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Spanish Speaking

• A Computerized Screening Instrument of Language Learnability
  This article presents further analyses of a pilot study that examined the effectiveness of a computerized language screening instrument for 60 multicultural children (ages 7-8). Results suggest that because of its computerization and language learnability features, this innovative instrument may be an effective alternative to current screening procedures.
• Book Browse: A Creative Approach to Meaningful Language Learning
  Describes one elementary teacher's use of the Book Browse literacy activity, which allows Spanish-speaking students to examine books informally in pairs or small groups. Book Browse provides a highly social situation where multiple conversations can occur among these children who need exposure to expressive language as they develop skills in both Spanish and English.
• Creating Montessori Bilingual Programs. Spotlight: Montessori--Multilingual, Multicultural
  Discusses presentation given by Rigoberta Menchu, 1992 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, at a meeting with Hispanic child caregivers in California. Discusses family life and childrearing among Guatemala's Mayan people, traditional ceremonies and symbols, becoming a leader, and the Mayan experience of resisting oppression.
• Evaluation Report: SALSA Educational Programming
  SALSA is a 30-episode video series for early elementary school children produced by Georgia Public Broadcasting. It is intended to do three things: (1) introduce non-Spanish speaking children to the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures; (2) promote appreciation for the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures; and (3) promote cultural pride and self-esteem among Hispanic children.
• Evaluation Report: SALSA Educational Programming
  SALSA is a 30-episode video series for early elementary school children produced by Georgia Public Broadcasting.
• From Remedial to Gifted: Effects of Culturally Centered Pedagogy
  Describes a culturally relevant Spanish program in a high school that helped native speakers avoid failure due to culturally inappropriate teaching. The class maintained Latino students' native language and increased language fluency by developing thinking, oral, and written Spanish skills.
• Home Literacy Experiences and Their Relationship to Bilingual Preschoolers' Developing English Literacy Abilities: An Initial Investigation
  Forty-three Puerto Rican mother-child dyads in Head Start programs, grouped according to whether the children had learned Spanish and English from birth (n=28) or Spanish from birth and English in Head Start (n=15) participated in a study of home literacy experiences and emerging English literacy abilities. Results found that literacy development would benefit from increased exposure to literacy materials and events.
• Impact of Two-Way Immersion on Students' Attitudes toward School and College. ERIC Digest
  This digest reports on a study that examined the impact of participation in a two-way immersion program on the language and achievement outcomes of former program participants and on their current schooling path and college plans.
• La Dicha de Los Libros--Children's Books in Spanish
  Reviews a collection of high-quality books in Spanish which can help encourage Spanish-speaking children and adolescents to read. From creative books for the very young to the lives of famous women, to fantasies and animated traditional tales, these recently published books are designed to appeal to Spanish speakers and those wishing to learn Spanish.
• Language Barriers and Teaching Music
  Maintains that every public school student deserves an opportunity to study a musical instrument. Asserts that a limited command of English should not prevent a student from being accepted into instrumental music class or hinder that student's progress.
• Los Ninos y el Mundo: Children's Books in Spanish from around the World
  Offers brief descriptions of 32 children's books (or book series) in Spanish that introduce children to numerous countries around the world. Notes a web site address listing high-quality books in Spanish for children and adolescents.
• Meeting the Special Needs of Dual Language Learners with Disabilities: Integrating Data Based Instruction and the Standards for Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages
  This paper on meeting the needs of students with disabilities who are learning English as a second language suggests integrating principles from the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Standards and Data Based Instruction (DBI). The power of combining intentional language teaching with an action research process is illustrated by four case studies conducted by special education interns in a multicultural setting.
• Moving Marginalized Students Inside the Lines: Cultural Differences in Classrooms
  Discusses what the author has learned in her job at an elementary school in Northeast Mississippi as liaison between English-speaking school personnel and Spanish-speaking students and parents, most of whom are recent immigrants from Mexico. Discusses what the author learned, through extensive talking and questioning of students and parents, about how cultural differences affect classroom activities and interaction.
• Of Kwanzaa, Cinco de Mayo, and Whispering: The Need for Intercultural Education
  Multicultural education can improve understandings among students of different ethnic groups only if it is implemented systematically. Research with 75 adolescent mothers in an inner-city California high school shows how the celebration of Kwanzaa leads to exclusion and isolation and the speaking of Spanish results in conflict and resentments.
• Report on the Binational Conference: In Search of a Border Pedagogy (4th, El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, January 1999).
  This report contains a synopsis of the binational conference and features brief summaries of all the papers presented at the conference.The following questions helped to shape the scope and content of the conference: What is the current condition of bilingualism, particularly in the United States? .