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What’s Another 38 Official Languages?

Indians push to add 38 more languages to their constitution.

460743965The Indian government is facing pressure to consider 38 more official languages to be added to the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The Eighth Schedule currently lists 22 official languages of India, including Hindi, Bengali and Marathi. The languages to be considered for inclusion are Pahari (Himachali), Pali, Rajasthani, Angika, Banjara, Bazika, Bhojpuri, Bhoti, Bhotia, Bundelkhandi, Chhattisgarhi, Dhatki, English, Garhwali, Gondi, Gujjar/Gujjari, Ho, Kachachhi, Kamtapuri, Karbi, Khasi, Kodava (Coorg), Kok Barak, Kumaoni, Kurak, Kurmali, Lepcha, Limbu, Mizo (Lushai), Magahi, Mundari, Nagpuri, Nicobarese, Sambalpuri/Kosali, Shaurseni (Prakrit), Siraiki, Tenyidi and Tulu. Originally, languages in the Eighth Schedule were entitled to representation by the Official Languages Commission. Today the Government of India is obligated to take strides to promote these languages so that “they grow rapidly in richness and become effective means of communicating modern knowledge.”

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Common Core Rattling Educators, ELL Teachers Unprepared

Survey says most educators feel unprepared for CCSS, especially ELL teachers.

78726889As students return to school from the Summer break and districts scramble to prepare for the full administration of the assessments aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), a new survey shows that teachers are feeling less confident about CCSS than ever. Teachers of English language learners (ELLs) and students with disabilities are especially discouraged.

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There’s No Sound Like Home

New study shows that babies learn language best from speakers that sound like their caregivers.

78185513Language development in bilingual children remains a contested and enigmatic phenomenon and, oftentimes, it’s hard to distinguish myth from fact. A new study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Development sheds important light not only on how babies acquire language, but it may also explain why studies on bilinguals sometimes contradict each other. Apparently, bilingual children learn best from bilingual adults and monolingual children learn best from monolingual adults. Essentially, children learn best in the linguistic environment that best mirrors their home.

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We Are Family

Mary Catherine Thomson enthuses about the long-term success of a sister school program

For a small school community rooted in Sandy Springs, Georgia, Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School has a surprisingly large family, one that stretches far past the Atlanta city limits. Over the past decade, there has been a conscious effort to promote a school community that is increasingly connected with the surrounding world, and a big part of this global outreach has come through strong foreign exchange programs. These programs have become a part of the school’s culture and have grown to include sister schools in Japan, France, Argentina, and South Africa.

To read the full story, click here.

California ‘Failing’ English Learners

A California judge has ruled that it is the state’s obligation to ensure that school disticts provide language instruction to English language learners (ELLs), and that so far California has failed nearly 20,000 underserved ELL students. Three students, their parents, and a retired administrator sued the State of California, the State Board of Education, the California Department of Education and Superintendent Tom Torlakson for neglecting to provide adequate instruction for students whose native language is not English in the case D.J. et al v. State of California. The ACLU of California, Public Counsel and Asian Americans Advancing Justice compiled California Department of Education data to argue that state education officials were negligent and that 251 school districts denied instruction to identified ELLs. Judge James Chalfant’s ruling points out that one in four California public school students is ELL identified.

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Education #2 Priority for U.S. Voters

Education is the second most important issue to likely U.S. voters according to the latest Reason-Rupe national poll.

The economy is the number one issue influencing nearly four out of 10 likely voters (39%) in the November elections, followed by education (16%),  foreign policy (15%), immigration (10%), and health care (10%).

Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to say education is the most important issue influencing their vote in the midterm elections, 25% to 12%. African Americans (36%) and Hispanics (25%) are more likely than Whites (14%) to rank education as their top issue.

The Reason-Rupe national telephone poll conducted live interviews with 1,000 adults on cell phones (500) and landlines (500) August 6-10, 2014. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.7% and it was executed by Princeton Survey Research Associates International-the same firm that does the Pew polls.

For further information:
http://reason.com/poll/2014/08/14/42-percent-of-americans-think-obama-has

English Designed for Kids

496237095(1)English vocabulary is designed to help children learn according to research led by the UK’s Lancaster University.

From obvious examples, like “woof” representing the sound of a dog to sounds with similar meanings having similar structures (for example, the “sl” sound at the beginning of a word often has negative properties as in “slime, slur, slum, slug”), English is full of hints.

An international team led by Professor Padraic Monaghan from the Department of Psychology at Lancaster University analyzed the sound meaning structure using statistical techniques from biology and genetics. More…

What Does Confucius Say about Academic Freedom?

462633485As the Confucius Institute brand grows world-wide, some universities are reevaluating their relations with the Chinese government-funded culture and language centers. While controversies have arisen since the launch of the People’s Republic of China’s project in 2004, the Confucius Institute and Hanban, the government agency that funds and runs the Institute, has come under fire amidst accusations of censorship and stifling academic freedom.

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Tools for Achieving Oral Fluency

Marsha Appling-Nunez finds help for the multilevel ELL classroom

Many new English language learner (ELL) instructors first begin teaching with the idea that their students will be terrified to speak English. Like many other teachers, these instructors may have even imagined that each of their students would have the same level of reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills; that the students would never ask, while the instructor is explaining a task, if they can go to the bathroom (code for using their cell phones); that they would be eager to participate, never arrive late nor leave class early. For these perfect students, these same teachers would create a safe learning environment, offering creative, engaging, and most importantly meaningful classroom activities. Then the miracle would occur: suddenly…

To read the full story, click here.

Music Education Boosts Language and Literacy

78774956New research presented at the American Psychological Association’s annual meeting links music education to increased learning and literacy skills. The findings, which involved hundreds of kids participating in musical training programs in Chicago and Los Angeles public schools, highlight the role learning music can have on the brains of youth in impoverished areas, according to presenter Nina Kraus, PhD, a neurobiologist at Northwestern University.

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