The present issue of "English for American Indians" follows the format and approach of the Spring 1970 issue. (See ED 040 396.) In the lead article, Evelyn Hatch surveys some of the research in first language acquisition and points out its implications for second language teaching. Her main thesis is that with the best of intentions,…

The purposes of this study were: (1) to describe the developmental trends in the control of spoken English grammatical constructions produced by Spanish-speaking Mexican-American schoolchildren learning English in the elementary grades, and (2) on the basis of this description to assess the comparative development of English structures in pupils…

This program, funded under Title VII of the Elementary Secondary Education Act of 1965, was designed to provide an open learning environment in which students could learn to function in both English and Spanish. The classrooms were large and for the most part contained several grades which were divided into separate classes by means of dividers.…

Prepared by a committee of the Oklahoma Curriculum Improvement Commission, this resource booklet is designed for teachers and librarians who work with Indian students. In chapter 1, the emphasis is on helping the teacher understand the Indian, his problems, his culture, and his past. A list of Indian customs and beliefs, contrasted with those of…

The author states that in those classrooms where the dual-language-model approach is implemented on a daily basis, second language acquisition takes place faster than in those classrooms where adherence to the model is ignored or used sporadically. According to this approach, each model functions independently utilizing teaching techniques common…

This document reports on a national meeting organized by the State Training Office in Arizona through the combined efforts of Mexican American Systems and the Office of Child Development. The emphasis of the meeting was to encourage implementation of bilingual-bicultural education for Chicanitos at early stages of their development. The first…

To cope with the bilingual education problems in a community such as Rock Point on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico, a program has been developed to teach English as a foreign language within a bilingual setting. The goal is coordinate bilingualism in which each language has a separate but equal status, and the program is a "transitional" one…

Evaluation of a bilingual-bicultural education program indicates that significant progress was made in enabling all students to function equally well in both Spanish and English, in providing basic coping skills, and in developing the basis for a pluralistic society. The program included 210 kindergarten and first-grade children consisting of…

In this report of the final evaluation of the Las Cruces (New Mexico) Sustained Primary Program for Bilingual Students (funded under Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act), the major findings for the academic years of 1967-8, 68-9, and 69-70 are cited following a program description in terms of schools, students, teachers, class…

This paper explores the process and characteristics of becoming bicultural. The basic argument is that becoming bicultural is an eclectic process, which results in an idiosyncratic mixture of the two cultures with one basic "cultural competence," but with two sets of "socio-cultural performance." (Author/CFM)

This article describes the Aspira Consent Decree as an attempt to bring about the educational reorganization of the entire school system. (Author/NCR)

In 1998, California passed Proposition 227, which severely restricted the use of primary language for instructing English learners, calling for a 1-year transitional program of structured English immersion. Researchers examined the effects of Proposition 227 in districts and schools statewide during the first year of implementation. Data from…

Describes linguistically and culturally diverse children who speak languages other than English, and the special challenges they present early-care and education specialists. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) suggests educators can best help such children by acknowledging and responding to the importance of the…

Contains questions raised about the National Association for the Education of Young Children's position paper on linguistic and cultural diversity, and answers prepared by the association's staff liaison to the Multicultural/Bilingual Panel. (ET)

Describes a harassment documentation project conducted with 26 Vietnamese bilingual students, primarily immigrants, in an urban fourth-grade classroom. Results suggest the importance of documenting student experience as a reality and validity check and as a support a model for designing ways to gather meaningful data. (SLD)