[lg policy] *Language Building Blocks*: New TCP Bk. on Common Core & More

[Harold Schiffman]

ForwardedFrom: Anita Pandey <languagebuildingblocks at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 11:27 PM

*Language Building Blocks*: New TCP Bk. on Common Core & More


Forwarded message:

My colleague and friend, Rakesh Bhatt suggested that I contact you to
ask if you would please share the attached press release with the
LgPolicy list you moderate. *Language Building Blocks* was officially
released from Teachers College Press on Friday!

It's available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and

http://store.tcpress.com/0807753556.shtml

My hope is that families, teachers, and school administrators will
recognize the value of language/linguistics. I would value linguists'
feedback.  This book was inspired by a grant from the U.S. Dept. of
Health and Human Services).  I would be delighted to present at
colloquia or professional development meetings.

Faculty can preview *Language Building Blocks*  before adopting it for a
course.

The free companion Resource Guide includes experts' voices from the US
and Canada and is available Online at
http://store.tcpress.com/0807753556.shtml under "Supplementals."  A
sample chapter is also available for download (to the left of this
tab).

*Language Building Blocks* emphasizes the centrality of
language--specifically phonemic awareness, vocabulary development, and
interaction through guided play and other scaffolding-based
activities.  When I share with area teachers how it wasn’t until age 7
that I was introduced to reading in Africa, most teachers are shocked.
Indeed, valuable lessons could be learned from other approaches and
models to early childhood education.  Young children must first
acquire the necessary language and linguistic skills they need to be
formally educated and to process content and make sense of instruction
(i.e., to interact with what they hear, see, and/or experience at school).

Language Building Blocks also reiterates our linguistic debt to Africa
 and other continents and languages, and reminds us of our
responsibility to underprivileged children, many of whom speak
stigmatized dialects and languages. It outlines how best to empower
and engage children and families from underrepresented communities.
As demonstrated, language is our multipurpose GPS—a roadmap of our
cultural and geographic origins, climate change, mathematical
orientations, and global influences (e.g., in the form of
Englishization). It is, as you will undoubtedly agree, the most
accurate non-biological DNA of our history, identity, migration, and
world view.

languagebuildingblocks.com will also be up shortly and will feature
hands-on activities, rubrics and a list of further readings tied to
each chapter. Here is a link to a video clip that lists highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Vfy0CEFtE

I look forward to hearing from you. Danke.


Warmest,
Anita Pandey
443-885-1752

P.S. I'll be happy to e-mail interested individuals a free copy of my
first book, *The Child Language Teacher* (from CIIL, Mysore).

_______________________________

Selected Book Talks & Workshops: Fall 2012

Oct. 17: Y of Central Maryland, 6-9 p.m., Campfield Headstart Center,
Baltimore
Oct. 19: St. Vincent Headstart PD Day (all seven sites)
Oct. 25: ABC Conference, Honolulu
Oct. 27: Olivet Nazarene University
Nov. 3: MD TESOL, Essex Community College (10-11a.m.)
Nov. 7: *Language Building Blocks* launch fiesta, La Cosecha Dual
Language Conference, November 7, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Nov. 9: MMLA, Cincinnati
Nov. 14,  NABSE, Nashville
Nov. 23: Randallstown Community Center, Randallstown, MD (10 a.m. - 2 p.m.)
Nov. 28: Morgan State University, 11:30a.m. to 1:30p.m. Univ. Center
Dec. 5: Prince Georges Cty. Public Schools ESL Professional Development Day
Dec 7: Delaware Department of Education, 401 Federal St., Dover

2013:

Jan. 22: St. Vincent Head Start
Feb. 7 : Featured presentation with Dr. Eugene Garcia, NABE 2013
March 12: Howard County Public Library, Miller Branch, Ellicott City,
 MD (7-8:30p.m.)

__________________________

Author's Bio:

Anita Pandey earned her doctorate from the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign and holds two M.A. degrees (the first in TESOL).  She
is full professor and Coordinator of Professional Writing at Morgan
State University.  Over the past 23 years, she has taught courses in
linguistics, professional development, and ESL).  She is co-presenting
a plenary at the 2013 NABE Convention.

Born and raised in a bilingual home in Africa, she developed an
interest in language(s) early on.  She picked up Hindi/Urdu, English,
Yoruba, Hausa, and Nigerian Pidgin in her childhood, and learned
French and Spanish as a teenager--primarily from children.

In 2000, she was lead ontologist for two companies in Silicon Valley,
California.  This laid the groundwork for her work in professional
communication.  She was a featured speaker at the 22nd Penn State
Conference on Translingual Writing and at the 2012 Intercultural
Communication Conference (liberalarts.iupui.edu/icic/
conference/2012_conference).  She is co-presenting a plenary at the
2013 NABE Convention and at the 2013 NM Dual Language Conference and
is also a speaker at the La Cosecha Dual Language Conference in
November 2012 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Her research interests include
intercultural communication and dual language and literacy
development.

During her childhood years, her family was constantly on the move, so
she was forced to skip grades 5 through 8 because English-medium
schools were not as accessible.  After being home-schooled for a brief
period, she entered high school at age 9 and successfully passed the
regional West African Examination Council’s exit exam (like the SAT)
at 13. She gained admission into a two-year College of Arts and
Sciences the following year, and completed her Bachelor’s by age 19.
She earned a B.A. (Hons.) with a 1st Class distinction in linguistics
from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and taught at the College of
Education, Azare (Nigeria) before pursuing graduate studies.

Dr. Pandey was the PI for the largest grant awarded to MSU by the
Department of Health and Human Services (~$318K for YR 1) for a
linguistically enhanced program for ECE professionals.  She has
presented at multiple venues, including the NAEYC, Head Start's
National Research Conference, ACEI, TESOL, AAAL, the International
Society for Language Studies, International Conference on World
Englishes, and NCTE.  She is on the Research Committee of ACEI and
volunteers for www.unforgotten.org.

Anita Pandey’s research has appeared in international journals like
Childhood Education, TESOL Quarterly, Critical Inquiry in Language
Studies, Africa Today, Business Communication Quarterly, and Knowledge
Management.  She guest-edited the millennium issue of World Englishes
(London: Blackwell).  Her book, *The Child Language Teacher:
Intergenerational Language and Literary Enhancement* (from CIIL)
proposes a fresh approach to community-wide language and literacy.
Contact her for a copy.  She is associate editor of the Journal of
English as an International Language, and guest editor of the 2011 and
2012 issues of the International Journal of Communication.  She is
also on the Advisory Board of 4 international journals.  Her latest
book is titled Language Building Blocks: Essential Linguistics for
Early Childhood Educators (TCP: Columbia Univ.).  She has two
daughters (Sahara/Helper, aged 6 and Sarika/Singing Bird, 8) who
inspire her to be a better teacher and parent.  She can be reached at
languagebuildingblocks at gmail.com and 443-885-1752.

________

*Language Building Blocks* is available through several bookstores,
including:

http://store.tcpress.com/0807753556.shtml

http://www.amazon.com/Language-Building-Blocks-Essential-Linguistics/dp/0807753556/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351005046&sr=8-1&keywords=Language+Building+Blocks
.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/language-building-blocks-anita-pandey/1111927460



-- 
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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