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Bilingual and Dual-Language Teacher Preparation Programs

► University of Delaware
Program Title: 4+1 MA in childhood education in languages, literatures and cultures (with elementary teacher education or early childhood education BS)
Format: Campus
Length: Five years
Credit Hours: 150–153
Specializations: Unique interdisciplinary 4+1 program, emphasis on pedagogy, language and culture

► Georgia State University
Program Title: MEd in elementary education, dual-immersion concentration
Format: Online
Length: Depends on number of credits taken per semester
Credit hours: 36
Specializations: Dual-immersion concentration

► DePaul University
Program Title: Bilingual-bicultural education master’s degree
Format: Online/campus/hybrid
Length: Twelve courses
Credit hours: 48 quarter hours (not semesters)
Specializations: First master’s in Midwest in bilingual-bicultural education; ESL and/or bilingual endorsements included; pre-K–12 and adult focus
 
Program Title: Early childhood education BS with required bilingual education minor
Format: Online/campus/hybrid
Length: Four-year undergraduate degree
Credit hours: 138 quarter hours (not semesters)
Specializations: BS degree with professional education license and ESL and/or bilingual endorsement

Program Title: ESL and/or bilingual endorsement
Format: Online/campus/hybrid
Length: Seven or eight courses
Credit hours: 28 or 32 quarter hours (not semesters)
Specializations: ESL and/or bilingual endorsement

► University of IOWA
Program Title: ESL endorsement, with dual language education specialization
Format: Hybrid
Length: One year
Credit hours: 15
Specializations: Dual language education

► Kean University, NJ
Program Title: Bilingual/bicultural education (MA)
Format: In person, union, NJ campus
Length: Six–six semesters
Credit hours: 33 credits
Specializations: MA in instruction and curriculum—bilingual/bicultural education option is designed to prepare certified teachers (P3, K–6, K–6/5–8, K–12) for work in bilingual settings

► University of Minnesota—Twin Cities
Dual Language and Immersion (DLI) Program Title: Licensure and MEd Program in the College of Education and Human Development
Format: Hybrid
Length: Six semesters (two years)
Credit hours: 36 credits
Specializations: Elementary teacher preparation focused on DLI methodologies and strategies

Program Title: Graduate certificate in dual language and immersion (DLI) education
Format: Online
Length: Five semesters
Credit hours: 15 credits
Specializations: In-service program focused on DLI-specific knowledge and pedagogical skills

Program Title: MEd in language immersion education
Format: Hybrid
Length: Three–four years (part time)
Credit hours: 30 credits
Specializations: In-service program coupled with DLI certificate for practicing DLI teachers

► University of Rhode Island—College of Education and Professional Studies
Program Title: MA in TESOL/bilingual and dual language immersion
Format: Online (asynchronous with an in-person internship requirement)
Length: Depends on the student but possible to complete in 15 months
Credit hours: 30, reduced tuition compared to regular graduate programs
Specializations: AAQEP-accredited online MA in TESOL/BDL that leads to teacher certification

What Does It Mean to Ask ‘How Does Ukrainian Compare with Russian?’

To ask “How does Ukrainian compare to Russian?” is to admit that you’ve heard of Russian but didn’t realize that Ukrainian was even a language. It is not your own fault, it’s a consequence of many years of linguicism. 

To ask “How does Ukrainian compare to Russian?” seems so innocent and so curious and yet it is so tiring for Ukrainians to keep repeating the same thing over and over again—yes, they are similar in some of the lexicon and yet so different because we have 16 words for the word “to open” depending on what it is that we are opening, while Russian has one.

To ask “How does Ukrainian compare to Russian?” is to insinuate that languages can peacefully co-exist as siblings in the same East Slavic language family… as if languages are a pure linguistic phenomenon not intertwined with people, politics, and power.  

If you ask “How does Ukrainian compare to Russian?,” be ready and willing to learn a new words like

linguicide, language suppression, banned language, linguicism, language status, linguistic inferiority

and events like

the Synod of the Russian Patriarchal Church prohibits printing and using the Ukrainian bukvar, an alphabet book, in 1769,

prohibition on translating books into Ukrainian,

banning of printing of Ukrainian spiritual and popular education literature,

banning of theatrical performances and printing of Ukrainian texts on sheet music,

limiting the use of Ukrainian in higher education,

Andropov’s order in 1983 to increase salaries of Russian language teachers. 

If you ask “How does Ukrainian compare to Russian?,” be ready and willing to learn that, according to some Russian linguists, Ukrainian does not even hold the status of a language but has been reduced to a mere dialect of the peasant people, who are a bunch of rebels and farmers who can’t let go of their land. But they forgot that language is a dialect with an army and… Ukrainians do have an army.

If you ask “How does Ukrainian compare to Russian?,” be ready and willing to learn that the official language of the Ukrainian people was in the minority status for over 70 years, which eventually led to Russian being established as the official language of Ukraine in 1990.

If you ask “How does Ukrainian compare to Russian?,” be ready and willing to learn that children like me in the 1980s grew up with linguistic inferiority if they were not fluent in Russian, and when playing dolls, the cool dolls from the city spoke Ruskiy/русский and the peasant dolls from the village/село/selo spoke Ukrainian. 

If you ask “How does Ukrainian compare to Russian?,” be ready and willing to learn that students like me never had a chance to contribute our knowledge in our native language because, in 1970, the Soviet government ordered for all dissertations and major theses to be written in Russian, thus distributing knowledge only to the Russian readers.  

If you ask “How does Ukrainian compare to Russian?,” be ready and willing to learn of the centuries of regimes ruling over Ukraine trying to destroy its language over the span of 337 years, from 1654 to 1991, with 60 prohibitions in total.  

To ask “How does Ukrainian compare to Russian?” Aren’t they very similar? 

But no one asks in return, “How does English compare to German? How does French compare with Spanish?” 

Because they don’t drag with themselves “disputed territory,” “conflict with Russia,” “we are a sovereign nation whose existence Putin denies,” “Donbas region,” “Eastern Ukraine,” “Russian troops massing at the eastern border”…

~~~~~~~~~
Free Ukrainian lessons: www.ukrainianlessons.com
Some information in this poem was taken from A Short Guide to the Linguicide of the Ukrainian Language by Euromaidan Press.

Ruslana A. Westerlund is an immigrant writer, linguist, speaker, and author of From Borsch to Burgers: A Cross-Cultural Memoir. In her memoir, she chronicles her journey of becoming a transcultural person spanning both worlds and forming her new ever-evolving identity as a proud Ukrainian American. In this poem, she addresses the various meanings behind the seemingly innocent question “How does Ukrainian compare to Russian?” and uses this poem to educate others. She believes that there is a lot of unlearning to be done around the topic of Ukrainian language, culture, and history, and she uses writing to help others unlearn and relearn. You can connect with her on Twitter @RuslanaWesterl.

UN Warns on Post-Pandemic Child Literacy

On last month’s International Day of Education (24 January), UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that education must be central to recovery plans from the pandemic, as child illiteracy could reach 70% in developing countries, releasing the following statement,

“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused chaos in education worldwide. Some 1.6 billion school and college students had their studies interrupted at the peak of the pandemic—and it’s not over yet. Today, school closures continue to disrupt the lives of over 31 million students, exacerbating a global learning crisis. Unless we take action, the share of children leaving school in developing countries who are unable to read could increase from 53 to 70%.

“But, the turmoil in education goes beyond questions of access and inequality. Our world is changing at a dizzying pace, with technological innovation, unprecedented changes in the world of work, the onset of the climate emergency and a widespread loss of trust between people and institutions. Conventional education systems are struggling to deliver the knowledge, skills, and values we need to create a greener, better and safer future for all.

“Education is a preeminent public good, and an essential enabler for the entire 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The international community cannot afford to be agnostic about its provision, quality and relevance.

“That is why I am convening the Summit on Transforming Education later this year. The time has come to reignite our collective commitment to education. That means investing in comprehensive plans to help students recover from learning losses. It means putting education at the heart of broader recovery efforts, aimed at transforming economies and societies and accelerating progress on sustainable development. It means financial solidarity with developing countries. And it means embarking on a process of reflection and analysis to identify how national education systems can evolve and transform between now and 2030.

“The Summit on Transforming Education will be the first time that world leaders, young people, and all education stakeholders come together to consider these fundamental questions. On this International Day of Education, and as we prepare for the Summit later this year, I call on everyone to unite around education as a public good and a top political priority for the recovery and beyond.”

Ethiopian War Sparks Conflict in Ohio

The original trustees of the Holy Trinity Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Columbus, Ohio, have accused its clergy of switching the language of services from Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia, to Tigrinya, the language of the Tigray region. They say the clergy is taking sides in a war between Tigray leaders and the Amhara, allied with the Ethiopian government.

The clergy in the church in Columbus, which is home to about 40,000 Ethiopian-Americans, told Associated Press (AP) that Tigrinya was added and did not replace Amharic to better reach the congregation, and that the changes were not political in nature.

“The Ethiopian social fabric … has been torn apart,” said Tewodros Tirfe, chairman of the Amhara Association of America, based in North Carolina.

The complexity of the war has made some rethink their position on it. Ethiopian-American journalist and activist Hermela Aregawi advocated for humanitarian work to help Tigray in the early days, but eventually distanced herself from those fundraising efforts when she felt they became politically motivated in favor of Tigrayan leaders.

Adem Kassie Abebe, a program officer at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance in the Netherlands, told AP that for each side, the anger and longtime grievances are real. “Saying ‘I understand you’re angry,’ that would go a long way (for) both sides,” he said. “That opens a channel.”

Tirfe of the Amhara Association of America blames the war on a federalist governing system that ties the country’s dozens of ethnicities to land and power, pitting them against each other. So long as Ethiopia has this system, he said, “there will be another war.”

“It’s good to see so many Ethiopians actively involved,” he said. “We’re not coming (together) as one, but hopefully one day. We’ll be a force.”

The Ethiopian diaspora has more than three million members.

Language at the Intersection

“Each year, JNCL-NCLIS delegates and dedicated language advocates across the country unite to meet with Members of Congress and promote the importance of language education and international studies.” https://www.languagepolicy.org/lad22 

I was delighted to be able to attend the well-organized and well-attended JNCL Virtual Language Advocacy Days, LAD 2022.

For language advocates and stakeholders everywhere, LAD is in many ways the high point of the year, bringing together a broad cross-section of educators, government officials, and many others to discuss the current status of language learning and language use in the US and to explore future directions in promoting and defending languages and multilingualism.

“Located in Washington, D.C., the Joint National Committee for Languages (JNCL) is a mission-driven membership organization representing a national network of +300,000 professionals and specialists from the education, non-profit and industry sectors.

​Our trusted language policy team empowers our members to raise awareness of the benefits of multilingualism to Congress. We speak language policy.” https://www.languagepolicy.org/

Reflecting this broad stakeholder constituency, keynote speakers included Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, Carlos José Pérez Sámano, First Artist in Residence, Penn Museum, Juliana Urtubey, NBCT, 2021 National Teacher of the Year, Roxana Norouzi, OneAmerica, and closing speakers Rep. Price (D-NC) & Rep. Young (R-AK), America’s Languages Caucus Co-Chairs.

Other events during the 3-day program included the welcome address on the theme, “Languages at the Intersection,” a heartfelt tribute to the late John Carlino, executive director of NYSAFLT and NECTFL and member at large of the JNCL executive committee, and the awards ceremony. This year’s award winners included Dennis Looney (James E. Alatis Founder’s Award), Michele, Anciaux Aoki (J. David Edwards Power of Advocacy Award), and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ). (Rush D. Holt Award for Language Service to the Nation).

The opportunity for LAD participants to visit with the offices of elected officials – Congressional representatives and US Senators formed the heart of the LAD program, with meetings scheduled throughout Day 2, with specific language asks and a request for our elected representatives to join the Language Caucus, central to the entire LAD program.

While it was a busy 3-day program, the takeaways extended beyond the information and inspiration of the keynotes, awards, and legislative visits, and the opportunities to connect with like-minded language professionals and stakeholders.

Despite our multilingual past and present, relatively few US students study additional languages, often due to a lack of access and opportunity. Foreign language programs in our elementary and middle schools, as well as in our colleges and universities, have declined in recent years. While online programs have increased, they are not yet sufficient to meet the needs of many learners who cannot attend an onsite program. Affordability is another key issue, with support for low-cost community-based programs and funding for fees and tuition needed.

We are truly a multilingual world and society, and – while much has been accomplished, and much is being done – there is so much yet to do both to honor our linguistic heritage and to ensure the future of America’s and the world’s languages. Congratulations to JNCL for a wonderful and inspirational event, and many thanks to the entire JNCL team for their tireless efforts to defend and promote language learning and use in the US.

Chinese Private Schools Crash Again

Last month, share prices in Chinese education companies plummeted again after rumors spread that President Xi Jinping will intensify a crackdown on the sector, which was devastated last summer when the government launched its “dual-alleviation policy,” an effort to reduce the burden of homework and after-school tutoring on students, and reduce inequality caused by parents’ differing abilities to pay for it. After its implementation in July last year, China’s $100 billion tutoring industry was forced to go nonprofit and end the use of foreign teachers. By the end of the year, those tutoring companies that survived had shed most of their staff and depleted most of their cash reserves.

A Bloomberg Intelligence index of Chinese education firms plunged 27% over a period of just three days, the steepest loss since the government announced a sweeping overhaul of the industry in July. It was triggered by an unverified document from the Ministry of Education which prompted speculation of a potential ban on the variable interest entity structure used by Chinese education companies to list abroad, as well as restrictions on their school assets, mergers, and tuition-fee increases.

There has been no official announcement on the matter and the companies themselves were not aware of any impending rules, but New Oriental Education ($EDU), one of the largest private tutoring companies, posted a year-end summary showing a decline in revenues of 80%; the dismissal of 60,000 employees, and a loss of 20 billion yuan ($3 billion) through expenses like tuition refunds and severance pay.

The founder of New Oriental, Yú Mǐnhóng 俞敏洪, outlined his 2022 plans on his WeChat account (in Chinese), saying the company had already ceased online K-9 training in test subjects in favor of programs that advance more qualitative growth factors such as general literacy and research skills. The company has also increased its investment in university and study-abroad programs to tap into more of the postgraduate and overseas Chinese student market.

Effective Literacy Education for English Learners Webinar

This webinar, hosted by the National Committee for Effective Literacy, will focus on effective literacy instruction for English learners and emergent bilingual students by documenting and discussing what is missing from current national trends. Research results will also be presented from studies demonstrating effective literacy models that are comprehensive, culturally responsive and inclusive of foundational skills, but not limited by them.

African Languages Week

Levers for the Africa We Want was the theme of last month’s African Languages Week organized by the African Union (AU) to demonstrate the indispensable role of African languages in the integration and sustainable peace and development of the continent, according to Dr Lang Fàfa Dampha, executive secretary of the Union’s African Academy of African Languages.

According to Dampha, the celebration also increased awareness and appreciation of African languages by looking at pragmatic ways of empowering and rendering them relevant to the lives of Africans, noting that, “African Languages Week is also geared to taking stock on how African languages are faring in the world of global languages so as to see where we stand in our language development endeavors.”

The celebration also seeks to promote the dynamics of African world views and philosophies of life, through the empowerment and use of African languages; demonstrate the role of African languages in the integration and sustainable peace and development in Africa, and to celebrate and reflect on African languages.

Prof Wa Goro, a Kenyan academic, social critic, researcher, translator, and writer based in the UK, said language has been considered in AU’s Agenda 63  in Aspiration 5— “an Africa with a strong cultural identity, common heritage, shared values and ethics.” This, she noted, will be key in promoting trade within Africa.

Wa Goro has served as the co-convenor of the Women’s Caucus of the African Studies Association and the deputy president of the African Literature Association. She is also a founder member of TRACALA, the Translation Caucus of the African Literature Association (ALA) and serves on the executive committee of International Association of Translation Studies.

She noted that the issue of using Kiswahili as a common language and a working language of the AU was up for discussion at the forthcoming summit, “We, in East Africa and in Kenya, know from our lived experience how vital Kiswahili is in our public and private life. Language is a currency and like money, must be managed and the instruments for doing so developed.”

The AU created the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN) to encourage language diversity to serve as a factor for African integration and development by developing and promoting African languages, and providing technical support to member states for the formulation and implementation of language policies and strategies of language development and use.

The celebration also highlighted the lack of technology geared to African languages. “We are getting to the point where if a machine doesn’t understand your language it will be like it never existed,” said Vukosi Marivate, chief of data science at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, in a call to action before a December virtual gathering of the world’s artificial intelligence researchers.

“Most people want to be able to interact with the rest of the information highway in their local language,” Marivate said in an interview with Associated Press. He’s a founding member of Masakhane (www.masakhane.io), a pan-African research project to improve how dozens of languages are represented in natural language processing. Marivate is also part of a coalition of African researchers who have been trying to improve machine translation tools that have, among other shortcomings, failed to properly translate online COVID-19 surveys from English into several African languages.

ACALAN launched the African Languages Week in Ouagadougou, in collaboration with the government of Burkina Faso, in July 2021, prior to last month’s military coup.

Irish Gains Full EU Status

The derogation of the status of the Irish language in European Union (EU) institutions ended on 31 December 2021 and its status is now on a par with the other official languages of the EU. The Irish language was given official and working status on 1 January 2007, however, a derogation arrangement was in place due to a shortage of translators which restricted the amount of material translated into Irish.

“The end of the derogation of the status of the Irish language in the European Union is a crucial step in the development and future of the language. Irish is now on a par with other official and working EU languages and this will strengthen the relationship between citizens and European administrative systems. Together with the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021 signed by the President of Ireland last week, the role of the Irish language in national and European systems of administration has now been significantly strengthened,”said Irish government chief whip and minister of state for the Gaeltacht and Sport, Jack Chambers TD.

“The European institutions and the staff of my department deserve a great deal of credit for putting in place the appropriate structures and initiatives to achieve this goal. It was an ambitious project, but thanks to the close cooperation between the EU institutions, the Irish Government and stakeholders under the Advanced Irish Language Skills Initiative among many other initiatives and projects, the European institutions are now ready to translate the full suite of content into Irish along with other official and working languages of the EU,” continued Chambers.

Irish was a treaty language when Ireland became a Member State in 1973, which meant that only EU treaties were translated into Irish. The Irish Government applied in 2005 for Irish to become an official and working language and it was granted this status on 1 January 2007. Due to the shortage of translation staff and Irish language technological resources at the time, the scope of the status was derogated and the number of documents to be translated into Irish were limited.

The Irish Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, in conjunction with the European institutions, has undertaken a number of initiatives under the 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language to fill this gap, such as the Advanced Irish Language Skills Initiative, an Internship Scheme, the LEX / IATE terminology project and digital and technological initiatives. As a result, there are over 170 Irish language staff in the European institutions today using facilities such as terminology databases, machine translation aids and computer-aided translation software to translate all documents into Irish. That number of staff will be increased to c. 200 early in 2022.

UK Government Backs British Sign Language Bill

The British government is backing a bill to finally make British Sign Language (BSL) a recognized language in the UK and help deaf people play a more prominent role in society.

The British Sign Language Bill, a Private Member’s Bill introduced by Rosie Cooper MP, signals promotion and facilitation of BSL when making public service announcements, encouraging other service providers to do the same.

The UK’s Department for Work and Pensions minister for Disabled People, Health and Work Chloe Smith said: “Effective communication is vital to creating a more inclusive and accessible society, and legally recognizing British Sign Language in Great Britain is a significant step towards ensuring that deaf people are not excluded from reaching their potential.”

“Passing the bill will see government commit to improving the lives of deaf people and will encourage organizations across the nation to take up the BSL mantle, benefitting both themselves and the deaf community,” continued Smith.

BSL offers a lifeline to 250,000 Brits who communicate through the visual medium, which consists of a combination of hand gestures, facial expressions and body language.

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Language Magazine