Free Film Screening – In Languages We Live: Voices of the World

Our UTSA International Working Group for the International Year of Languages is pleased to present the film "In Languages We Live: Voices of the World" produced by Janus Billeskov Jansen and Signe Byrge Sorensen.

Friday, April 11, 2008
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
UTSA Main Building, 0.106

The film will be followed by a panel discussion featured Dr. Juliet Langman (BBL), Dr. Maryellen Garcia (Modern Languages and Literature), and Dr. Francis Hult (BBL).

Information about the film is available at: http://www.unesco.org/education/imld2006/film.pdf

Hope to see you there!

FOREIGN TONGUE: Legislator wants immigrant families to keep native languages

Finally, some state legislators who recognize the need to foster heritage languages! We need more forward thinking legislators like these to counter those out-of-touch and backward thinking legislators attempting to push through English-only laws!

FOREIGN TONGUE: Legislator wants immigrant families to keep native
languages
Capital News Service March 6, 2008

By Laura Schwartzman

http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080306/NEWS01/80306044/1002/NEWS01

ANNAPOLIS — Maryland lawmakers want to fix a "critical shortage" of foreign-language speakers in the United States by urging immigrants and their families to preserve their native tongues.

Sen. James Rosapepe, D-Prince George's, said his bill to establish a task force on encouraging "heritage languages" will benefit the economy and national security.

"[We must] hold on to this tremendous competitive advantage for America," he said at a Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee hearing Thursday.

While learning English is important for immigrants, Rosapepe said the state's population of foreign-language speakers is a vastly underutilized resource.

Nearly 14.5 percent of Marylanders speak a foreign language at home, according to the bill's authors.Jerry Lampe, deputy director of the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland, said more than 80 federal agencies need employees with proficiency in certain languages.

The rise of China as a global power and continued American interests in the Middle East and South Asia make languages such as Chinese, Arabic and Urdu important for national security reasons.

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2008 the International Year of Languages, a prime motivation for introducing the bill."I know so many people like myself who came here as children, who may have known the language of their parents or their grandparents, but in many cases did not keep it," said Rosapepe, who was born in Italy and served as U.S. ambassador to Romania from 1998 to 2001. "We see this all the time across the United States."

But proponents of making English the official language do not agree.


"I'm opposed to any legislation which eventually leads to taxpayer financed programs that encourage multi-language efforts," said Delegate Patrick McDonough, R-Baltimore County, the lead sponsor of a bill to make English Maryland's official language. "We need to promote English. It's been the unifying force in this nation and that is the language that people need to learn how to speak."

Rosapepe's task force would study heritage language preservation and come up with ways to foster it. State government agencies, the University System of Maryland, business organizations and members of ethnic community groups would be represented.

A major focus of the bill is to advise educators teaching the American-born children of immigrants. At least 150 languages are spoken in Maryland's public schools, according to the bill's authors, although children often lose proficiency as families assimilate.

Representatives from Chinese and African ethnic advocacy groups said many parents are sending their children to study abroad or at language-specific schools in an effort to preserve their cultural heritages.

Without initiatives to encourage native languages, "the growing trend of African immigrants sending their children to attend schools back in Africa" will continue, at a loss to Maryland and U.S. educational systems," said Chuks Eleonu, CEO of the African Peoples Action Congress.

Henry Lau, chair of the Greater Washington Chinese-American Alliance, said several Chinese-language schools have sprung up around the state to meet the demand for cultural education. He urged lawmakers to assist the schools and reward students who master their native tongues."

Heritage language skills will flourish in Maryland only when there is an encouraging environment," he said.

New Book - Education, Youth, Leadership, Labor: Asian Pacific American and Latino Perspectives

The following book has just been published:

Tsuchida, J. N., Benitez, J. M., & Toji, D. S. (2007). Education, Youth, Leadership, Labor: Asian Pacific American and Latino Perspectives. Long Beach, CA: Center for Asian Pacific American Studies, California State University, Long Beach.

I have an article in this book:

The Situation of the Khmer Language in the United States, by Wayne E. Wright

Other articles in this book:

Introduction, by John N. Tsuchida

Education Beyond Schooling: Preparing Asian Pacific American leaders, by Bob H. Suzuki

Educational Opportunity, Empowerment and Making APA Politics Meaningful, by Robert A. Underwood

How the "Asian" Racial Category Got on the U.S. Census: An Example of Geography in the Racial Formation Process, by Dean S. Toji

The Racialization of Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans and Asian Americans, 1890s - 1930s, by Victor M. Rodriguez

Cultural Considerations in Writing Assessment, by Gladys Garcia & Mark T. Williams

The Social Construction of the Ethnic Street Gang: Racial Policies, by Jose M. Lopez

Economic Integration Along the U.S.-Mexico Border and the Shaping of Border Identities: The Case of Tiajuana-San Diego, by Juan M. Benitez

If you are interested in ordering a copy:

Hardcover - $35.00

Paperback - $20.00

Send check or money order (payable to Center for Asian Pacific American Studies) to:

Center for Asian Pacific American Studies

Department of Asian and Asian American Studies

California State University, Long Beach

1250 Bellflower Blvd.

Long Beach, CA 80804-1002

Include you name, address, phone number and e-mail address (orders will be confirmed via e-mail or phone)

Questions about ordering? Contact ctsuyuki@csulb.edu or (562) 985-4645

Scholarship for Arabic or Chinese Heritage Speakers at the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy

Here's an interesting opportunity. Please pass this along to any grade 7 - 12 HL speakers of Arabic or Chinese you know!

Scholarship for Arabic or Chinese Heritage Speakers at the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy

The Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy (MMLA) has been awarded funding to support a limited number of scholarships for heritage speakers of Arabic and Mandarin Chinese. Broadly speaking, heritage speakers are students from families with an Arabic or Chinese heritage, but who lack formal education in the language.

"STARTALK" is one of the projects of a US government funded effort to expand foreign language education in under-taught critical languages by supporting new and existing programs for students, kindergarten through university, in several targeted languages including Mandarin Chinese and Arabic.

To be considered for a STARTALK partial scholarship at the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy an applicant must meet these criteria:

• Entering grade 7 through grade 12
• Parents or grandparents speak
either Arabic or Mandarin Chinese
• Have knowledge of the culture and
traditions associated with the heritage language
• Have a willingness to
share that cultural knowledge with others studying the language
• Express a
sincere desire to develop stronger skills in either Arabic or Chinese
• Demonstrate financial need

Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy

The Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy extends the renowned Middlebury Language School summer immersion to middle and high school students for four weeks in a summer camp setting. See more at http://www.mmla.middlebury.edu/

Located at sites in California, Vermont and Massachusetts, MMLA combines rigorous and effective language education with summer camp activities, all conducted in the target language. As a Middlebury language immersion camp, students adhere to a Language Pledge® and agree to refrain from using English except in cases of emergency, safety or when the Pledge has been relaxed in camp for a particular purpose.

Students who do not meet the above criteria for a STARTALK scholarship may still apply to MMLA as regular students.

To apply, call MMLA at 802-296-2459 or email to mmla.info@middlebury.edu

International Year of Languages Website and Listserv @ UTSA

UTSA now has a website and listserv in connection with our celebration of 2008 as the International Year of Languages.

The website http://bbl.utsa.edu/News/IYLWebpage.htm will provide information about a series of related events held on campus, as well as provide additional information and resources.

Individuals may self-subscribe to the listserv at
https://lists.sis.utsa.edu/mailman/listinfo/utsa-lang. The listserv will be used to announce and plan related events throughout the year.

Hsiaoping Wu's Book Review Published

Hsaoping Wu's Book Review of a heritage language book has been published in Education Review! I would encourage others to consider publishing their book reviews in Education Review. It is the premier book review journal in education, it is on-line and free, and has thousands of readers. Plus, reviews are published quickly.

------------------------------------------------------------

Kondo-Brown, Kimi & Brown, James Dean, editors (2007). Teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Heritage Language Students: Curriculum Needs, Materials, and Assessment. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Pages: 368 Price: $35.00
ISBN: 0805858784

Reviewed by Hsiaoping Wu, University of Texas, San Antonio

Teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean heritage language students: Curriculum needs, materials, and assessment is a collection of essays on current issues of heritage language (HL) learning. It includes both research-based articles and application and practice on education from 16 authors. Contributors discuss every aspect of learning Japanese, Chinese, and Korean as a heritage language from the theoretical perspective to practical application. It is very inspiring to read this work because it is the most up-to-date and complete collection available with a specific focus on Asian languages. The appearance of the work will encourage more researchers, educators, and teachers to take an interest in heritage language teaching due to the explicit arguments and guidance offered here.

[Click here to read the rest at Education Review - Scroll about halfway down]

Celebrating International Mother Language Day: Heritage Languages in the USA

In Celebration of International Mother Language Day, our Applied Linguistics Brownbag series at the University of Texas, San Antonio last Friday focussed on Heritage Langauges in the USA. Below is the text of the flyer. We had a great turn out, and even had to bring in additional chairs. It was great to see not only faculty and graduate students from our Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies, but also colleagues from other departments and colleges.

Dr. Francis Hult has organized a working group of UTSA faculty from across the campus to plan additional events throughout the year to celebrate 2008 as the International Year of Languages. Information about these events will be posted on this blog.

------------------------------------------------------------

Applied Linguistics Brownbag Series
Celebrating International Mother Language Day:
Heritage Languages in the USA

February 15
12:00-1:30pm
Main Building 2.220

International Mother Language Day was first proclaimed by UNESCO's General Conference in 1999, with the aim of focusing attention on the importance of individuals' mother tongues for their social and cultural development. Mother Language Day takes on special significance this year, as the United Nations has proclaimed 2008 as the International Year of Languages. Activities will be taking place throughout the year at institutions worldwide in order to raise awareness about relationships between global linguistic diversity and cultural heritage.
The Applied Linguistics Brownbag Series celebrates International Mother Language Day and the start of the International Year of Languages with a special brownbag on the topic of heritage languages in US contexts.

PROGRAM

Introduction: International Mother Language Day and the International Year of Languages
Francis M. Hult, Assistant Professor, Bicultural-Bilingual Studies

"Heritage Language Learning and Ideologies of Pre-service Latina/o Bilingual Teachers in Texas"
Lucila Ek, Assistant Professor, Bicultural-Bilingual Studies

"Heritage Language Learning in the USA - The Case of Khmer"
Wayne E. Wright, Assistant Professor, Bicultural-Bilingual Studies

Utah Efforts to Preserve Native American Languages

The Deseret Morning News reported on February 4, 2008 that the Utah "State Board of Education is seeking $275,000 to preserve and revitalize Utah's indigenous languages to help narrow the achievement gaps" between Native American and Caucasian students.

It's nice to see a State Board of Education recognize that Heritage Language teaching and Learning can be a means to addressing academic achievement gaps, rather than as an obstacle to academic achievement.

Read the full article here.

English for Heritage Language Speakers Program

Here's an innovative approach to addressing the shortage of federal employees with advanced levels of profiency in international languages. Few native English speakers in America reach high levels of proficiency in other languages because of our nation's poor track record in foreign language education. Many kids from immigrant families who enter school bilingual come out monolingual or have limited skills in their HL, due to our horrible language and education policies which focus on English only. So, let's take those adults who have advanced HL skills and help them learn enough English to work for the federal government. We're much better at teaching English in this country than we are other languages.

Now in its third year, CAL's English for Heritage Language Speakers (EHLS)
program gives native speakers of critical languages the advanced professional
English proficiency they need to succeed in the federal workplace. For 2008, our
program partners, the University of Washington (Seattle) and Georgetown
University (Washington, DC), have enrolled a total of twelve Arabic speakers,
two Cantonese speakers, eight Mandarin speakers, three Dari speakers, one Farsi
speaker, one Hindi speaker, one Russian speaker, and four Indonesian speakers. Learn more.

Chinese Language Conference 2008

Many Chinese Heritage Language Schools and Programs in the United States participate in a national network. Here's info on an upcoming conference in San Francisco!

CAIS Institute Announces Chinese Language Conference 2008

School administrators and educators across the country will head to San
Francisco next month for the Chinese Language Conference 2008, the nation's
largest conference exclusively dedicated to promoting the teaching and learning
of Chinese language programs in America. Hosted by the CAIS Institute, a leading
resource for integrating Chinese language and culture into American education
programs, the national conference will be held at the Hilton Hotel in San
Francisco from March 14-16, 2008. China Books and Periodicals, America's largest
and oldest distributor of books and other cultural products from China, is the
presenting sponsor.

Globalization continues to boost the growing economic and cultural
influence of China - one of the world's largest economies. Over the next decade
across America, the study of Chinese will dramatically rise along with the need
for Americans who are fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Full story:
http://sev.prnewswire.com/education/20080207/AQTH08607022008-1.html

International Mother Tongue Day

I just learned from Dr. Hult that February 21st is International Mother Language Day. Here is some info on the day from the United Nations:

International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by UNESCO's General Conference in November 1999. The International Day has been observed every year
since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

More information on International Mother Language Day can be found at http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/language/.

Appropriately, we will be visiting Univision that day. I'm also exploring with Dr. Hult ways our class can be a part of an event in recognition of this day. Stay tuned!

Defense to Begin Recruiting Foreign Language Corps

You've heard of the Peace Corps. Say hello to the National Language Service Corps! Note how this reveals the critical shortage of bilingual staff in our U.S. federal agencies. It will be interesting to watch this initiative to see how many of the targetted 1,000 for the language corps end up being non-native speakers vs. native speakers.
---------------

Government Executive January 15, 2008

Defense to Begin Recruiting Foreign Language Corps By Brittany R. Ballenstedt

DOD is assembling a corps of people fluent in critical foreign languages to serve the nation during times of emergency or international need.

By 2010, the department will recruit at least 1,000 people to serve in the new National Language Service Corps, said Gail McGinn, deputy undersecretary of Defense for plans and head of the Defense Senior Language Authority. Congress gave Defense the authority to start a pilot project to create the corps in the FY07 Defense authorization act.

While the pilot launched last year, the department has not yet begun recruiting. The early stages have involved developing a CONOPS as well as determining how to recruit, test and certify people with foreign language skills, said Robert Slater, director of the National Security Language Program. Now that much of that groundwork has been laid, the department plans to begin recruiting this month.

To entice people to serve, the Pentagon plans to launch a Web site highlighting benefits of serving in the language corps. Slater said incentives include not only competitive compensation but advantage of being identified with an organization that values foreign language skills and the use of government-funded software to maintain language skills.

The department is developing a list of languages deemed critical, and plans to have it finalized in the next couple of weeks. The list will include at least nine languages, but Arabic probably will not be among them. "Arabic is a heavily recruited language already," Slater said. "We'd rather look at some other languages right now."

The pilot project includes a $19 million contract awarded to General Dynamics Information Technology under which the company will create a language training and communications center, recruit corps members and provide personnel support.

Slater said the department hopes to assess by the end of this year whether the pilot is working. If it proves successful, Defense will structure a proposal to make the language corps permanent by the end of the pilot in 2010.

While the project is being run within Defense, the concept holds benefits for the rest of government, McGinn said. "We looked at other agencies to determine what their needs might be," she said. "We're working to understand how [other agencies] can use this corps of people and bring them in when there are national needs."

Welcome!

Welcome to our BBL 7233 Heritage/Community Languages Blog. The purpose of this blog is share news articles and other resources related to our study this semester (Spring 2008) of Heritages/Community Languages. I'll post things as I run accross them. Please send me link of anything you'd like me to add.

Please also feel free to post comments on any of the news articles, and discuss them with your classmates and world.

-Dr. Wright