Friday, May 18, 2007

resources for bilingual education, foreign language education, teaching/learning English as a second/foreign language

Charity Dell, a librarian at the Plainfield Public Library in Plainfield, NJ, recently compiled this valuable list of online resources for bilingual education, foreign language education, teaching/learning English as a second/foreign language. She's very interested in language education; she speaks Spanish every day with patrons at the library, wants to learn Spanish and French, and is currently working on a TESL certificate. She points out that her school district has 54 languages represented among their students--and this diversity is not unusual in our country. Bringing up Baby Bilingual readers are welcome to contact her directly at jubilate7@yahoo.com with questions or comments (and/or share them with the other readers by clicking on "comments" at the end of this post). Here's what Charity wanted to share (some have already been discussed on this blog, but they bear repeating!):

1. Languages currently spoken in the United States:
A. There are now 337 languages spoken or signed in the United States.
B. Several states and territories are officially or de facto bi- or tri-lingual:
  • American Samoa (Samoan and English)
  • Guam (Chamorro and English)
  • Hawaii (English and Hawaiian)
  • Louisiana (English and Cajun French)
  • New Mexico (English and Spanish)
  • Northern Mariana Islands (English, Chamorro andCarolinian)
  • Puerto Rico (Spanish and English)
C. Here's a good article about Spanish in the United States.

2. Resources for parents, students, and educators:
3. Great websites for developing multilingual children:
4. TESOL/ESL/TESL Resources (This is the "MOTHER OF ALL ESL LINKS"--everything and multiple links to ESL websites for parents, students and teachers, including a great list of links for bilingual education.)

On behalf of myself and the readers of Bringing up Baby Bilingual, thank you, Charity!

13 comments:

  1. The church we attend in North Carolina is actually 75% Spanish speaking! There is only one English Mass. Our local Walmart recently redid the store and made it entirely bilingual (although the English is larger than the Spanish on most signs). They sell Spanish children's books, DVDs, calendars, food, etc, and at least one third of the music section is Latin music! Soon you might have to add NC to that list!

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  2. I grew up in North Carolina! But I hear a lot more Spanish here in Colorado than I did in NC.

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  3. I am so glad to find your blog. Great information, obviously well presented. And I need this sort of help. Trying to shovel as much English as possible into my two little monsters because I am just about the only one who speaks English to them.

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  4. Thanks for stopping by my blog, Papadesdeux! Would you be willing to let me profile les monstres' acquisition of French? Let me know at babybilingual (at) gmail (dot) com if you're interested!

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  5. Thanks for sharing the list, Sarah. Your previous entry about the games are awesome ... my 3.5-year-old enjoys the memory game and flashcards very much.

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  6. For learning Chinese, my site http://www.childbook.com offers books, dvd's, and CD's for children learning Chinese.

    I will definitely check out the links on bilingual. My wife and I have worked hard to bring up our daughter bilingually (Mandarin & English), actually trilingual (Taiwanese also).

    Ray

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  7. Wow, great info here! Thanks!
    Growing up in NYC, I am very familiar with bilingualism. Chinese/English, Korean/English, Russian/English and Indian English/American English. That is what makes life so interesting. It's definitely necessary to know two languages, if not, three!
    Irene
    CE Bilingual Books
    www.cebilingualbooks.com

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  8. If your looking for more teaching resources, you can try this - http://www.teachersparadise.com/

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  9. This is a great list. Thanks for sharing! If you're looking for more resources, check out www.iTeachBilinguals.com

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