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Pluralism of Nouns

Illustration of the “The Great Wave of Kangawa” by Katsushika Hokusai published on December 1st, 1884 in the monthly magazine “Paris illustré”.

People who grow up speaking English never have to worry about one of the odder parts of our grammar: noncount nouns (also called mass nouns).

These are words like sand or butter that don’t have usual plural forms, don’t use indefinite articles like a or an, and take singular verbs (“the butter is melting”; “sand blew into his face”). The idea is that this kind of word notionally cannot be counted; even though sand is made up of many tiny parts, when we say “sand,” as when we say “water,” we mean an uncountable mass (unlike, say pebble or snowflake). They are modified by words like more, much, most, and some. You can’t say “a few sand” or “I need many water,” for example. A French person would say “I need to get my hairs cut,” which might sound funny but is logical. English grammar is not determined by logic.

Mass nouns are different from zero plural nouns, for which the plural is the same as the singular: deer, sheep, trout, shrimp, offspring, series, Japanese. Here are a few examples of mass nouns: air, equipment, dust, hair, traffic, milk, furniture, applause, baseball, photography, harm. These words don’t take the traditional plural -s or -es ending—except sometimes.

Some mass nouns have plurals that are like tuxedoes: only taken out on special occasions. Their very oddness conveys an immediate understanding that something different is being expressed—often something more figurative or poetic:
The waters of March
The sands of Iwo Jima
The snows of yesteryear
The labors of Hercules
Blue skies

One of the most famous examples of this special literary plural is loaves and fishes. The actual line from the 1611 King James Bible is “And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.” Indeed, many instances of the plural of fish are rendered as fishes in this translation of the Bible, as well as in the 1599 Geneva Bible. These instances reflect literal translations of the plural (not mass noun) of fish in Greek. Waters is also frequently used as the plural of water in these early English editions of the Bible.

Fishes can also be used when discussing more than one specific kind or species of fish, as in “all the fishes of the sea.”

Pluralizing of mass nouns is also sometimes seen in academic language; it brings a formal tone to the writing and draws attention to itself through its difference from the standard or expected grammatical form, and allows for distinctions to be made within disciplines such as musics or literatures. If you become familiar with this subtle plural convention, you’ll have one more way to demonstrate all your learnings.

Follow Peter Sokolowski, editor-at-large for Merriam-Webster, on Twitter @PeterSokolowski

Little Free Libraries

Little Free Library (LFL) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that builds community, inspires readers, and expands book access for all through a global network of volunteer-led Little Free Libraries. The idea is to have a Little Free Library in every community and a book for every reader, and the organization is led by the belief that “all people are empowered when the opportunity to discover a personally relevant book to read is not limited by time, space, or privilege.”

There are more than 125,000 registered Little Free Library book-sharing boxes worldwide in all 50 states, 112 countries, and seven continents. Through them, over 250 million books have been shared since 2009, profoundly increasing access to books. LFL received the 2020 World Literacy Award as well as honors from the Library of Congress and the National Book Foundation.

How Do They Achieve Their Mission?

  1. Providing 24/7 book access
  2. Fostering new Little Free Libraries
  3. Granting Little Free Libraries to high-need areas
  4. Championing diverse books
  5. Working with key community partners
    www.LittleFreeLibrary.org

STAMP Tests Approved for College Credit

Avant Assessment, who delivered the world’s first online, computer-adaptive language proficiency test, has received approval for its Avant STAMP 4S to qualify for college credit by the American Council on Education (ACE). All 14 languages offered in the four-skill STAMP 4S tests have been recommended by the same educational body that has provided credit recommendations to institutions of higher education for College Board Advanced Placement (AP) examinations, Cambridge Assessments, and ACT subject tests. This provides opportunities for students to earn credit or be placed in higher-level courses to advance their language skills.

Included in the approved languages is the newly released STAMP Spanish Monolingual test, an assessment offered with the instructions, questions, and prompts all in Spanish. Spanish Monolingual is primarily used to assess the Spanish proficiency level of Spanish heritage speakers. Students attaining at least a novice-high level are eligible to receive an ACE-verified badge through Credly, ACE’s badging partner. The designation may be submitted to universities to request credit and/or advanced placement, added to resumes or social media profiles, and provided to employers as proof of proficiency. Awarding of credit is at the discretion of the individual college or university. Avant partners with institutions in both K–12 and higher education to bridge the gap between language learning in high school and college-level language programs—encouraging students to continue their language education far beyond the novice levels.

Tools 4 Reading Adds Teacher Training

Tools 4 Reading has acquired The Reading Teacher’s Top 10 Tools, an online reading educator’s course. Tools 4 Reading focuses on developing practical tools and training opportunities to bridge the gap between the science of reading and classroom practice. It also delivers a variety of practical resources and services to ensure elementary educators are well prepared to teach all aspects of reading and equipped with tools that are evidence-based, are easy to implement and use, and improve literacy outcomes. Top 10 Tools, meanwhile, is an International Dyslexia Association (IDA)–accredited online comprehensive course designed to immerse educators in the science of reading. The hallmark of the course is its ten self-paced easy-to-use tools: knowledge, oral language, phonemes, phonics and spelling, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, writing, read-alouds, and collaboration. “The addition of Top 10 Tools perfectly aligns with our commitment to offer solutions that empower educators with the knowledge and resources necessary to ground literacy instruction in the science of reading,” said Dr. Mary Dahlgren, founder and president of Tools 4 Reading. “This is the perfect fit for the Tools 4 Reading family, since teachers must be equipped for the critical job of teaching reading and need well-designed learning tools to effectively guide students to reading proficiency.”
www.tools4reading.com

Ubongo Promotes Pan-African Early Literacy

Africa’s leading creator and producer of children’s educational media, Ubongo, has announced the launch of Season Four of Akili and Me: “Words and Sounds with Akili.” The popular African preschool show helps kids discover new ways of learning that harness their creativity, curiosity, and critical thinking. Aimed at three- to six-year-olds, Akili and Me helps young learners develop their vocabulary, literacy, counting, and social–emotional and life skills like empathy and conflict resolution through the adventures of Akili, a four-year-old who travels to a magical world of learning when she falls asleep. First aired in Tanzania in 2015, Akili and Me was an instant hit with young audiences. “Season Four of Akili and Me builds critical early literacy skills by taking children through a series of fun songs and stories, crafted to provide the key foundational building blocks needed to learn how to read.

The foundational building blocks we included in the season are phonological awareness through rhyming and syllable segmentation and alphabetic principle through the recognition of letters and letter sounds,” said Ubongo’s head of education, Cliodhna Ryan. “‘Words and Sounds with Akili’ is all about emphasizing the importance of kids and caregivers reading and learning together. It goes into helping the audience understand how sounds come together to make words and words come together to create the stories they love,” she added. Ubongo is a pan-African, nonprofit social enterprise aimed at significantly improving school readiness and learning outcomes while promoting social and behavioral change communication through localized edutainment for kids and their caregivers.
www.Ubongo.org

English Learners Slide More During Summer


For many students—particularly those that are historically underserved—the summer break from learning perpetuates inequitable achievement gaps, according to an overview of current research studies that examined K-8 student progress during a typical school year (non pandemic) and over the summer released by NWEA .

The research reveals important information about the degree to which being in school reduces achievement gaps and points to the importance of high-quality summer programming in supporting student success.

“This new study underscores both the urgency and need to invest in interventions that support the academic recovery of English learners. Even before the pandemic, multi-lingual learners lost more ground than their peers during the summer when they were out of school,” said Eric Rodriguez, SVP of Policy and Advocacy at UnidosUS. “After the last two years of interrupted learning for all students, it is more crucial than ever to target significant resources to support retaining and accelerating academic progress and learning for English learners during the summer. Summer support should include bilingual programming that combines academic and enrichment activities staffed with specialists to provide specific language development support and appropriate materials for English learners.”

The research used MAP Growth assessment data and revealed that while English learners, students with disabilities, and rural students make gains at rates equal to or faster than their grade-level peers during the school year, these students also experience greater learning loss in the summer, leading to persistent achievement gaps.

“We have long known the impact of the summer slide on student learning; however, this data gives us a deeper look into just how critical high-quality summer opportunities are for many of our underserved students,” said Deborah Delisle, CEO of All4Ed, formerly the Alliance for Excellent Education. “This information demonstrates that our system is effective at educating our students during the school year, and it is a call to action for states and districts on how to target summer programming so that all students can excel in school and beyond. Our children deserve nothing less.”

Key points include:

  • English Learners (ELs) — A research study looked at achievement and growth for K – 4 for ELs. It showed that ELs had lower test scores than their non-EL peers through their elementary years, but they also made academic growth similar to or at greater levels as their non-EL peers. However, the student group that was consistently identified as needing EL services tended to lose more ground over the summer than their non-EL peers or their multilingual peers who were ELs at some point but not consistently through K-4.
  • Rural Students — In a study of K-8 students nationwide, rural students came into kindergarten with higher achievement levels in math and reading than their non-rural peers; but by the end of third grade non-rural students consistently outperformed those from rural communities across the grades. Rural students grow at slightly faster rates in math and reading than other students when school is in session, but lose more ground almost every summer.
  • Students with Disabilities — In a study of K-4 students nationwide, students with disabilities enter kindergarten behind their peers in reading and math, but go on to make gains at similar or higher rates than their peers during some school years. However, students with disabilities lose more ground every summer, which contributes to widening disparities in achievement.

“Our research analysis revealed reasons for both optimism and concern. While the findings disrupt some long-held deficit-based thinking about some of these student groups, they also demonstrate the disproportionate impact that learning interruptions have on their achievement in the long-term, making high quality summer learning opportunities and other interventions critical,” said Lindsay Dworkin, VP of Policy and Advocacy at NWEA. “Taken collectively, these studies can help education leaders and policymakers identify interventions needed for these student groups to help address the inequitable learning patterns in U.S. public schools.”

Previous NWEA assessment data show that all students started this school year behind where they would be in a typical year and that historically marginalized groups were most severely impacted. Hispanic, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN), and Black students had much bigger declines in achievement than Asian American and White students.

NWEA researchers will also continue to conduct research into learning patterns that occur during the school year and over the summer and hope that new data will show a narrowing of gaps and more equitable learning conditions for all students. Additionally, NWEA researchers are partnering with CALDER at American Institutes of Research (AIR) and the Center of Education Policy and Research at Harvard to support a group of districts in determining how interventions are supporting COVID recovery.

“With the school year soon coming to an end, we can all look to summer as the perfect time to provide additional quality learning opportunities for students impacted by the pandemic. To ensure these opportunities are engaging and successful, states need actionable research on effective strategies that leverage afterschool, summer learning, and community partners,” said Paolo DeMaria, NASBE president and CEO. “This summer learning research brief can inform state boards about what works to support students in high-quality summer programs that sustain positive gains made during the school year. High quality summer programs coupled with relevant ongoing evaluation will help unlock the tools we need to reduce summer learning loss and continue to accelerate student learning so each and every student thrives.”

Making Good on a Promise to Multilingual Learners


In 2016, California passed Proposition 58, which eliminated subtractive linguistic schooling policies and made the way for linguistic equity on behalf of multilingual learners. Alongside Proposition 58, the California Department of Education’s Global 2030 initiative (https://www.cde.ca.gov/eo/in/documents/globalca2030report.pdf) set out to operationalize many of Proposition 58’s promises, including:

• Seeking to credential 1,190 new bilingual teachers by 2030;

• Increasing the number of dual language programs from 407 to 1,600 by 2030; and

• Increasing the number of bilingual teacher preparation programs to 100 by 2030.

As a professor of education at Whittier College who just launched a bilingual authorization program in spring of 2022 (our program will also be available online in fall 2022), I know that we have done our part to increase the number of bilingual teacher preparation programs to 100 by 2030. As a Hispanic- and minority-serving institution, as well as one of the most diverse liberal arts colleges in the country, we knew that a bilingual authorization program was a good fit for our teacher education program and our community. Many of our undergraduate and graduate students at Whittier College are first-generation students and heritage-language Spanish speakers, who can now use these rich assets and experiences to serve future generations of multilingual learners.

Unfortunately, for the past 20 years, the subtractive schooling experiences that many multilingual learners have experienced in California and other parts of the country have rid them of their rich linguistic and cultural histories. Prior to the passage of Proposition 227—the subtractive, English-only policy that dominated classrooms in California for 20 years—roughly 30% of multilingual learners were served in bilingual classrooms, and a decade later, participation declined to under 5% (AB 1701 Fact Sheet, 2022). I myself experienced such subtractive schooling, being a first-generation Latina of Costa Rican descent, starting my own educational career as a multilingual learner. Quickly, I began to excel in school and English became my dominant language. My parents, who both spoke English well, with the best of intentions, started using more English than Spanish at home. My sister and I continued to hear Spanish, spoken between my parents, but we became socialized into English and English spaces, including our church and our community. The result is that my academic English is now much stronger than my academic Spanish. My desire to launch the Bilingual Authorization Program comes from this loss and my yearning to recapture my own language and culture. I have done this in a variety of ways over my academic career.

First, all of my research and books have been centered around the needs of multilingual learners. Together, all of my publications tell a story of how to equitably engage and include multilingual learners in classrooms so that they gain voice and an academic identity in school. At Whittier College, I also teach a study abroad course in Costa Rica, which has allowed me to practice my Spanish language skills and to recapture my culture while also ensuring that future generations of teachers learn how to meet the linguistic and cultural needs of Spanish-speaking students. Still, I had a longing to do more to create systems by which future teachers would see that their bilingualism, biliteracy, and biculturalism could transform their own lives, while also transforming the next generation of Californians. Thus, the Bilingual Authorization Program at Whittier College was born. From the onset of the development of the program, we made sure to collaborate with the Spanish Department as well as with experts in local school districts, like Whittier City School District and East Whittier School District, who had experience with dual language programs. This, alongside support and an ongoing collaboration with the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE), has assisted us with designing a program that is grounded in dual language education research as well as bilingual and biliteracy best practices.

Still, we are systemically far behind our Global 2030 goal of 100 new teacher preparation programs by 2030. According to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC), currently only 42 of 80 teacher preparation programs offer programs for bilingual authorizations. With the addition of more bilingual authorization programs, we will be able to systemically address the reduction of credentialed teachers with bilingual authorizations, which dwindled from 1,800 teachers annually in the mid- to late 1990s to solely 1,075 teachers in 2019–20 (AB 1701 Fact Sheet, 2022).

In addition, if AB 1701 is approved in California, it will create a five-year grant to the California State University (CSU) system to increase student enrollment in bilingual authorization programs through recruitment and retention of full-time faculty for bilingual authorization programs through its colleges of education (AB 1701 Fact Sheet, 2022). This assembly bill is the first step in systemically recruiting and retaining faculty within CSU by allowing it to have the capacity to increase preservice teacher enrollment in bilingual authorization programs. The next step would be additional funding to expand bilingual authorization programs at private and independent colleges. This is needed because currently 49% of teaching credentials are administered by private and independent colleges and universities, while the CSU system issues close to 45% of teaching credentials (CCTC website). Since private and independent colleges are training almost half of all teachers in California, they too deserve systemic resources, such as AB 1701, to further recruit and retain full-time faculty in their own bilingual authorization programs.

References

AB 1701 Fact Sheet (2022). Walnut: California Association for Bilingual Education.

California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) website. www.ctc.ca.gov/commission/reports/data/other-teacher-supply-bilingual-authorizations

Global CA 2030 report. www.cde.ca.gov/eo/in/documents/globalca2030report.pdf

Ivannia Soto, PhD, began her career in the Los Angeles Unified School District and is now professor of education and director of graduate programs at Whittier College, where she also coordinates the Bilingual Authorization Program. She has authored and co-authored twelve books, including ELL Shadowing as a Catalyst for Change, a best-seller that was recognized by Education Trust-West as a promising practice for ELLs in 2018.

Is Scottish Gaelic on the Rise?

March 21 marked the first World Gaelic Week, with more than 100 events scheduled to celebrate the language and its legacy. Moreover, people’s fascination with the Celtic language, which was once spoken widely throughout modern-day Scotland, looks like it’s on track to last well beyond the inaugural celebration of Gaelic—interest has risen steadily over the last couple of years, according to data from VisitScotland, the Scottish government’s national tourism board.

“Gaelic and its rich culture are an important part of Scotland’s tourism offer and provide an extra layer of authenticity for visitors, with a unique culture you can only truly experience in Scotland,” said Malcolm Roughead, VisitScotland’s chief executive. “This only strengthens the experience we know means so much to visitors.”

According to VisitScotland’s recent report, interest in Scottish Gaelic–related content increased by 72% over the period 2018–2021. “This proves that Gaelic is thriving, not just here in Scotland but across the world, and I can’t wait to celebrate our language and culture this week on a global scale,” said Joy Dunlop, director of World Gaelic Week.

Scottish Gaelic—related to, but still separate from, the similarly named Irish Gaelic—is spoken by a relatively small population of nearly 60,000. The language’s native speakers are mostly concentrated in the northwest of the country. Like other Celtic languages in the British Isles, the language fell into a steady decline after English rose to prominence in the region.

Hundreds of years ago, the Celtic family was a sprawling and lively family of languages spoken not just in the British Isles but also throughout mainland Europe and modern-day Turkey. That’s not the case anymore, with most, if not all, living Celtic languages spoken by relatively slim minorities in their respective native lands.

In recent years, revitalization efforts and revival projects have had a fair amount of success—Welsh census data shows that Wales, for example, nearly doubled its number of Welsh speakers from 2011 to 2021. Such growth, however, hasn’t been the norm—the number of Scottish Gaelic speakers declined by about 1,000 from 2001 to 2011 (language data from the country’s 2022 census is not yet available).

However, Celtic specialists appear cautiously optimistic for the language’s future. With interest rising and the Scottish government’s 2016–2021 plan for revitalizing the language, it’s possible that we’ll see an increased number of Scottish Gaelic speakers residing in the country when census data finally does come out. Andrew Warner

Spanish Teachers for Libya

The Spanish oil company Repsol is sponsoring the design, teaching, and evaluation of an Instituto Cervantes online program aimed at Libyan teachers of Spanish as a foreign language. Twenty Libyan Spanish teachers will take the 100- to 120-hour online course this year to improve their methodology for teaching the language, according to an agreement signed by the director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero, with Repsol Exploracion Murzuq, S.A.

The course will be designed to update methodological knowledge and develop key teacher competencies in teaching Spanish. Trainees must have experience in teaching foreign languages (not necessarily Spanish) and have a B2 level of Spanish proficiency if they are not Spanish speakers.

The Cervantes teacher training department will design the course, which will be developed on the institute’s Moodle platform and will have a practical approach to encourage, through individual and group activities, participation and cooperative work among those enrolled.

CODA Brings ASL to Big Screen, Public’s Attention

The film tells the story of a mostly deaf family, focusing mainly on the sole hearing member of the family and her difficulties fitting into the hearing community—its title comes from the common acronym CODA, which stands for “child of deaf adults.” The film, which most recently won three Oscars, features a predominantly deaf cast and as such, American Sign Language (ASL) plays a large role throughout. About 40% of the script was written in ASL, making it one of the most celebrated films to highlight the language.

With a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has received strong critical acclaim, which is reflected in its strong performance at awards ceremonies in the last couple of months. The film has won 26 awards so far (with four nominations at the Satellite Awards on April 2), including the Academy Awards for best picture, best supporting actor, and best adapted screenplay.

Critics have hailed CODA’s strong performance as a historic win for deaf and hard-of-hearing representation in the entertainment industry. In an effort to make the Academy Awards more accessible to the deaf actors in the film and the broader deaf community, individual interpreters were assigned to each actor, as well as four additional interpreters to interpret to the in-person and television audiences.

Troy Kotsur, the actor who played the titular CODA’s father, received the award for best supporting actor at the Academy Awards. Kotsur is just the second deaf actor to win an Oscar—his co-star, Marlee Matlin, was the first, winning the award for best actress in 1987. Delivering his acceptance speech in ASL, Kotsur thanked the predominantly deaf theater companies he’d worked with throughout his career for giving him a space to hone his craft as an actor.

“I read one of Spielberg’s books lately and he said that the definition of the best director was a skilled communicator,” he said. “Sian Heder [CODA’s director], you are the best communicator, and the reason why is you brought the deaf world and the hearing world together—you are our bridge.” Andrew Warner

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