It doesn’t take an extensive literature review or an exhaustive tour of programs to see that dual language immersion programs exponentially improve educational outcomes when implemented correctly… So why doesn’t every district in the nation turn to dual language immersion? Why doesn’t every University have a rich Middle Eastern Studies department? One could get the wrong idea.
Category: linguistics
Pivoting
ChezWhat? is an old site. I have been writing here now for 12 years. Most of what fills this space has been an exercise of writing as a personal endeavor. Gratitude, controversy, art or talking about things that have happened recently or long ago has been the realm of ChezWhat? But I am going to…
Spot on.
One of the great failings of the American education system, in our view, is that young people can graduate from university without any understanding of poverty at home or abroad. Study-abroad programs tend to consist of herds of students visiting Oxford or Florence or Paris. We believe that universities should make it a requirement that…
Minding the Gap: In defense of the Gap Year or study abroad experience for stateside high school graduates
Because I teach high school, I see first hand struggles that students sometimes have when high school ends and the time to go to college begins. Senior year can be overwhelming, and it’s not even the beginning. Some youth transition with no big deal. Some already have their paths set out. And some are just…
Some thoughts on being a language teacher: linguistic imperialism
I have been since I decided what I wanted to do, a language teacher. I didn’t end up here by mistake. The first place I went was Russia with Peace Corps. Peace Corps had in high (sarcastic) comedy brought all these “teachers” to one of the most educated countries on the planet to teach the…
Where did she go?
I have written about people who have touched my life in significant ways here on old Chez What, and today I am gonna tell about Jill. Jill and I were in Peace Corps together, in Western Russia. Well, aside from my parents getting a divorce when I was 13, Russia had to rank right up…
Krashen
Imagine, if you will, in your mind what a doctorate in linguistics looks like. Pocket protectors? Pasty complexion? Greasy hair? Notebooks full of sentence trees? Dry humor referencing prepostional phrases? Overly caffeinated sweats? Saggy belly? A little too excited about bilingual research? Anyone who has ever studied linguistics or language acquisition knows his name. Mainly,…
