The DEC Recommended Practices provide guidance to families and professionals about the most effective ways to improve learning outcomes and promote development of young children, birth through age 5, who have, or are at-risk for, developmental delays or disabilities. "Assessment: Recommended Practices for Young Children and Families" is…

One aspect of linguistic input that may vary in bilingual speech communities is the use of overregularization (e.g., "catched"). In an earlier study, typically developing bilingual Spanish/English-speaking children were noted to use overregularizations in an elicited production task, accept these forms in a grammaticality judgment task, and reject…

Discusses the teaching of Spanish to native Spanish speakers, looking at the history of the field and the experiences of bilingual students. Suggests that while bilingual educators and Spanish language teachers may see themselves as quite different from each other, their students may perceive their classes as similar. Reference is made to a study…

This paper presents a linguistic analysis of Spanish-English bilingual speech for scholars and practitioners of bilingualism. More specifically, the study surveys several outcomes of language contact, among these, inter-lingual transference, codeswitching, and convergence, as evidenced in the speech practices of heritage Spanish speakers in the…

Riddles designed to measure Spanish-English bilingualism are presented. The riddles are given in three forms: (1) the background material in English with the answer required in Spanish, (2) the background material and answers in English, and (3) only answers given, either in English or Spanish. The riddles are useful as classroom language…

This teacher's guide to the "Carrascolendas 400 Series," a bilingual (Spanish/English) television program, provides information about the main points made in each program. The guide gives teachers tips on how to use the television series to explore important issues with their students, and the "activity corner" section of each…

The display of Spanish and English communicative competence of two Hispanic children is explored in a study analyzing directive speech acts (orders, requests, suggestions, hints). The linguistic, sociolinguistic, and strategic resources of the Mexican-American children, aged 4-1/2 to 6 years, are examined qualitatively in data taken from…

Instructors are prepared to use Spanish versions of English-speaking and bilingual artists' recordings to teach language structures and enhance the five skill areas. This article reviews the literature and pedagogical use of songs and also provides a list of recordings, recommendations for classroom use, and two sample lesson plans. (Contains 20…

A study of attitudes toward bilingualism among a national sample of persons of Mexican descent indicated that politically framed ethnic identity fosters positive views of bilingualism. Traditional self-conceptions as Mexican and Spanish-speaking directly encourage support of bilingualism but at the same time engage conservative political attitudes…

This paper presents an analysis of the correlation between the Hispanic Bilingual Gifted Screening Instrument (HBGSI), a recently developed inclusionary gifted identification measure, and the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT) when administered to Hispanic elementary school children (grades K-4) in a large urban school district in Texas. The…

The City of Chicago's curriculum guide for public school Spanish native language instruction in grades 7, 8, and 9 has two sections, one in English and a corresponding one in Spanish. The program is primarily, though not exclusively, oriented toward the large Mexican immigrant community in the city with varied academic skills and experience with…

This document, the first of two teacher's guides to the "Carrascolendas 600 Series," presents general information about the objectives of a bilingual (Spanish/English) television program geared toward encouraging affective learning in 6- to 9-year-olds (i.e., the focus is not on teaching language skills, but on children's feelings,…

The teacher's guide to the "Carrascolendas 500 Series," a bilingual (Spanish/English) television program geared toward encouraging affective learning in 6- to 9-year-olds, provides information about the main points made in each of the 39 programs in the series. It gives teachers general tips on how to use the series to explore important…

The exploratory study determined whether Spanish language-use patterns employed on a television program accurately reflected language use patterns of the target culture as perceived by members of that group. Findings indicated over 50% approved of the show's language use because they attributed to it the intent of legitimizing bilingualism. (NEC)

In response to the shortage of qualified bilingual special education personnel to work with Limited English Proficient (LEP) special needs students, a program was developed in Vista Unified School District in North San Diego County, California, which involves training bilingual paraprofessionals to serve in special education settings. The…