This report on the use of the Spanish language in the United States discusses the Spanish-speaking population, the language itself, and bilingual education in the United States. The background about the Spanish-speaking population includes the following topics: (1) "A Nations of Immigrants," (2) "The Population of the…

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

This document addresses the subject of reading Spanish in a bilingual-bicultural classroom. Sections of the document focus on the following: rationale, definitions, required skills, final criteria, and competencies in reading Spanish. Three classroom modules are discussed. The first focuses on the stages of development in Spanish reading, the…

This report attempts to place in perspective the position of bilingual education in New York City. It is divided into the following sections: (1) Bilingual Education--A Historical Perspective, (2) The Puerto Rican Child in the New York City School System, (3) Bilingual Education in the New York City School System, (4) Funding for Bilingual…

The author presents her appreciation and defense of Spanish as it is spoken in New York City, especially among Puerto Ricans. She believes that the institution of bilingual education in the city's schools is an important first step in elevating Spanish to the position it deserves as a means of instruction and communication. The instructional…

This resource document presents research on first and second language acquisition, home environments, and other cultural factors that affect the cognitive or affective development of bilingual minority-group children, such as child-rearing practices, styles of learning and coping, and values and attitudes. Sections are devoted to the nature of…

Supports bilingual programs in the U.S. for Spanish-Speaking students (DS)

Short-form versions of the Screening Test of Spanish Grammar and the Northwestern Syntax Screening Test were devised and tested on 60 lower social status bilingual Latino children (four to seven years old).

With a multicultural approach to education, picture books and story books which provide children with their first experience in art and literature must be selected with consideration of the needs of the individual child, and of the culture he or she belongs to. This paper provides a list of criteria that children's literature should adhere to,…

Two case studies are presented here to highlight the importance of identifying cultural giftedness in language-minority children who are monolingual Spanish or bilingual Spanish dominant with low English proficiency. In one study, the child was monolingual, Spanish-dominant and culturally or non-verbally gifted; in the other, the child was an…