Heritage: Anti-Bilingual Education measure in Arizona

[Scott McGinnis]

Heritage Languages Listserve
----------------------------

Date:  Mon, 10 Apr 2000 12:18:31 -0700
From:  Jeff MacSwan <macswan at asu.edu>
Subject:  Anti-Bilingual Education Legislation

Dear colleagues,

Please visit the website of the Arizona Language Education Council
(ALEC)
at www.alec2000.org to learn about the efforts of teachers, parents,
researchers, and others interested in defeating the proposed
anti-bilingual
education initiative in the state of Arizona.

Learn about joining and supporting ALEC at
http://www.alec2000.org/join.htm

ALEC Mission Statement
- ------------------------------------

WHO ARE WE?

The Arizona Language Education Council (ALEC) is a non-profit
association
dedicated to educating the public about the historical and present
context
of the education of language minority children in Arizona. We are
parents,
teachers, business people, tribal leaders, community volunteers, and
researchers. We are united by our concern for the academic success for
children learning English and other languages in our state.

ALEC seeks
(1) To increase public awareness about language education issues
(2) To dispel myths and misconceptions about bilingual education,
(3) To provide a clearinghouse of information for Arizonans,
policy-makers,
and news media.

ALEC is especially concerned about the English Only initiative that may
be
placed on the Arizona ballot in November, 2000.

ALEC's primary activities include, but are not limited to:
- Free bi-monthly workshops to raise awareness about language education
issues
- Quarterly roundtables, hosted by the regional Arizona chapters, which
ddress myths about bilingual education, developments in state
legislation,
and issues of bilingualism and biliteracy.
- Symposia at scholarly conferences and public language policy debates.

If you are interested in participating in one of the above activities or
would like to schedule a speaker for your gathering, contact ALEC at
email:
comments at alec2000.org

Visit the ALEC website at www.alec2000.org