|
|
I. SOUTHWEST IDEA SHARE
II. UPCOMING EVENTS / WORKSHOPS AT THE UW
III. UW COLLEGE IN THE HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM
IV. PORTUGUESE FOOD!
V. INTERNET
VI. STUDENT EXCHANGES (WITH STUDENTS FROM SPAIN)
VII. SEATTLE PI ARTICLE ON BILINGUAL EDUCATION
VIII. NY TIMES ARTICLE ON A LATINO'S FRIST CHRISTMAS
EXPERIENCE IN THE US
I. SOUTHWEST IDEA SHARE
The Second Annual Southwest Washington Idea Share will
be Saturday, Jan. 6, 2001 from 10:00 to 12:30 in
Longview at Lower Columbia College, Student Center
Conference Rooms A and B. Hosted by Oriana Cadman and
Alex Whitman. Coffee and rolls will be provided. We
will have access to the computer lab at LCC so we can
do some demos of online testing and other uses of the
internet. Afterwards participants will meet for lunch
at a Mexican restaurant called Plaza Jalisco just a
few minutes from LCC.
If you have an idea to share with others, please bring
20-25 copies to hand out, if possible.
For driving directions to Lower Columbia College and
campus map, visit the LCC Website at
http://lcc.ctc.edu
For further information contact Oriana Cadman, email
ocadman@kalama.com or Alex Whitman, email
awhitman@lcc.ctc.edu
Please RSVP Oriana or Alex by Jan. 4 but RSVP is not
essential, everyone is welcome!
II. UPCOMING EVENTS / WORKSHOPS AT THE UW:
from Lynn Klausenburger,
UW will offer the Summer Intensive Institute for
Spanish Teachers Aug. 6-17. Classes meet on the UW
Seattle campus. The Institute is designed for 30
people. It will include MOPI training for all with a
certified ACTFL trainer, Jim Cassidy. No official
ACTFL certificate will be given, however. Other
components include intensive language practice, use of
film and video in class, text selection and
modification to promote proficiency and using the web
to enhance curriculum. All components of the institute
are related. Those successfully completing the
Institute receive 5 credits of Spanish 499.
Instructors are Jim Cassidy, who led the oral
proficiency training in the summer of 2000; Paloma
Borreguero, coordinator of the first-year Spanish
program at UW; Maria Gillman, coordinator of the
third-year Spanish program at UW; Eduardo Tobar,
Spanish Language Consultant at OSPI. Cost will be
between $700-$750, including registration. Those who
don't want credit can audit the institute and receive
clock hour credits, but the fee is the same.
We are trying to figure out a way so that teachers who
have already had the MOPI training can participate in
the institute for credit without attending the
training sessions again. I will pass that information
on when I have worked it out, if I can work it out.
UW is also tentatively planning a one-day workshop for
teachers of all languages on Sat., Aug. 11, on
techniques to get students to produce sentence-level
and paragraph-level speech. Tentative title: Beyond
just Words. Jim Cassidy will be the principal
presenter. Cost will be around $100 and clock hours
will be awarded at no charge. Institute participants
will attend free of charge. Please contact Lynn
Klausenburger at (206) 685-6421 or at
lhk@u.washington.edu with questions.
UW Educational Outreach actively seeks input from
teachers regarding professional development needs and
desires. Please contact us at any time.
III. UW COLLEGE IN THE HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM
Qualified high school students can earn UW credit for
Spanish, French and German at the 103 level (last
trimester of the first year of UW study) and at the
201 level (first trimester of the second year) in
their own classrooms with their own teachers. Teachers
use UW texts, tests, grading protocol and certain
methods. They attend an orientation on the UW campus
prior to teaching and work with a liaison during the
time they teach. Each course bears 5 credits;
completion with a minimum grade of 2.0 (75%) fulfills
the UW exit requirement in languages for most degree
programs. Students should be juniors and seniors and
have a B+ average in previous course work in the
subject area. Cost for each course this school year is
$215 plus a $20 registration fee. There will probably
be a modest increase in fees for next year. For more
information contact Lynn Klausenburger at
lhk@u.washington.edu, or (206) 685-6421.
IV. PORTUGUESE FOOD
Coastal Kitchen on 15th Avenue East in Seattle, where
the chapter had the Galician dinner, has been doing a
Portuguese menu (ends Jan. 31).
V. INTERNET
Eduardo has been updating our chapter's website. He
has updated and added lots of great internet links
for Spanish and Portuguese teachers that you can
access directly at:
http://www.users.qwest.net/~eledu/aatsp/irst.html
VI. STUDENT EXCHANGES
The Castillian Regional Government offers financial
help to Spanish students who want to participate in
exchanges with American Schools. I can send
application forms to teachers interested in the
program (Eduardo Tobar etobar@ospi.wednet.edu/(360)
664-2400). If you have any questions about the program
please email the coordinator in Spain, his name is
Salvador Caballero and his address is
Salvador.Caballero@cec.jcyl.es. I think this is
really a wonderful opportunity.
VII. SEATTLE PI ARTICLE ON BILINGUAL EDUCATION
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/teac031.shtml
Growth rate slows for bilingual education
But state still faces a shortage of those teachers,
report finds
Wednesday, January 3, 2001
By REBEKAH DENN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The number of students in Washington's bilingual
education programs rose last year, but at a slower
rate than the previous year, according to a new report
by the state superintendent's office.
There were 66,281 students enrolled in bilingual or
English as a Second Language programs in the 1999-2000
school year, a
6.7 percent increase over the year before. The 1998-99
increase had been 9.1 percent over the year before.
But the state still faces a shortage in teachers
qualified to teach such students, said the report by
the Office of the Superintendent of Public
Instruction. It cited research that students need
instruction in both their primary languages and in
English in order to best succeed.
Statewide, 68 percent of students in limited English
proficiency programs received little or no instruction
in their primary languages, the report said.
State Superintendent Terry Bergeson said yesterday
that she plans to ask the Legislature to support an
expedited program to help classroom aides earn
teaching certificates with endorsements to teach such
classes.
The growth in the programs was not uniform. The
Everett and Mukilteo districts saw a 45 percent rise
in the number of students in limited English
proficiency programs, while the numbers dropped in
some other districts. Seattle Public Schools, the
state's largest district, served 5,447 students in
limited English proficiency programs last year, a 2.5
percent drop from the year before. In Tacoma, the
numbers dropped 9.2 percent to 2,029 students.
The programs served students speaking 159 languages in
Washington last year, the report said, with more
speaking Spanish -- 61 percent -- than all other
languages combined.
Besides Spanish, six other languages were spoken by at
least 1,000 students in Washington: Russian,
Vietnamese, Ukrainian, Korean, Cambodian and Tagalog.
Statewide, more than half the languages were spoken by
fewer than 10 students.
The Seattle district served students who spoke 59
languages last year, the second-highest number in the
state, from Amharic (the official language of
Ethiopia) to Vietnamese. (The Kent district served
students who spoke 72 languages last year, the largest
number.)
"In many parts of America, the issues of bilingualism
typically relate to one language: Spanish," Seattle
Superintendent Joseph Olchefske said. ". . . There's a
real challenge from a programmatic standpoint, but
also a staffing standpoint, of, how do you find people
who speak Oromo (a language spoken in Ethiopia and
Kenya)?"
The district has successfully brought in instructional
assistants that speak the same languages as the
students, he said, adding that he would support
programs to help such aides become certificated
teachers.
"The research is incredibly clear (that) teachers who
are trained to work with culturally and linguistically
diverse students really make all of the difference,"
said Tom Stritikus, an assistant professor at the
University of Washington's College of Education, who
helped work on the study.
"There are some real needs that these students have
that are sort of obscured by misconceptions."
P-I reporter Rebekah Denn can be reached at
206-448-8190 or rebekahdenn@seattle-pi.com
VIII. NY TIMES ARTICLE ON A LATINO'S CHRISTMAS
EXPERIENCE IN THE US
The Christmas That Comes to the Door
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/25/opinion/25ALVE.html
December 25, 2000
By MICHAEL ALVEAR
ATLANTA: I was 9 when I experienced my first North
American Christmas. I was at a loss to describe my
reaction because my English wasn't very good, but
later I realized the word I had been looking for was
"bummer." That's because I had the disadvantage of
having experienced eight Latino Christmases before
that first Anglo one.
A Latino Christmas is a wonder to behold, because of
what family means in Latin America. Latin children are
constantly surrounded by huge extended families
grandparents who live downstairs, cousins who live
across the street, uncles who live to see you. It's an
explosion of love and excitement, especially at
Christmas.
My father is South American, my mother American. His
side of the family outnumbered my mother's 10 to one.
For my first eight years we lived in Quito, the
capital of Ecuador, a country with troubles like
inflation rates so high that banks advertise 33
percent interest on savings accounts. But what Quito
lacked in financial stability it made up for in
warmth. My Ecuadorian family was big, loud and
boisterous. It seemed there wasn't a grandparent or
aunt who lived more than a few blocks away. Cousins
were best friends, and meals were at least a 12-seat
affair, with someone always yapping at me for drinking
up all the Coca-Cola.
In America, my family was small and spread out on both
coasts. Even after I moved here, I saw my cousins
only every couple of years.
My first American Christmas was the year my parents
divorced. Mom had packed us up, and we had moved from
Ecuador for good, settling smack dab in the middle of
the international Mason-Dixon line: Miami.
It was odd sitting around the tree with just my
immediate family. In Ecuador, the doorbell would
constantly ring with this part of the family or that,
with this cousin's friend or that uncle's uncle. When
it rang, my sisters would shriek with excitement while
my brother and I rubbed our hands together. The
doorbell meant only one thing: more presents.
In America, nobody rang at our door. Confused, my
brother turned to me and asked, "Donde está toda la
gente?" "Where is everyone?"
I missed my Latin family terribly and wanted to go
back. I remember wondering what good all the presents
were with no one to show them to. Twenty years passed
before I set foot in Ecuador again.
While my visits are wonderful, I've made my life here.
And after that first year, I learned the advantages of
the American Christmas. The trees are taller, the
lights are shinier and the presents are bigger.
"What'd you get me?" is the most important question in
any child's life, and no one answers it better than
this country.
And yet, as my friends and family suffer from
post-traumatic mall syndrome, I reflect that I can't
recall a single gift I received as a child, from
either continent. What I remember is every uncle and
aunt and cousin who showed up at our door.
Michael Alvear writes frequently about cultural issues.