Wayne E. Wright, PhD

An article I submitted to the Heritage Language Journal has just been published. The title is “Heritage Language Programs in the Era of English-only and NCLB.” Its part of a special issue looking at the relationships between Heritage Languages and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). I argue that the NCLB and English-only initiatives are making it very difficult for schools to offer the kinds of quality programs we need to address the language needs of students, and the nation as a whole.  See the abstract below for more details.

This article, along with the other interesting articles in this issue, can be found at: http://www.heritagelanguages.org/

Abstract

There is a growing recognition of the need for Americans who are proficient in languages other than English; however, there is a great disconnect between these needs, state English-only education policies, and current federal education policy as realized through the No Child Left Behind Act (NLCB) of 2001. These policies are moving the country in the opposite direction in terms of the needs for heritage language programs which can address students’ and the country’s linguistic needs. Drawing on eight years of research, this article presents the cases of a variety of in-school and after school Heritage language programs serving Khmer (Cambodian), Spanish, and Native American heritage language learners from California, Arizona, and Texas which have been eliminated or substantially weakened due to current federal and state language and education policies. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for needed changes to policy which will encourage, rather than discourage, quality heritage language programs.

The kids went back to school today. They were quite excited. They woke up before Phal and I, got dressed, and even made their own breakfast. Cool. I hope this lasts.

 Catherine was the most excited. Last night she put her backpack seated on the chair in her room, then put out her clothes for school by putting the shirt on the backpack, the pants hanging from the chair under the shirt, and the shoes and socks at the legs of the pants. It looked like a headless person sitting in the chair.

Jeffrey survived his first day of middle school. His main comment is that everything is way different than at the elementary school.

Phal also began her new semester, with a full load of four courses. She’s past the easy ESL classes, and is taking regular coursework, including college algebra, economics, music appreciation, and English. I looked over her syllabi. She’s going to be very very busy this semester.

I’m teaching two courses this semester. I moved my two offices into one, and now have a regular office at the 1604 campus. I loved the downtown campus, and I loved my office there, but no matter how hard I tried, I always ended up spending more time at the 1604 campus as its closer to home, and its where our administration, support staff, and the grad students I work closely with are located. After a hectic summer at the university, I’m looking forward to the slower pace of the Fall semester.

Here’s some of Catherine’s random art I found near my desk. These puppies were each caerfully cut out, and even have their names written on the back: Cookie, Vegie, Poddl, and Toodie.

I haven’t done much on my own blog as I’ve been busy with another blog I set up for a study abroad course I recently completed. We took a group of 10 students to Thailand to teach ESL in the schools of a rural area of southern Thailand (Hadsamran, Trang Province), and to learn a little about the language and culture. It was an amazing experience for the students, myself, and the other instructors.  It was my first time to Thailand, and I was struck by the wonderful people we met along the way. I made many new friends, and hope to return some day.The whole experience has been documented on my blog for that course: http://utsathailand.blogspot.com (Language and Cultural Engagement in Thailand).

I also took a lot of photos, available on Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/waynewright/collections/72157601453286795/