Building on Community Bilingualism

Chapter 15: Developing Enriched Language Education Programs in Other Contexts

Presented by Wendy and Greg Perry

Rebecca D. Freeman, PhD

Considerations for Bilingual Education

Look at target populations' strengths and needs

Set realistic goals

Use research on language education

Competing discourses about the education of English language learners

I see schools as major socializing agents that can either reflect and reproduce the dominant social order or challenge and potentially transform that order. Freeman 2004

Competing Ideas about Language

Language-as-problem vs. Language-as-resource

The Work of Language Planners

Have strong theoretical and practical base in language education field. Know the sociolinguistic situation of your community Know the school context (resources, constraints, mandates) Parent and community network Know that coherence does not happen automatically.

Your Target Population and Their Goals.

What aspects of your program will capitalize on their strengths while developing what they need?

Do you have a clear vision of the goals and are they meaningful to students and the community? What resources should you use in order to meet these goals?

What type of program is appropriate for the school and community?

No one-size-fits-all type of language education program Schools can and should have more than one language education program to promote bilingualism for their ELLs, heritage language speakers, and English speakers. Four scenarios for language programming

Scenario 1
A school that is in a bilingual community that has access to curricular materials in the nonEnglish language, bilingual educators, and community support for a bilingual program.

Program Suggestions
EITHER a two-way immersion ( T W I) program as one strand in the school for English speakers and speakers of the other language AND a heritage/world language program that promotes the community language for students enrolled in the allEnglish mainstream OR a one-way developmental bilingual (DBE) program for ELLs AND a heritage/world language program that promotes the community language for students enrolled in the allEnglish mainstream

Scenario 2
A school that is in a bilingual community but that does not have the necessary conditions for a dual language program.

Program Suggestions
a content-based ESL program for ELLs AND an LI literacy program for ELLs AND a world/heritage language program that promotes the community language for students enrolled in the all English mainstream

Scenario 3
A school that is in a bilingual community and that has the necessary resources for a bilingual program, but that only allows transitional bilingual education for a maximum of three years.

Program Suggestions
a transitional bilingual program for ELLs a heritage language program for ELLs who have exited the transitional program and who are enrolled in the all-English academic mainstream to support their continuing development of their heritage language and literacies in that language, and for other heritage language speakers in the academic mainstream a world language program for monolingual English speakers

Scenario 4 A school that has a large number of ELLs from a wide number of language backgrounds.

Program Suggestions
a sheltered ESL program for ELLs AND an extensive library of materials in the languages of the ELLs and creative ways for those students to build on their LI AND a world language program for all students in the language that the school chooses.

A Call for Action Educators need to document their efforts and determine their programs effectiveness.

Discussion Questions
1. What are the pros and cons of deliberately using your curriculum to address language goals?

2. How does a school carefully create learning experiences that lead to positive and productive inclusion of language backgrounds?