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French Boost in Louisiana

After Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal vetoed $100,000 funding for the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL) during last year’s budget vetoes, French-speaking state lawmakers sought new ways to promote Louisiana’s francophone heritage.

In the recently ended legislative session, that bipartisan group of lawmakers filed and won passage of bills that celebrate the state’s Cajun culture and French roots. The measures promote language immersion programs at public schools, raise funds for CODOFIL, and allow Cajuns to stamp their heritage on their license plates and driver’s licenses.

“People who don’t speak French but come from a French background, a lot of people want to see it passed on to their children. They want to still be able to go to the festivals and hear the music,” Rep. Stephen Ortego, D-Carencro, said.

Louisiana drivers will now be able to get “I’m a Cajun” stamped on their driver’s licenses for a $5 annual fee, or new license plates declaring “I’m Cajun… and proud” or “I’m a Creole… and proud” for an extra $15 a year. Fees will go to CODOFIL to pay for scholarships through a program that trains new French teachers for Louisiana schools.

The most far-reaching legislation creates the Immersion School Choice Act, which sets up a parent-trigger law to establish programs that teach public school children in another language, usually French or Spanish.

The bill will require local school boards to create a dual-language immersion program for students if parents of at least 25 kindergarten students in the school district sign a petition seeking the program. For the law to kick in, qualified teachers also will have to be available — and no other immersion program can already exist in the district.

The first such programs could start as early as next fall. Louisiana has 5,000 students enrolled in dual-language immersion programs (28 French, ten Spanish, and one Chinese).

Legislative approval came despite opposition from local school board officials and superintendents who said while the programs show strong academic value, forcing districts to create them adds a new expense they cannot afford.

Governor Jindal vetoed a bill requiring the state transportation department to ask federal officials to let Louisiana issue bilingual highway signs. He supports allowing such signs to include French, but disagreed with allowing signs to include other languages. Therefore, he issued an executive order asking the transportation department to follow the bill’s approach, but with restrictions that bilingual signs only include French.

ESEA Reauthorization Likely to Stall

The House of Representatives passed with a 221-207 vote the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly known as No Child Left Behind. No Democrats voted in favor of the Student Success Act, H.R. 5.

The bill would do away with over 70 programs and lock in school funding at sequestration levels. Proponents champion the bill for keeping spending low. Total spending on education would be less than the Title I spending in 2007. Others commend the expansion and replication of charter schools and repealing the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirement. The bill would also limit the Department of Education by reducing its workforce and placing certain restrictions on the Secretary of Education, such as “prohibiting the Secretary from imposing conditions, including conditions involving Common Core and other state standards and assessments; preventing the Secretary from creating additional burdens on states and school districts through the regulatory process; prohibiting the Secretary from demanding changes to state standards and coercing states to enter into partnership with other states; and outlining specific procedures the Secretary must follow when issuing federal regulations and conducting the peer review process.”

Critics of H.R. 5 argue that the bill would ultimately widen achievement gaps by neglecting underrepresented students, such as low income, ethnic minority, and ELL students. President of the NEA, Dennis van Roekel lamented: “While H.R. 5 contains some positive provisions, as a whole it erodes the historical federal role in public education — to be an enforcer of equity of opportunities, tools, and resources so that we can level the playing field. Yet this House bill walks away from creating equity in education — and at a time when poor and disadvantaged students and their families need it the most.”

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a statement that H.R. 5 “marks a retreat from high standards for all students and would virtually eliminate accountability for the learning of historically underserved students — a huge step backward for efforts to improve academic achievement. It would lock in major cuts to education funding at a time when continued investments in education are the only way we can remain competitive on the world stage. For all of these reasons, I and other senior advisors to the President would recommend that he veto H.R. 5 if it were presented to him.”

With no Democrat or executive support, H.R. 5 stands little chance of passing the Senate and making it to the Oval Office.

 

Colorado Chooses Language Magazine

164742595Starting with the August 2013 issue, all members of the Colorado Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) will receive Language Magazine (LM) wrapped in CABE News, the association’s new monthly newsletter.

“The CABE Board wanted to provide a high quality, relevant source of current information and news from around the country on language education. The best source that they could find for this purpose is Language Magazine. Because the editor of Language Magazine is a true supporter and advocate for language learning and for students, he provided this outstanding opportunity to CABE and its members. When you receive CABE News you will also receive Language Magazine filled with relevant and important information that we are sure you will find useful in your daily work and in your personal growth,” commented NABE News Editor Jorge Garcia.

“We’re very excited to be partnering with CABE which has done so much to champion the right to bilingual education in a state which is very close to my heart, not only because of its beauty and diversity, but because it was the first U.S. state which I really got to know over 25 years ago, and it is home to the remarkable pueblos of Mesa Verde which have fascinated me for as long as I can remember ” enthused LM Editor Daniel Ward.

”I can’t wait for the arrival of the inaugural issue and for our CABE membership to begin reading it! The CABE Board is excited to be part of this opportunity and to extend this benefit to our CABE members. This partnership will enable our members to share their practices with other educators and stay informed with current issues and advances for our emerging bilinguals. I and the entire CABE Board are grateful to be a part of the Language Magazine family,” added CABE President Christina Bernal-Sati.

To find out how your organization can benefit form partnering with Language Magazine, please contact Daniel Ward (editor@languagemagazine.com).

Esperanto Day 2013

Say “Saluton” today because Friday, July 26 is Esperanto Day with events held all over the world.

A major international conference in Rekjavik, Iceland, with over 1,000 participants is being held this week and the only language used is the international language.

The President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, has already addressed the Conference in Esperanto.

Esperanto is a young language. Deapite its short history of 125 years it is in the top 100 languages, out of 6,800 worldwide according to the CIA World Fact book and is the 29th most used language in Wikipedia, ahead of Danish and Arabic. It is a language choice for Google, Skype, Firefox, Ubuntu, and Facebook.  Google translate recently added the language to its prestigious list of 64 languages.

Famous Esperanto-speaking pioneers have included J.R.R. Tolkien, former British Prime Minister Sir Harold Wilson, William Shatner, Leo Tolstoy, and financier George Soros.

The World Esperanto Association enjoys consultative relations with the United Nations, UNESCO, and the Council of Europe. The Association is using its position to defend the rights of minority languages at the United Nations.

Esperanto is officially taught in 150 universities and other institutions of higher learning and in 600 primary and secondary schools in 28 countries. It has a rich body of literature consisting of more than 50,000 titles, with new publications released every week throughout the world. There is a lectureship in the language at the UK’s Liverpool University.

“There are two urban myths about the international language problem” added Brian Barker of the Esperanto Society. “One is that everyone speaks English and the other is that no-one speaks Esperanto. Both are untrue and both need to be challenged”

 

Native American English Learners Request for Information (RFI)

The U.S. Department of Education has now re-opened its request for information (RFI) on Native American English learners. The purpose of the RFI is to gather information pertaining to the identification and placement of Native American students who are English learners in language instruction educational programs. This RFI was developed to help State educational agencies, local educational agencies, schools, tribes, and other interested entities identify, share, and implement practices for accurately identifying Native American students who are English learners.

More than 30 responses were received to the first posting of the RFI in March 2013 and the response period is being re-opened in order to give interested parties additional time to submit written responses. All of the responses will be available to the public.

You may access this document at the following link: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-03-04/pdf/2013-04819.pdf

You may access instructions on how to respond at the following link:

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/07/03/2013-16026/request-for-information-rfi-to-gather-technical-expertise-pertaining-to-the-identification-and?utm_campaign=subscription+mailing+list&utm_medium=email&utm_source=federalregister.gov#h-7

Written submissions in response to this RFI must be received by the U. S. Department of Education on or before August 2, 2013.

New Report on Urban ELLs

The English Language Learners (ELLs) attending schools in the member districts of the Council of the Great City Schools account for nearly one-quarter of all ELLs in the nation. Specifically, in 2007-08, Council-member districts enrolled about 1.2 million ELLs in grades K–12—or 23.8 percent of the 4.7 million estimated ELLs in the nation’s K-12 public schools (using the 2006–2008 U.S. Biennial Report on ELLs).

“English Language Learners in America’s Great City Schools: Demographics, Achievement and Staffing,” a new report by the Council presents the results of a yearlong effort to compile data on ELL enrollment and programs in the Great City School districts. Much of the data were collected from the membership via survey in 2012. Some 70.8 percent of the membership responded (46 of 65 districts who were members at the time the survey was conducted), but not every district responded to every question. In appendix F of this report, we list the specific districts responding to each question. The responses provide a picture of ELL enrollment across the 46 responding districts, including total numbers, percentages, enrollment by school level, languages spoken, and ELLs receiving special education services.

Professor Stephen Krashen notes three of the report’s findings with very short comments on his website:

1. “The results showed wide gaps in reading and mathematics between ELLs and non-ELLs.”

Comment: If the results did not show gaps between ELLs and non-ELLs, the ELLs would not be ELLs.

2. ” ….  trend lines suggest that ELLs have not made meaningful progress academically between 2005 and 2011 …”.

Comment: We would not expect ELLs as a group to “improve”; when ELLs make sufficient progress, they are reclassified as non-ELL. The group average test score thus stays about the same.

3. “The percentage of ELLs scoring at or above proficient in grade 4 reading in large cities remained stagnant from 2005 to 2011, with only about five to six percent scoring at or above proficient” (p. 73).

Comment: This means that five to six percent have been misclassified. A student who scores proficient or above should not be classified as ELL.

Click here to download the full report

 

Singing Tunes Linguist’s Ear

89225513Singing in a foreign language can significantly improve learning how to speak it, according to a new study carried out at the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Music in Human and Social Development in Scotland.

Adults who listened to short Hungarian phrases and then sang them back performed better than those who spoke the phrases, researchers found. People who sang the phrases back also fared better than those who repeated the phrases by speaking them rhythmically.

Three randomly assigned groups of twenty adults took part in a series of five tests as part of a study conducted by researchers at the University of Edinburgh’s Reid School of Music. The singing group performed the best in four of the five tests. In one test, participants who learned through singing performed twice as well as participants who learned by speaking the phrases. Those who learned by singing were also able to recall the Hungarian phrases with greater accuracy in the longer term.

Hungarian was chosen because it is unfamiliar to most English speakers and a difficult language to master, with a completely different structure and sound system to the Germanic or Romance languages, such as Spanish and French.

Dr Karen M. Ludke, who conducted the research as part of her PhD, said: “This study provides the first experimental evidence that a listen-and-repeat singing method can support foreign language learning, and opens the door for future research in this area. One question is whether melody could provide an extra cue to jog people’s memory, helping them recall foreign words and phrases more easily.”

The full study is being published in the journal Memory & Cognition.

Cutting to the Common Core: Decoding Complex Text

Rebecca Blum-Martínez offers a strategy to help English learners cope with the more complex language requirements of the Common Core

The adoption of the Common Core Standards (CCSS) by many states has brought the issue of complex texts to the forefront. The questions for teachers, administrators, and teacher educators have become “How does one revise the curriculum so that complex texts are included as a part of everyday school life?” and “How does one teach students to interact with complex texts, particularly those who are struggling readers?” These questions are intensified for English learners (ELs), who now make up 21% or more of the public school population, depending on the region or school district (http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=96).

For the complete story, click here.

Seeing with Spanish Eyes

Musetta Reed and Lauren Rovin use film and TV to bring authentic content into the classroom

LoMásTV
LoMásTV: Spanish Immersion TV is a set of short videos (maximum of five minutes) by native speakers on a variety of topics, such as comedy or environmental issues.

These videos allow Spanish students the chance to hear native speakers of the language talking about something interesting in their own culture (English and Spanish subtitles are an option as well), and will greatly supplement their learning of Spanish or Latin American culture.

To read the full story, click here.

Brazil Beckoning

As the Brazilian economy booms, opportunities for Portuguese speakers abound, and picking it up may be easier than you think

Bahia
While many think of Rio or the jungles of the Amazon when they picture Brazil, Bahia, located in country’s northeast, offers students a unique glimpse of Brazil. As the heart of Afro-Brazilian culture, Bahia is the ideal place to learn about the Candomblé religion and capoeira. Bahian cuisine is reknowned all over Brazil for its delicious African flavors and creative uses of seafood.

Salvador, the capital of Bahia, is one of the most popular destinations for students studying Brazilian language or culture. Salvador was the first capital of Brazil and houses some relics of its colonial past, such as old mansions turned into museums and the colorful and cobblestoned neighborhood of Pelourinho. A vibrant cultural scene with live music and theater keeps students stimulated while the gorgeous beaches and fun nightlife let them unwind. Salvador is home to many binational centers, such as ACBEU, the Cervantes Institute, and the Goethe Institute.

Bahia’s 600 miles of coastline are dotted with charming beach towns, and the state boasts over 100 islands, some of which can be easily reached by boat. Bahia also boasts some of the most interesting festivals and cultural events, such as the festival of the Order of Our lady of the Good Death in Cachoeira.

Bahia also contains a part of what many authors and songwriters have chosen as the mythical and magical heart of Brazil, the desert backlands known as the sertão. The sertão has inspired many of Brazil’s literary giants, such as Graciliano Ramos and João Guimarães Rosa. The interior of Bahia has the awe-inspiring Chapada Diamantina, a range of mesas, caves, and rock formations in the desert, and charming villages such as the nearby town of Lençóis.
Bahia’s colonial history and thriving Afro-Brazilian culture are a must for any students interested in Brazilian culture.

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