Demonstrates a framework for planning inservice teacher education for Canadian Heritage and Native language instruction programs. Framework stages represent the evolution of teacher training: (1) providing teacher training; (2) training of first and second language teachers towards bilingual development; and (3) recognizing the continuum of…

Addresses the need for a bilingual special education program in Canada. Outlines 10 principles of language acquisition supporting the view that language minority children with special needs require special consideration. Proposes a language assessment and development center, and describes its goals, activities, and first clients. (SV)

Traces the history of the early reading movement in Italy and relates the experiences of parent-guided reading with preschool children and teacher-guided reading with kindergarten children. Recent studies on early reading and research in the area of early bilingual reading is discussed. (CFM)

Discusses the role of the Chinese language and people in Japan, focusing on the historical impact of the Chinese language and culture on Japan, Chinese schools in Japan, and local Chinese immigrant communities. (20 references) (MDM)

Reviews recent political changes in Nicaragua. Describes history and characteristics of the Atlantic Coast region and its indigenous peoples. Focuses on linguistic and educational policies initiated by successive national governments to integrate the region into national society. Examines issues related to the latest bilingual education model, and…

Since the 1950s, arguments for bilingual education in the United States and Mexico have shifted from functionalist interest in modernization to critical demand for equity, then to interpretist recognition of multiple realities. Although minority groups are organizing to influence educational policy, entrenched dominant groups are unlikely to…

Reports on a four-month study of deaf education programs conducted in Sweden and Denmark in March of 1990, and discusses three aspects of language learning involving deaf children's learning sign language as a first language, Swedish as a second language, and hearing parents' and teachers' learning of Swedish Sign Language. (14 references)

Describes the model of assimilation of native Mexican peoples to the broader mainstream. Bilingual education (BE), long used as a tool to facilitate language shift, is examined in the light of the superimposed discourse on national identity and nationalism. It is concluded that the demands of the Amerindians have been placated through the politics…

Compares the events leading to the contrasting educational policies that apply to the placement of language minority students in Britain and the United States. The supportive institutional structures of these policies are examined, and the ways these differences reflect contrasting assumptions about language development and definitions of equality…

A study involving six bilingually educated children (ages 5-6) with deafness found overall level of involvement was high on three educational tasks and was influenced by type of task, teacher, and language of instruction. Involvement was greater during activities led by the teacher with deafness using Sign Language of the Netherlands. (Contains…

Examines the situation of Quebec's First Nations setting. Discusses problems raised by certain verbal tasks required for Atikamekw students in an Atikamekw-French bilingual program. Suggests that both first and second language pedagogy must take into account the ethnolinguistic characteristics of the students' social background and that an…

Addresses the question of mother-tongue education of children, especially in francophone countries of Africa. It seeks to contribute to the debate on the integration of local languages into educational systems in multilingual settings by stressing the opposing cultural messages carried by official and indigenous languages. (Author/JL)

Instructional materials to support the early schooling of bilingual students are most effective when they support classroom organization and a context that promotes the development of language acquisition. Examples from a British classroom demonstrate that materials should incorporate an unambiguous valuing of cultural and linguistic identities.…

Examines the position of the mother tongue in the proposed additive bilingual programs in South Africa. Sociolinguistic, cultural, and political factors are examined, language use and attitudes of South Africans to language and education are discussed, and the practical possibilities for the implementation of mother-tongue medium of instruction…

Ten years ago, an ethnographic study in a bilingual whole-language third-grade classroom identified conditions that defined the classroom as a learning community: a high level of intellectual expectation, symmetric power and trust relationships, authenticity, and additive bilingualism and biliteracy. The students' insights strengthened the…