_Logo_Emblem4The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics recently launched a digital campaign to highlight the impact of Latino teachers and to attract more Latinos to the teaching profession, asking participants to share the stories of Latino teachers who have made an impact on their lives using the hashtag #LatinosTeach. “While the nation’s student population is becoming increasingly Latino, its teaching workforce has been lagging far behind,” Suzanne Gamboa reported for NBC News Latino. “According to the Department of Education, about 8% of the nation’s teachers are Latino, while one in four of the nation’s public elementary and secondary school students are Latino.”

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World Teachers’ Day Empowers Educators

Screen Shot 2015-10-05 at 12.24.16 PMUNESCO is celebrating World Teachers’ Day (WTD) on October 5 by highlighting the importance of empowering teachers to achieve inclusive and sustainable global development.

This year World Teachers’ Day highlights the need to empower all teachers through the provision of decent, safe, and healthy working conditions, trust, professional autonomy, and academic freedom.

Worldwide there is a growing shortage of quality teachers and inadequate professional training. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics estimates that to achieve universal primary education by 2020 countries will need to recruit a total of 10.9 million primary teachers.

All these factors result in equity gaps in access and learning which mostly affect the poorest regions and schools and the earliest grades. This is particularly damaging, as there is clear evidence that the earliest years of a child’s development are the most critical.

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Digital Media Can Boost Literacy

ThinkstockPhotos-468178463Technology and the amount of information it provides us is deepening the divide between the haves and the have-nots in terms of education. As we become more dependent on digital tools to live our lives and navigate the world, parents and teachers also find themselves at a crossroads, sometimes banning seemingly mind-numbing tech like TV and video games while embracing the education trend of technology in the classroom. “We argue for a modern, “third way” approach to technology that gives young children of all backgrounds more opportunities to learn to read and succeed in the 21st century. We need to get past the tired nagging of “no screen time” and the overheated enthusiasm over apps as the holy grail of early education. Instead, let’s take a more mindful approach and combine the power of parents, educators and high-quality media (print and digital) to make literacy opportunities available to all kids and families, regardless of income,” Lisa Guernsey, co-author of Tap, Click, Read: Growing Readers in a World of Screens and director of the Early Education Initiative and the Learning Technologies Project at New America, explained to NPR.

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Is Kindergarten too Early for Literacy?

Group Of Elementary Age Children In Art Class With Teacher

The Common Core State Standards require that kindergarteners have the ability to read emergent texts with purpose and understanding. Kindergarten literacy standards are controversial as educators are split over what will best set up small children for success: play and creativity or academic rigor?

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