World Languages Blog

Russian Dual Language in Bellevue

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April 27, 2016 Dear Sir/Madam, I am reaching out to you about our initiative which will support cultural and linguistic diversity in Bellevue School District through introduction of another dual language immersion program - with English and Russian languages. As you may know, Bellevue schools have 2 dual immersion programs (in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish), which demonstrate terrific academic success and allow many kids to feel recognized in the community. Unfortunately, many kids still do…

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Heritage Language Research Institute 2016

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Ninth Heritage Language Research Institute From bilingual children to adult heritage speakers The University of Washington has the honor of hosting this year's Heritage Language Research Institute, organized by the National Heritage Language Research Center at UCLA. JUNE 15- 18, 2016 UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE Director: Maria Polinsky (University of Maryland, College Park) Workshop Director: Maria Luisa Parra (Harvard University) Heritage languages are learned early in life, either simultaneously with the dominant language…

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Seal of Biliteracy 2016

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Although the State Seal of Biliteracy was officially launched in Washington state last June, this is the first year that most districts have had a chance to actually prepare for awarding the Seal to qualified high school graduating seniors. Information about the Seal and criteria for awarding is posted on the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) World Languages website. However, there's lots of nitty gritty details to think through at the district level. We have…

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Language Events for Japanese and Chinese

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Chief Sealth International High School in Seattle recently hosted two important language events for students learning Japanese and Chinese. Washington State Japanese Immersion Day Camp On March 21, 2015, 85 high school students from 11 schools around Washington state participated in a Japanese immersion camp at Chief Sealth International High School. They were joined by 24 Japanese students on exchange through a Japanese government program called Kakehashi, and participated in cultural classes such…

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Is any publicity good publicity?

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Looking at all the media coverage of HB 1445 (“Using computer sciences to satisfy world language college admission requirements.” http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2015&bill=1445), I am reminded of that old saying, "Any publicity is good publicity" or "There is no such thing as bad publicity." On the one hand, much of the media coverage seems to perpetuate the idea that "learning 2-3 years of a foreign language in high school is a waste of time," but, on the other…

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