(1973). La Noche de las Brujas Module. Nivel Primario. [The Night of the Witches Module. Primary Level.]. La Noche de las Brujas (Halloween) is the topic of this primary level unit. The objectives are to enable the child to: (1) draw scenery, using his imagination, about witches, castles, and devils; (2) write compositions on witches, devils, and Halloween; (3) explain the story "La Noche de las Brujas"; (4) tell about any adventures or incidents he or someone he knows has had with witches, spirits, monsters, devils, or apparitions; (5) understand and use the vocabulary in the story; (6) express his viewpoint on the fantasy or reality of stories or legends about witches, apparitions, and other such things; (7) develop 3 or more activities given in this unit or devised by the teacher; and (8) correctly answer the majority of the final exam. The unit consists of the story "La Noche de las Brujas"; a pretest and posttest; a vocabulary list; a brief history of La Santa Inquisicion (a tribune formed during Mexico's conquest to condemn anyone charged as being a witch or… [PDF]
(1975). Experimental Bicultural Early Childhood Program. Annual Evaluation Report. This document presents the evaluation design and findings of the second year of operation of the Experimental Bicultural Early Childhood Program, an Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title III project operating in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The major objectives of the program were: (1) to facilitate the development of school readiness skills for 3- and 4-year-olds in the Pre-Kindergarten component of the program; (2) to promote maturational growth and development of certain skills with 3-year-olds through parental orientation and training in the home, and to make available to families educational toys and other materials, using the child's dominant language; and (3) to provide a Kindergarten experience for children who participated in the program the previous year, and to promote readiness for a formal learning situation in terms of commonly accepted learning readiness skills. The target population was approximately 65% Spanish-speaking. The evaluation technique, process… [PDF]
(1986). Languages and School in Catalonia. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, v7 n2-3 p107-22. Discusses research on the development of different models of schooling in Catalonia and on the linguistic abilities and qualifications of teachers of Catalan. Recent research has shown that the proficiency of pupils of Catalan and Castillian is determined by environmental and individual factors. (Author/SED)…
(1986). Assessment of Limited English Proficient Hispanic Students. School Psychology Review, v15 n1 p59-75. This article discusses the psychoeducational assessment of limited English proficient Hispanic youngsters in the American school. Emphasis is placed on the use of nonverbal measures of intelligence and the importance of language and academic evaluations in both English and Spanish in order to obtain comparative data. (Author/LMO)…
(2005). The Language Question in Pacific Education: The Case of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Research Brief. Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) This paper uses a sociohistorical lens to examine complex issues surrounding language-in-education policy in Micronesia. It is motivated by the realization that language policy and practice in this region, like many other parts of the world significantly impacted by outside contact, rarely align. This is especially evident in contexts where demands for English have already established themselves and an increasingly global agenda of schools as a primary support to the process of modernization and marketing of the nation-state is firmly in place. Drawing on an example of language policy review from the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), we consider community expectations through various perspectives of local stakeholders as shared in public discussion of language issues in Pacific education. The review raises difficult questions brought into play when persuasive globalizing forces that stress the need to learn English come in contact with a more context-oriented language agenda… [PDF]
(1997). Coyote as Reading Teacher: Oral Tradition in the Classroom. Although traditional indigenous stories are widely recognized for their artistic merits and their role in the linguistic and cultural continuity of indigenous peoples, they are seldom used in schools. This paper discusses the instructional uses of traditional coyote stories, with particular reference to bilingual revitalization programs involving the teaching of indigenous languages. Instructional uses fall into two broad areas of school-based language learning: the development of academic discourse proficiencies and the development of second-language proficiency (using original versions for indigenous language revitalization purposes and translations for students dominant in the indigenous language and learning the national language). Coyote stories vary widely in their structural complexity and themes. In this variability lies their power as a genre, from a pedagogical point of view. Two extended examples illustrate the features that, respectively, lend themselves to the two broad… [PDF]
(1999). The School Situation of Pupils Whose Parents Were Both Born Abroad. This study examined the educational situations of Swedish students whose parents were both born abroad, using data from the 1992 National Evaluation Programme. The evaluation involved 101 schools, with about 10,000 ninth graders. Students were categorized in the following manner: both parents born in Sweden, one parent born in Sweden and the other born abroad, and both parents born abroad. This study highlighted 576 students whose parents were both born abroad. Researchers examined data on parents' birthplace, students' school attendance in other countries, participation in home language lessons, difficulty with Swedish due to immigrant background, gender, parents' and students' participation in and attitudes about school, and leisure activities. The study also investigated ability and skills, self-esteem, and attitudes related to Swedish, English, and mathematics. Overall, students with an immigrant background were highly heterogeneous, although they had many similarities with… [PDF]
(1997). Project Based Learning and Assessment: A Resource Manual for Teachers. The idea behind this guide is that assessing student performance through projects not only allows for the observation of affective behaviors and cognitive strategies that affect learning, but also helps to make instruction fully responsive to students' needs. This resource kit was developed to assist teachers in understanding the purpose of project work as a practical and meaningful way of learning and assessing the progress of learning English. The main focus of this kit is to guide teachers in developing projects for learning and assessment of their adult students. The kit includes an introduction, a guide for developing and implementing projects (including background information, project framework, pre-project activities, assessment, and sample projects), abstracts of projects for different levels, and a bibliography. Numerous diagrams, figures, charts, rubrics, checklists, and lesson plans are included. (Contains 28 references.) (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy… [PDF]
(1999). Civic Participation and Community Action Sourcebook: A Resource for Adult Educators. This guide is a combination of very up-to-date English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) standards and curricula text and a radical, community organization and action guidebook. The guide's aim is to help people learn English so that they can participate actively in American democracy and to assert their rights and extract a larger share of power and resources from government and society as a whole. The book asserts that one of the primary purposes, historically, of adult education has been to prepare people for participation in a democracy. This might include English and civics lessons for newcomers who wanted citizenship, or literacy for emancipated slaves who faced literacy requirements erected to keep them from voting. In these situations, the vote has represented a powerful symbol of liberation and inclusion. An argument is made for more direct forms of political action and participation than voting. The ultimate aim is to present a range of tools that can help readers examine their… [PDF]
(1982). Effects of a Bilingual Instructional Program on Conceptual Development in Primary School Children. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, v28 n1 p31-43 Mar. To investigate whether children who had been in a bilingual instructional program for three years or less would have some cognitive advantages over those in monolingual programs, 96 (50 percent male, 50 percent female) first to third graders from Edmonton (Alberta) were tested in 1979. The children in bilingual programs outperformed their monolingual peers. (LC)…
(1997). Multicultural Mathematics and Technology: The Hispanic Math Project. Computers in the Schools, v13 n1-2 p77-88. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the Hispanic Math Project is a stand-alone tutorial program that teaches measurement lessons with a theme-based presentation format. The interactive bilingual, multicultural program consists of situational modules that combine digital video and animation to deliver developmentally appropriate, user-friendly instruction. Positive reactions were received from students, teachers, and administrators. (AEF)…
(1988). Comparison of Anglo and Mexican American Male High School Students Classified as Learning Disabilities. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, v10 n2 p127-37 Jun. Compares intelligence and achievement test results from learning disabled (LD) and normal Mexican American high school students with those of Anglo LD and normal students. No differences in performance IQ between Mexican and Anglo LDs. Suggests language proficiency or sociocultural factors, not learning disabilities, cause differences. (Author/TES)…
(1993). Native Language for School Success. Bilingual Research Journal, v17 n1-2 p83-97 Win-Spr. Home interviews with 30 Puerto Rican families in eastern Pennsylvania revealed that parents of higher-achieving children in grades K-2 preferred that their children have a native-language environment at home and in school to a greater extent than did families of lower-achieving children. Contains 48 references. (TD)…
(1993). The Effects of Reading Aloud on Vocabulary Development. Teacher Insights. Bilingual Research Journal, v17 n1-2 p135-38 Win-Spr. Examines the effects of training Spanish-speaking parents in read-aloud techniques on the Spanish vocabulary development of their children aged five and six. Although not statistically significant, the results seem to favor the group that received training for five weeks versus a control group. The training increased parental involvement and had positive effects on the home literacy environment. (TD)…
(1995). Staff Development for Cultural Diversity: Voices from a Rural Community. Journal of Staff Development, v16 n1 p40-45 Win. A study of five rural school districts in Washington State examined the effects of students' cultural diversity on education. Interviews with administrators, teachers, parents, and community members emphasized the need for staff development to consider the characteristics of diverse student populations. Recommendations for staff developers are included. (SM)…