Two languages (fwd link)

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Two languages

Diné schools look to modify Arizona's English teaching program

By Jason Begay
Navajo Times
(Special to the Times - Donovan Quintero)

WINDOW ROCK, Nov. 29, 2007
Transportation. The word has four syllables that the class chants with gleeful,
harmonious handclaps: Trans. Por. Tay. Shun.

The word also has 13 letters, a daunting challenge for the second graders in
Chris Yazzie's classroom.

"That's a lot of letters," Yazzie explains. "Remember the trick when spelling
long words?" She begins to explain, but the class cuts her off.

"Break it up to small chunks," David Mitchell III yells out, echoed by his
classmates. "Because the brain will remember the words easier." This is
Tséhootsooí Elementary School's second grade English Language Learners class, a
daily four-hour block of time filled with students deemed to need extra help
learning English, according to a new state policy.

The policy, which districts statewide began to implement this fall, requires
schools to implement a curriculum that would identify and isolate these
students in order to give them more intensive assistance.

To access the full article, just follow the link below:
http://www.thenavajotimes.com/education/1129english.php