The work of the Council of Europe in plurilingual and intercultural education is highly influential in Europe and beyond and has been so for many years. The "Common European Framework of Reference" and its "Companion Volume," and related instruments, provide ways in which to implement policies and a broader vision of providing…

The aim of the Regional Dossier series is to provide concise descriptions of regional or minority languages in education, mainly in Europe but also in other parts of the world. Friulian is a Romance language, traditionally recognised as part of the Rhaeto-Romance sub-family. It is spoken in Friûl (in Friulian)/Friuli (in Italian), a territory…

In the last 20 years dual language education programs have increased in number and expanded in range. Whereas once they were predominantly focused at the elementary level, they now span from pre-K through to high school. This book examines the key attributes of successful dual language programs, as well as the challenges and opportunities involved…

The aim of the Regional Dossier series is to provide concise descriptions of regional or minority languages in education, mainly in Europe but also in other parts of the world. The majority of the Hungarian-speaking population in Slovenia lives in the bilingual ethnically mixed area of the Prekmurje region, where both Slovene and Hungarian are…

With the number of students who are English language learners (ELLs) likely to double in coming years, it is more important than ever for schools across the U.S. to design and implement educational practices and strategies that best meet ELLs' learning needs, says the report, "Giving English Language Learners the Time They Need to…

This regional dossier aims to provide a concise, description and basic statistics about minority language education in a specific region of Europe. Aspects that are addressed include features of the education system, recent educational policies, main actors, legal arrangements, and support structures, as well as quantitative aspects, such as the…

This publication seeks to offer educators and policy-makers guidance on strategies that have been effective in instructing English language learners (ELLs). The authors begin by outlining key contextual factors that decision-makers should take into account when making instructional choices for English language learners, then follow with a brief…

This practitioner issue brief outlines successful strategies and recommendations for state-level policymakers, administrators, schools, and districts that are based on a 5-year evaluation study on the learning environment for ELLs in the state of California. This brief offers four critical building blocks that should be in place to effectively…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Enlightened Public Policy and includes: (1) Texas Education Policy: Prospects for 2009 (Albert Cortez); (2) Bilingual Education in…

The federally-mandated report on the status of bilingual education in the United States: (1) reports on programmatic, research, and training activities administered by the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs (OBEMLA) within the Department of Education; (2) describes the coordination of OBEMLA programs with other offices…

This report describes a demonstration project whose instructional design implemented sociolinguistic concepts in bilingual education and compared two approaches, the New Concurrent and the Language Separation approaches. The first section is a review of research studies concerning this instructional design. The second, third, and fourth sections…

This Toolkit is meant to be a resource for teachers, parents, and administrators involved with two-way immersion (TWI) programs, particularly those at the elementary level. Two-way immersion is a form of dual language instruction that brings together students from two native language groups for language, literacy, and academic content instruction…

While French is the official language of the Congo, the study of English is compulsory throughout the entire seven years of secondary education. A study evaluated the effectiveness of English education, focusing on the training, qualifications, motivation, and morale of the English teacher; the suitability, appropriateness, and design of existing…

This paper discusses the use of American Sign Language (ASL) in an English-as-a-Second-Language approach to teaching reading and writing skills to deaf students. The paper poses and answers the following theoretical and practical questions: (1) What is the nature of first language reading? (2) What is the nature of second language reading? (3)…

This report presents results of evaluations of elementary and secondary level bilingual education programs in nine Texas school districts, focusing on ways to serve the needs of limited-English-speaking populations. Differing evaluation procedures were used, and the results reflect a wide range of procedures. The report consists of a description…