This report summarizes a meeting sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and carried out by the Center for Applied Linguistics to outline a bilingual kindergarten program in which Navajo would be the main medium for kindergarten activities, with oral English introduced as a subject. The meeting was the direct outcome of the recommendations of…

This science-oriented reading readiness text is provided in two versions: English and Navajo. It consists of large black-and-white drawings of animals and insects familiar to the southwestern U.S. One picture is provided on each page, labeled with the sentence, "This is a [name of the animal]." The two booklets are identical except for…

This science-oriented reading readiness text is provided in two versions: English and Navajo. It consists of large black-and-white drawings of animals, birds, and insects familiar to the Southwestern U.S. One picture is provided on each page, labeled with the following simple sentences: "This is a [name of the animal]. He lives in [name of…

This science-oriented reading readiness text is provided in three versions: English, Spanish and Navajo. It consists of large black-and-white drawings of birds, animals and insects familiar to the southwestern U.S. One picture is provided on each page, with the name of the animal printed in large type beneath the picture. The three booklets are…

The purposes of this first phase of a proposed two-phase study were (1) to collect necessary baseline data for the completion of the total two-part study, and (2) to note the effects on school achievement of one year's instruction in English given to kindergarten Navaho-speaking monolinguals. The following groups from the Window Rock-Ft. Defiance…

This collection of papers examines, from an international perspective, opportunities and challenges of societal bilingualism in the new millennium. The 18 papers include the following: "Introduction: Opportunities and Challenges of Bilingualism" (Li Wei, Jean-Marc Dewaele, and Alex Housen); "'Holy Languages' in the Context of…

Conducted from 1975 to 1977, this reading achievement study examined the effects of initial literacy in Navajo on later reading in English and the effects of initial arithmetic instruction in Navajo on later arithmetic instruction in English by comparing two groups of Navajo students, both of whom began school essentially monolingual in Navajo.…

In September 1969 the Bureau of Indian Affairs is instituting a bilingual-bicultural kindergarten program on the Navajo Reservation. A major aim of the program is to develop and implement a curriculum in which Navajo is the primary medium of instruction and English is taught as a second language. While the teaching of English is only one part of…

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,…

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…

To improve the Navajo arts and skills, the teachers of Rough Rock Demonstration School developed this compilation of curriculum guidelines. The curricula for use at preschool, elementary, and secondary levels and include (1) English skills, (2) mathematics, (3) social studies, (4) Navajo language, and (5) science. The curricula are designed to (1)…

The introduction to this handbook for teachers and administrators in bilingual education programs states: "Half of the children in the world are bilingual, and approximately one fourth of the people in the United States can communicate in more than one language. About ten percent of our population speaks a language other than English natively. For…

The relationship between teaching English to speakers of other languages and bilingual education is explored through three dimensions in language education: participants, channels, and codes. Language barriers to education can be found in each of these. As student participants become more numerous and more linguistically diverse, the educational…

The paper discusses the details of a Navajo-English bilingual program: the current bilingual curriculum, the roles of the Navajo and the English language teachers, the problems of teacher training and materials development, the effect on the students' cognitive and affective development, community participation, and results on standardized tests.…