Using African languages as contact primary language on K-12 enrollment form

[Pragmatic]

Stop putting English as your childs primary contact language. There primary language has never been English. If your school is 80% African, then the parents need to put a language that is suggested to overcome the mismatch between home and school cultures and instead create a school environment where there is little conflict in the socialization process between the wider society, culture and language and the African culture and language.

ex. San Diego Unified School District
K-12 Enrollment Form
>>>bottom of page<<<<<<

home phone (333) 909 -xxxx
work (-------------
cell
email
employer self-employed

"Contact primary language" very important example...>>> Kiswahilli/English<<<

...................................not............ ..............english

We lose the power of Majority rule when the enrollment forms are looked over and "english" is the primary language to include Billingual instuction by law. They won't give it to slaves.

******o. Primary Language (or Primary Home Language): *************Any language other than
English listed on a student’s Home Language Survey as being used in the home.

B. LEGAL AND POLICY BASIS

1. Reference: California Education Code Sections 300-313, 52161-52165, 60810-
60812; Lau v. Nichols (1974 Federal Court Decision; Castañeda v. Pickard (1981
Federal Court Decision)

D. IMPLEMENTATION
Each site, using a system and resources determined by the principal, is required to properly
identify, assess, and report all newly enrolled students who have a language other than
English shown on their Home Language Survey. Students from this group who are
identified and assessed as ELs must be placed in one of two appropriate programs:
Structured English Immersion (SEI) or Mainstream English Cluster (MEC).

******Parents/guardians have the right to seek placement of their child in the Biliteracy for Spanish Speakers Program through the "Parental Election process." ******Majority Rule. Don't give up your child's right.*******

SUBJECT: English Learner Program Compliance NO: 4251
PAGE 4 OF 14
EFFECTIVE: 8-22-79
REVISED: 4-15-05
students who have a language other than English shown on their Home Language Survey
must be notified in writing of their children’s initial language assessment results and
instructional program placement, as well as the opportunity to seek a parental election
waiver through the Parent Election process. In addition, they must be afforded the
opportunity to learn about all program options available for their children



g. Home Language Survey (HLS): A questionnaire completed by parents/
guardians when students first enroll in the district to identify languages used in each's students home

h. English as a Second Language (ESL): A term used (mainly by secondary
schools) to describe a course of English Language Development appropriate for ELs at the earlier levels of English proficiency.

i. English Only: A term used to describe students with no language other than
English indicated on the Home Language Survey. Typically these students are
native speakers of English.

j. Initially Fluent English Proficient (IFEP): A student who had a language
other than English shown on his/her Home Language Survey and was initially
assessed as fluent English proficient.

k. Language Proficiency Levels: Five stages of English language proficiency
ranging from very little English ability to nearly proficient in English. The
levels are used to describe the following skill areas: listening and speaking,
reading, and writing. The levels are: Beginning (B), Early Intermediate (EI),
Intermediate (I), Early Advanced (EA), and Advanced (A).

l. Limited-English Proficiency: An inclusive term that describes English skill
levels of non-and limited-English proficient ELs.


m. Overall Proficiency Level (OPL): A combination of a student’s CELDTassessed
English proficiency in listening and speaking, reading, and writing.

n. Parental Election: The process by which a parent/guardian applies and is
approved or denied for an instructional program that includes instruction in the
student’s primary language (e.g., Biliteracy for Spanish Speakers).

o. Primary Language (or Primary Home Language): Any language other than
English listed on a student’s Home Language Survey as being used in the home.

p. Mainstream English Cluster (MEC): An enriched English program for ELs at
the higher levels of English language proficiency. A “cluster� of these ELs
makes up about one-third of the grade level class. ELs in this program receive
specialized instructional services, appropriate for their proficiency levels, from
specially trained teacher(s).

q. Reclassified Fluent English Proficient (RFEP): A former EL who has met
established multiple criteria demonstrating he/she has attained or is approaching
attainment of full academic proficiency in English and can participate equally
with average native speakers of English in grade-level core academic subjects.

r. Regular English Program: A program designed for native and fluent speakers
of English.

s. Structured English Immersion (SEI): An enriched English program for ELs at
the earlier levels of English language proficiency. ELs are either grouped
together in full grade-level SEI classrooms or clustered together according to
proficiency level in grade-level English classrooms. ELs in an SEI cluster
should make up about one-third of the class. ELs in this program receive
specialized instructional services, appropriate for their proficiency levels, from
specially trained teacher(s).



Fostering the native tongue

If parents want to keep their native tongue alive, they had better start teaching it to their children, a recent PhD study from AUT University reveals


If parents want to keep their native tongue alive, they had better start teaching it to their children, a recent PhD study from AUT University reveals.

School of Languages Shanjiang Yu graduated from AUT last month with a PhD after five years studying language changes in Chinese speaking households in New Zealand. This is the first study of its kind.

He says unless parents spend time teaching children to speak their native tongue in the home, languages can be lost within three generations.

“Parents are the language planners in the home. Strong support for the native language is not enough – they need to do something about it.�

Shanjiang became interested in the topic of language shifts after noticing his son, who was four when the family arrived from China in 1999, was losing the ability to speak Mandarin.

He got tape recordings from the homes of eight Mandarin-speaking families in which the children were between the ages of four and 10 years old.

Families did the recordings themselves during typical settings such as meal times and Shanjiang analysed the changes in the children’s language use.

The study revealed that 28 months after arriving in New Zealand, Chinese parents were speaking English 25% of the time and children 35%.

Shanjiang says parents encourage English being spoken at home because they want to learn it and they want their children to fit in to their new environment.

But he warns parents that children cannot be expected to speak their native tongue in the home unless they are taught it.

To ensure their native language is retained, Shanjiang suggests spending at least a few hours a week actively teaching children how to speak, read and write languages other than English.






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ERIC #: ED453676
Title: Holding onto a Native Tongue: Retaining Bilingualism for School-Age Children of Japanese Heritage.
Authors: Minami, Masahiko
Descriptors: Bilingualism; Cultural Maintenance; Elementary Education; Ethnic Groups; Ethnography; Heritage Education; Interviews; Japanese; Language Maintenance; Language Minorities; Limited English Speaking; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Uncommonly Taught Languages
Source: N/A
Peer-Reviewed: N/A
Publisher: N/A
Publication Date: 2001-04-11
Pages: 29
Pub Types: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Abstract: This study examined the efforts of parents and children of Japanese extraction in the San Francisco Bay Area to preserve bilingualism. First, an ethnographic study of the children was carried out at home and school. Second, interviews with the bilingual children's mothers were conducted. Finally, in order to measure each child's bilingual verbal ability, the Bilingual Verbal Ability Tests (BVAT) were administered. The ethnographic study revealed that teachers working with Japanese children are trying to create a student-centered program. Interviews with the mothers revealed that despite their efforts to preserve Japanese language skills, the children, if given the choice, prefer to speak English. It is suggested that efforts are needed to overcome the mismatch between home and school cultures and instead create a school environment where there is little conflict in the socialization process between the wider society, culture and language and the Japanese culture and language. (Contains 18 references.) (KFT)
Abstractor: N/A
Reference Count: N/A










the Bilingual Verbal Ability TestsBilingual Verbal Ability Test
CATEGORIES: Ability, Speech and Language


AUTHOR: Ana F. Munoz-Sandoval, Jim Cummins, G. Alvarado, Mary L. Ruef (2005)

RANGE: 5 to Adult

TIME: 20-30 minutes

SUMMARY
Provides a measure of overall verbal ability for bilingual individuals

The Bilingual Verbal Ability Tests (BVAT) are intended for measuring bilingual verbal ability, or the unique combination of cognitive/academic language abilities possessed by bilingual individuals in English and another language. The need for this test is based in the reality that bilingual persons know some things in one language, some things in the other language, and some things in both languages. Traditional procedures only allow the person's ability to be measured in one language, usually the one considered to be dominant. Examiners intuitively realize that these individuals know "more" than they can show on these monolingual approaches.