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.

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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.

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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