Proposed English-only Head Start Mandate Will Harm Kids
The federal government plans to mandate that all Head Start programs are conducted in English-only environments. Policies that eliminate home language are not only unwise, they are harmful to emergent bilingual kids. Here are five reasons we need to ensure that Head Start can be incorporated into Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) programs. There are…
How to Determine Who Goes Into Your Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) Program?
About this time every year, schools are working hard to test their incoming students for language proficiency and to determine who will go into their Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) programs. Administrators have to decide who makes the cutoff and who does not. They have to determine if they should have a lottery. And if…
How Can You Stave Off the Symptoms of Alzheimer’s?
A few years back, I wrote an article that commented upon research conducted by researchers at the University of Waterloo that found that among nuns at Notre Dame, speaking four or more languages nearly eliminated the risk of developing dementia. This was an amazing find for brain science nerds like most of us educators are,…
Speaking in Languages Other Than English is NOT Rude!
by: Dr. Aradhana Mudambi Back in 2009, I invited my Mexican-descent colleague from the Rio Grande Valley to join me in visiting my grandparents out in Albany, NY. My aunt, uncle, grandmother, sister, friend, and I gathered in the living room, and like in most busy social settings, there were multiple conversations happening simultaneously. But…
How Long Should Our Dual Language Program Extend?
I was asked an interesting question the other day. “How far should our Dual Language program go? Through elementary? Middle School? Or High School?” There are so many ways we can answer that question. By definition, a Dual Language program needs to be at least 6 years, starting at Kindergarten and stretching through at least…
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Language and Equity Blog 