(2006). 2006 Innovators. T.H.E. Journal, v33 n17 p14-27 Dec. A history teacher uses a computer game to interest students in World War II. A former TV reporter creates a new journalism curriculum that turns high school kids into real on-air broadcasters. An administrator and a technology coordinator team up to bring their campuses in contact with others around the world. A project director devises a vocational IT training program for high schoolers. An ESL teacher boosts English literacy by getting free computers and DSL service into the homes of immigrant students. All these educators are difference makers, and in the past year they have demonstrated the power of educational technology to transform teaching and learning. For their achievements, they are among a select group, chosen by a panel from roughly 200 nominees, as \T.H.E. Journal's\ 2006 Innovators. This article relates the accomplishments of these select nominees: (1) David McDivitt, Oak Hill High School (Indiana); (2) Grace Poli, Jose Marti Middle School (New Jersey); (3) Patricia… [Direct]

Fernandez, Ricardo R.; And Others (1976). Report on State Services to the Hispanic Population of Wisconsin. The scope and quality of services provided to Hispanic persons in Wisconsin were investigated in 1976 by the Governor's Council for Spanish Speaking People and comparisons were made to findings of 1971 and 1974 reviews. Detailed questionnaires were developed for each state agency, and five hearings were held in different locations within the state. For each of the following agencies, information is provided on their functions, questionnaire responses, and council recommendations: Educational Communications Board; Higher Educational Aids Board; Department of Public Instruction; State Historical Society; University of Wisconsin System; Vocational, Technical, and Adult Education System; Department of Administration; Department of Agriculture; Department of Industry, Labor, and Human Relations; Department of Regulation and Licensing; State Manpower Council; Department of Health and Social Services; Department of Justice; Wisconsin Council on Criminal Justice; Department of Business… [PDF]

(1977). The Report of the Work Group on Multiculturalism. The report on the impact of multiculturalism on the education system in the Borough of York (Ontario) summarizes findings of a two year study and provides recommendations to enhance multiculturalism in education. The report is presented in six chapters. Chapter I explains the work group task and method of inquiry and identifies work group participants. Chapter II presents a Canadian perspective on multiculturalism, followed by a profile of cultures in the Borough of York in chapter III. Chapter IV discusses the work group's interpretation of multicultural education. Multicultural education is perceived to value the presence of many cultures, human rights, social justice, and alternative life choices for all people. Chapter V, the bulk of the report, examines and presents recommendations on six issues related to multiculturalism: (1) a nondiscriminatory school and community environment; (2) retention of culture and language; (3) curriculum for multiculturalism; (4) immigrant…

(1981). United States Federal Policies for Education for the Disadvantaged. Reviews of National Policies for Education. This report presents a review conducted by a multinational panel on educational policy in the United States. The report concentrates on compensatory programs in elementary and secondary education, with an emphasis on Title I programs. Topics covered include: (1) recent trends in American education; (2) the philosophy, operational design, and evaluation of Federal programs for the disadvantaged; (3) problems of program articulation; (4) the impact of compensatory education at the school level; (5) students' preparation for and transition to working life; and (6) the Federal role in educational funding. Also included is a record of a 1979 conference held to review the above mentioned issues. (APM)…

Olabode, Afolabi (1995). Categories in AFL2 and Implications for Pedagogy. An analysis of the trend in teaching African languages as a second or foreign language (AFL2) looks at patterns in the objectives of AFL2, teachers and learners, and instructional environments. Three basic program objectives in AFL2 are distinguished: language proficiency (basic conversation); language competence (close to native skills); and knowledge for linguistic analysis. Four types of language teacher-learner combinations are identified: native-speaking teachers qualified in language teaching who have a common language with the learners, adequate for teaching and learning; native-speaking qualified teachers with a common language not adequate for teaching and learning; unqualified, non-native-speaking teachers who have a common language with learners, adequate for teaching and learning; and unqualified, native-speaking teachers without training in the language or linguistics, and learners. Four locations of instruction are noted: in the learner's home country; and three areas… [PDF]

Olaziregi, I.; Sierra, J. (1989). EIFE 2: Influence of Factors on the Learning of Basque. Study of the Models A, B, and D in Fifth Year Basic General Education. Glotodidaktika-Lanak 33. This study on Basque language learning is part of a project investigating alternative curriculum designs to promote native language maintenance in the Basque Country of Spain. This study measured the level of Basque and Spanish of fifth-graders (n=586 divided among 167 classrooms) in three program models (Basque taught as a second language–Model A, Spanish-Basque bilingual–Model B, and instruction primarily in Basque–Model D) in 1987; studied factors influencing the learning of the languages; compared the new data with that of 1983-84; and examined the bilingual model in greater depth. (MSE)… [PDF]

Zephirin, Henriot; And Others (1983). George W. Wingate High School Bilingual Demonstration College Preparatory Program, 1981-1982. O.E.E. Evaluation Report. In its first year of operation, 1981-82, the Bilingual Demonstration College Preparatory Program in New York City served 81 students of Hispanic origin with limited English proficiency. The program stresses the acquisition of English skills as well as the development of the students' native language and is geared toward mainstreaming students as soon as possible. The program's four major goals are (1) an academically successful student body; (2) enhancement of the staff's professional growth and/or academic skills and a more adequate ethnic balance among the instructional staff; (3) an active parent and community group; and 4) the development of math, social studies, and science materials focusing on the development of basic skills. Attainment of these goals in 1981-82 was negatively affected by the fact that approval to hire staff was not received until two months after the school year had begun. Instructional achievement results were mixed. No formal inservice training for staff…

Hollomon, John W.; And Others (1975). Eliciting Covert Mental Operations, Concepts and Oral Language Skills in Young Bilingual Children. The purpose of this investigation was to design and test an information-eliciting question instrument in order to determine whether the structures in the verbal responses of young Mexican-American, bilingual children entering school would reveal the covert mental operations, concepts and oral language skills elicited. The basic objective was to make an in-depth study of such problems as the relationship between language and thought (how the bilingual child uses his thought as content for his language and how he uses his language to structure his thought), language interference (mixing and code-switching), and fluency. The study was therefore limited to 6 Ss (3 kindergartners and 3 first graders, including 3 boys and 3 girls, ages 6-7). The instrument consisted of 112 (56 parallel) questions in both English and Spanish. The results suggest that the instrument: (1) accounts for the language and thought components it elicited; (2) offers a different approach to the study of… [PDF]

Glad, Diana; And Others (1979). A Comparison of English Language Acquisition Patterns in English Monolingual and Bilingual Children. English monolingual and Spanish/English bilingual children in kindergarten and first grade in 11 states were administered two tests from the EL CIRCO (CIRCUS) battery. The purpose of the study was to determine comparative acquisition of English grammar for kindergarteners and first graders and for bilingual and English monolingual children. Data were sought to support or refute general hypotheses of language acquisition. Data indicate that: (1) comprehension precedes performance in the acquisition of verbal inflections for tense, and tenses are mastered in a specific order; (2) children distinguish between third person possessive adjectives of gender (his and her) before those of number (his and their); and (3) the active voice and the concept of agent are acquired before the passive voice and the concept of object (agent-object relationship in embedded sentences and passive voice were undifferentiated in bilingual children tested). Data do not support a similar order of acquisition…

Gething, Thomas W. (1973). Needed Materials for Instruction in Languages of Southeast Asia. This paper is a preliminary attempt to identify important gaps in instructional materials for Southeast Asian languages. The need for instructional materials is detailed for: Burmese, Cambodian, Indonesian/Malay, Lao, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese. Attention is drawn particularly to the need for integrated audiovisual materials, materials on nonverbal communication, and standardized tests. Both national and transnational concerns are felt to justify continued attention to the languages of Southeast Asia. (Author/AM)… [PDF]

Lara-Braud, Jorge (1969). Browns in Anger: The Overlooked Minority. This speech advocates that Mexican-Americans must undergo a process of radicalization to attempt to transfer anger from deeds to words. This minority is losing faith in speech as a means of redress, but corrective measures should come through dialogue and not collision. Few Mixican Americans designated themselves \browns\ a year ago–but it is now necessary, given the growing black-white polarization. This affirms the Mexican-American self-identity. Browns constitute the second largest and most destitute minority, yet they retain faith in and patriotism toward America. Lack of collective bargaining and \green card\ practices maintain an oversupply of unskilled labor and depressed wages. Brown education is a disaster area. Justice is arbitrary, and police seem to be waging undeclared war in brown communities. Equal opportunity in employment is a hoax to a people denied the basic rights of collective bargaining, education, and justice. The author says the situation can lead to… [PDF]

Herrera, Gloria; Lizcano, Jeanette (1973). La Celebracion de Navaidad. Para la Secundaria. (The Celebration of Christmas, Secondary Level.). The celebration of Navidad (Christmas) by various cultures is the topic of this secondary level unit. Unit objectives are that the student will be able to differentiate between his culture's Christmas customs and those of the dominant culture, and be able to relate their origin. The customs of Mexico, Panama, and south Texas are discussed. Also included are: (1) "Las Pastorelas", a Christmas play about the shepherds; (2) the story "The Purchase"; (3) the poem, "La Navidad"; (4) the songs, "Las Posadas", "Los Santos Reyes", "Bulerias de Navidad", "A la Nanita Nana", "Fum, Fum, Fum!", "Natividad", "A la Rurru Nino", and "La Noche Buena"; and (5) recipes for tamales, the meat for tamales, and bunuelos. (NQ)…

Mackey, William Francis (1972). Language Status and Language Contact in Geolinguistic Perspective. This study presents the theories that contribute to what the author has called geolinguistics, a discipline that deals with the external fate of languages as they are distributed over the face of the globe. Such a study is relevant in terms of official language planning when legislators seek to impose a given language on people of varied backgrounds. Such language planning requires the study of the linguistic forces of a given situation, including such characteristics as language power, language attraction, and language pressure. The author defines, illustrates, and discusses these terms and indicates their application to his theory of geolinguistics. (VM)… [PDF]

Natalicio, Diana S.; Williams, Frederick (1972). Evaluating Carrascolendas: A Television Series for Mexican-American children. The development of "Carrascolendas," a television series devised for Mexican-American children, is summarized. Emphasis is placed upon strategies for evaluation. Evaluation evidence indicates that "Carrascolendas" may be an alternative or an addition to the Sesame Street approach to dealing with the education of the disadvantaged. (MS)… [PDF]

Kessler, Carolyn (1972). Syntactic Contrasts in Child Bilingualism. A Language-research experiment designed to examine the linguistic competence of bilingual Italian-American children demonstrates that structures shared by Italian and English are acquired in approximately the same order and at the same rate, and that the sequencing of specific structures reflects linguistic complexity. Structures appearing in both languages are believed to have a common underlying base and realized by the same set of transformational rules. The definite sequencing evident in child-language acquisition may have implications for second-language acquisition by adults; instructional materials and programs could be established with this in mind. (VM)… [PDF]

Lauren, Ulla (1987). The Linguistic Competence of Mono- and Bi-Lingual Pupils in Swedish in the Finland-Swedish School. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, v8 n1-2 p83-94. Comparison of free written compositions of 86 bilingual (Finnish-Swedish) and 86 monolingual (Swedish) third-, sixth-, and ninth-graders in a Finland Swedish comprehensive school revealed that bilinguals produced significantly more syntactic, vocabulary, and phraseology errors. Background variables correlating with errors included the student's school marks and environmental factors of mass media and neighborhood language. (Author/CB)…

Barobs-Gahr, Brigita; Medrano, Lydia; Nesman, Teresa M. (2001). They Are Our Kids: Significant Findings from a 1998 Latino Dropout Study. A study used focus groups and interviews to examine dropout causes among Hispanic middle and high school students in Hillsborough County, Florida. Major contributors to Latino student success included personal motivation to succeed, supportive parents, and being interested and involved in school activities. Factors contributing to dropout included lack of student motivation; negative peer influence; low support from parents, teachers, and community; responsibilities outside of school; language and cultural barriers; and inflexible school policies. Recommendations for action fell into four categories: (1) communication and support for students, school personnel, and parents; (2) availability of activities for Latino students; (3) appreciation of Latino culture; and (4) communication of school policies. A program at a middle school in the study, mentioned by students as being helpful, is described. The program recruits energetic, bilingual teachers and tutors to provide assistance… [PDF]

Hancin-Bhatt, Barbara; Nagy, William (1994). Lexical Transfer and Second Language Morphological Development. Applied Psycholinguistics, v15 n3 p289-310 Sep. A total of 196 Latino bilingual students in grades 4, 6, and 8 were asked to give the Spanish equivalent for English words, some of which had derivational and inflectional suffixes. The results indicated that the students' ability to translate cognates increased with age above and beyond any increase in their vocabulary knowledge in Spanish and English. (Contains 31 references.) (MDM)…

Keith, Diana J., Comp. (1989). Curriculum Materials for Use with Adult Groups: A Bibliography of Government Documents. The Government Documents Collection of the Calvin T. Ryan Library of the University of Nebraska at Kearney contains a broad range of information on a variety of topics, including curriculum guides and materials. This bibliography gathers government documents of special interest to education students, practicing teachers, and teachers of adult students. Most documents listed are federal, but some Nebraska state documents are annotated. Curriculum guides and supplements, print and nonprint materials, bibliographies, evaluation materials and standards, project examples, and study guides, workbooks, and activity books are included in the following categories: (1) alcohol and drug abuse; (2) career and vocational education; (3) emergency services, traffic safety, and law enforcement; (4) family life and parenting; (5) foreign languages; (6) health, fitness, and nutrition; (7) miscellaneous topics/general; (8) nursing; (9) occupational safety and health; (10) home, school, and automotive… [PDF]

Clark, Kevin (1994). Whole Language and Language-Minority Students: A Natural Fit. BEOutreach, p24-26 Spr. The approach taken by one school district to English-as-a-Second-Language instruction, using the whole language approach and simple children's literature, is described. It was determined that the whole language approach would challenge teachers to rethink how children come to know language and literacy and cause teachers to construct new beliefs about teaching and learning. Over 300 teachers were: trained in classroom strategies to try; asked to critically analyze instructional outcomes for this population, addressing social/affective, cognitive/academic, linguistic, and metacognitive areas; asked to implement the strategies; and provided with constructive feedback. The instructional sequence taught to teachers involved five steps: (1) recording information about students' prior knowledge and experiences as they might relate to the story to be used; (2) presenting the story in comprehensible fashion, including deliberate use of helpful voice inflection and pitch, guided questioning,… [PDF]

Herman, Barbara; Pankratz, David (1987). Project BEST Vocational English as a Second Language Curriculum: Communication Skills in Training and Employment in Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning. Information is provided on the Vocational English as a Second Language (VESL) component of Oakton Community College's Project BEST (Building Energy Systems Technology), a bilingual vocational training program designed to teach limited English proficient students of Polish or Hispanic origin the basics of heating, refrigeration, and air conditioning in order to enable graduates to obtain entry-level jobs in the field. After part I describes Project BEST, part II provides a description of the VESL component of the program, highlighting its emphasis on spoken, job-related English. Part III offers suggestions and warns of pitfalls in incorporating technical English into instruction, while part IV provides an overview of the VESL curriculum, which focuses on the grammatical forms that students would be most likely to use on the job. Part V describes the program's VESL competency list and sheets, while part VI offers a profile of the students and details their progress. Part VII offers a… [PDF]

Rodriguez, Yvonne (1989). Collaborative Model for Minority Recruitment and Retention via the Creation of the Future Professionals of the 21st Century Club. This collaborative project between Camden Public School District and Glassboro State College in Camden, New Jersey, sought to plan, develop, implement, and evaluate a program to enhance self-esteem, academic achievement, and college entrance of economically disadvantaged minority urban youth (Black and Hispanic). Special emphasis was given to the social skills needed to compete in academia. Innovative aspects of the program included: (1) bilingual delivery (in Spanish and English); (2) meetings with participants and teachers held at the high school, not the college; (3) inclusion of a multicultural gender perspective in curricular materials; (4) collaboration between public school and college; (5) creation of a student organization for minority recruitment and retention; and (6) interaction of non-traditional and minority teacher candidates as well as minority professionals who served as role models with minority group high school students. The program was evaluated positively by…

Giannetti, George, Ed.; Sirdenis, Wisam Kazaleh, Ed. (1985). Global Lessons for Second Language Students, Grades 9-12. Student Edition and Teacher's Edition. An Oak Park, Michigan student workbook prepared as part of the Oak Park Title VII Project for limited English proficient students or students whose first or second language is other than English. contains fifteen multicultural lessons presented in four units. The first unit focuses on the nature of human global interdependence and takes a geographic look at the world through languages and their distribution. It stresses the need for mutual understanding and cooperation for survival and for the humane use of world resources. The second unit, entitled "Why Study a Second Language?" looks at ethnocentrism and its many manifestations as an obstacle to understanding other peoples and their ways. It underscores the usefulness of second language skills for making new cultural experiences, travel, and a broader range of occupations more available. This unit examines four of the major languages of the world (English, Arabic, French, and Spanish) and two cultures in Oak Park (Hebrew… [PDF]

(1985). The Danger of Poison. Level 4 = El Veneno es Peligroso. [Nivel 4.]. Developed especially for migrant children, this field-tested curriculum teaches the benefits and hazards of pesticides to intermediate grade students. Materials, prepared in Spanish and English, can be used as a separate science/health unit on pesticides or integrated into the regular math and reading curriculum. Topics include benefits of pesticides, packaging and warning labels, application methods for fields and homes, specific hazards such as pesticide storage areas and contaminated irrigation water, and steps to take in case of pesticide contamination. The Level 4 Unit gives background information for teachers, a detailed course for instructing children, 15 visuals, 4 true-false tests, and an illustrated pamphlet for parents. The unit is organized under 16 pesticide concepts with teaching materials, activities, and reading and math skills outlined for each concept. Activities include designing pesticide container labels, weighing seeds, and completing the math and reading… [PDF]

Borsi, Emilia; Rogg, Fay R. (1986). Teaching Practical Writing Skills to Hispanic Students. Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York, developed a course in practical writing skills for bilingual students as a means of reducing the dropout rate among vocational students, the largest group of Hispanic students in the institution. The objective was to provide writing skills through source materials with a practical orientation. Most of the 50 original participants were unable to register in or complete a college level course because of limited writing skills in either Spanish or English and inadequate general knowledge. The method's main features are that the student: (1) reads and analyzes, orally and in writing, current periodicals in both Spanish and English; (2) meets with other Hispanics in successful careers; and (3) has a bilingual Hispanic tutor. The course is designed to give adult students a feeling of accomplishment by using their own language and experience while learning to organize and express their ideas on paper, and it is…

Mace-Matluck, Betty J.; And Others (1982). Language and Literacy Learning in Bilingual Instruction: Preliminary Report. Descriptive Studies–Asian, Spanish, Navajo. One segment of a three-year study to examine the relationship between first- and second-language acquisition in light of instructional practices is presented. The study's major focus is the development of literacy skills, including school-related language forms as well as reading and writing, and in this segment, the services delivered to language minority students at three sites are described. The sites were bilingual programs serving populations speaking Spanish, Cantonese, and Navajo. The study examines and describes these elements: (1) the general characteristics of the region and population served by the school district; (2) the characteristics of the services provided by the districts to students of limited or no English speaking ability; (3) changes that have occurred in types of services delivered by the district to language minority students, and the influences of those changes; and (4) the level of academic achievement obtained by students who have participated in the… [PDF]

(1987). Curriculum for Bilingual Vocational Training Project. May 1986 to October 31, 1987. This document describes a project that provided vocational skills and job-specific English-as-a-second-language (ESL) training to Spanish- and Vietnamese-speaking adults in Arlington, Virginia. The four skills areas were clerical, building trades, commercial cooking, and printing occupations. Instruction was based on specific, clearly stated competencies or tasks that described precisely what trainees needed to master in order to be employed. Job-related English instruction was based on communication skills essential to successful job performance in an English-language work environment. The curriculum package's introduction includes lists of competencies and information about instructional procedures, recruitment and referral practices, intake and assessment procedures, support and ancillary services, and job development and placement services and activities. The package also includes detailed course descriptions and sample joint lesson plans for the three courses (vocational,… [PDF]

(1987). Project BILLET Curriculum Package. Bilingual Vocational Skill Training Program 1986-1987. This document describes a project that provided vocational skills and job-specific English-as-a-second-language (ESL) training to Spanish-speaking adults in Lincoln, Rhode Island. Project BILLET (Bilingual Learning and Employment Training) offered training in five vocational skill areas: machine technology, welding technology, geriatric nursing assistant, dental/clerical assistant, and word processing/data entry. The Project BILLET curriculum package is composed of two major sections. The first section consists of an introduction to the structure and purpose of bilingual vocational training. This section describes the project's target population, goals, objectives, and methodologies, as well as staffing patterns and program components. The program components include recruitment, assessment and selection criteria, vocational skills instruction, ESL instruction, work readiness instruction, and job development and placement. The second section describes the courses, instructional… [PDF]

(1981). Bilingual, Bicultural, and Bidialectal Studies Related to Reading and Communication Skills: Abstracts of Doctoral Dissertations Published in \Dissertation Abstracts International,\ January through June 1981 (Vol. 41 Nos. 7 through 12). This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 14 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the English reading competence of Navajo students in public and Bureau of Indian Affairs schools; (2) the effect of syntax on readability for Spanish-speaking adult students of English as a second language; (3) the characteristics of reading programs for migrant children; (4) the effects of a parent involvement program on the reading achievement, school attitude, reading attitude, and cognitive home environment scores of Mexican-American migrant pupils; (5) developmental patterns in native and nonnative reading acquisition; (6) a reading tutorial program for underachieving migrant students; (7) reading achievement among selected adolescent Latino/Chicano students as a result of participating in an ethnocurriculum; (8) the effects of two visual training programs upon automaticity of letter and… [PDF]

Kunkel, R. C.; Tucker, S. A. (1978). VALE: Value Assessment Latino Education, a Needs Assessment Model for Latino Children. Over 2,000 interviews, questionnaires, and observations obtained needs assessment information from students, teachers, school administrators, and community members with the 4 major objectives being to help Latino children and parents articulate their educational needs, to help South Bend Community School Corporation interpret these needs in deliverable terms, to demonstrate to Latino people that their perceptions are valued, and to inform service providers of Latino needs. The assessment led to six general recommendations for meeting Latino needs: (1) improve language skills and school achievement, (2) decrease student dropout rate, (3) address educational problems related to family mobility, (4) increase compatibility between home culture and school experience, (5) alleviate stress generated by personal and family economics, and (6) coordinate state and local resources to meet student needs. The delivery strategy task force translated these general recommendations into specific…