Second language acquisition (fwd)

[Ann Peters]

Colleagues,
I just received this query and I think some of youknow much more about
this than I do. Please respond directly to him.
thanks
ann

****************************
Dr. Ann M. Peters, Professor Emeritus
Graduate Chair                      http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/
Department of Linguistics
University of Hawai`i               email: ann at hawaii.edu
1890 East West Road, Rm 569         phone: 808 956-3241
Honolulu, HI  96822                 fax:   808 956-9166
http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/faculty/ann/

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 12:35:54 -0500
From: Vince Dumond <vince.dumond at afnea.com>
To: ann at hawaii.edu
Subject: Second language acquisition

Good Morning

My name is Vince Dumond. I am the principal of a First Nation School in
northern Ontario, Canada, on the James Bay Coast. I found your email in a
paper you wrote (http://childes.psy.cmu.edu/topics/filler.pdf) while doing
research on second language acquisition.

In three years our community will have a new school and I want to start
planning now for a seamless integration of day care, head start and
kindergarten, all with highly qualified teachers.

Do you know of research which supports solid foundation in first language
until age 9, then immersion in the second language and the end product being
a high achievement in both first and second languages by age 14?

The aboriginal language is Cree and the second language is English.

There is a fear among the elders, in this community, that the first language
will be lost if children are not immersed in Cree for the first 3 years of
school. There are qualified Cree teachers who can do so.

The English teachers who come to this community see children who perform
poorly in language scores in both Cree and English. The English teachers
insist that the children be immersed in English first and learn the mother
tongue, Cree, 40 minutes a day at school and also learn it at home so the
children can have a higher achievement score in English upon graduation.
Cree is not spoken outside of this isolated area.

Can you help me find research which supports the acquisition of the first
language as the well documented route to proceed in program planning?

Planning for this important step is crucial.

Please fee free to forward this email to the appropriate researcher.

Many thanks

Vince


Vince Dumond
Principal, JR Nakogee School
Attawapiskat, Ontario, Canada.
P0L 1A0
Phone: (705) 997-2114
Fax: (705) 997-1259