Teacher program aids indigenous speakers (fwd link)

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Teacher program aids indigenous speakers

State backs English course

By CLAUDIA MELÉNDEZ SALINAS
Herald Staff Writer
Posted: 07/27/2011 01:45:48 AM PDT

For years, migrant education administrators asked for teachers who
speak the indigenous languages of Mexico to come to California.

The problem was, for Mexican teachers to participate in the Binational
Teacher Exchange program, they must speak English, and no teachers
fluent in Spanish and other indigenous languages qualified.

This year, thanks to a pilot program of the California Department of
Education and the Oaxacan Department of Education, a group of
indigenous language speakers from Mexico could participate.

Through the program, teachers took an intensive, month-long
English-language course at CSU Sacramento before being dispersed
through California's migrant regions. Monterey County received four
speakers of indigenous languages.

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