whatischeese.com

Freedom to Confront the Culture

estherbrumme@gmail.com (Esther) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 22:06:47 +0000

I carry around a

From the Road

estherbrumme@gmail.com (Esther) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 21:07:17 +0000

Surrounding us are endless stretches of farmland. The light blue skies threaten to melt the delicate powdered sugar dusting. The air has an unmistakable earthy smell to it. As we head towards the western parts of Ukraine, more and more Ukrainian is spoken, less and less Russian. It's quite different from the sights and smells of a big city like Kharkov. There, the crew filmed the story of a cou

Service. American style.

estherbrumme@gmail.com (Esther) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 02:14:11 +0000

If the US excels at anything, it would be in the area of customer service. Thinking back on previous situations and places I’ve traveled to, I see this type of service to be quintessentially American. For better or for worse, the customer is always right in the USA. The mentality is that one happy customer will tell one friend but one unhappy customer will tell everybody.

Bilingual and American

estherbrumme@gmail.com (Esther) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:29:17 +0000

I left a very insular America twenty years ago. When my family emigrated to France, there were serious concerns about how terrible our education might be, if there were sit down toilets there, and 'what language do they speak there anyway?'. I lived twenty years of my life abroad thinking America had remained self-absorbed during those two decades.

However, upon returning last year, I noticed the US had started to change. Admittedly, because the world around it is also changing. It is almost as if large segments of the nation were let out of Plato's cave to face reality. That reality is one of new super powers, narrowing distances and discovering the dangers of our stubborn self-reliance. Of course, there will always be pockets of resistance because the 'foreign' feels like a threat. (Covering our ears will keep us safe, competitive and patriotic, right?) By in large though, there is a new realization is that it is acceptable, and even good to be exposed to different cultures and perhaps actually learn a foreign language..eek, maybe starting at a young age?!

We now know for a fact that being exposed to another language, and all the more so being bilingual, not only flexes the brain, but opens the mind and exponentially increases our chances to interact with the world out there. One can be a 'good American' (arguably a better one) and be bilingual. In other words, being open doesn't have to be a threat to your Americanism - it can actually enhance it! We have seen a lot of evidence of that burgeoning cultural openness within our immediate circles. Of the dozens of articles, documentaries (like this) and reports (like this or this) emerging daily, below is yet another piece that kindles new hope in me for cultural awareness, bilingualism and biliteracy in the USA. In her article, no longer merely viewed as a quirky new education idea, Janet Fuller writes about bilingualism, which has at times been seen as not 'traditionally American'. She states "until this ideology is challenged, we will continue to encounter resistance to bilingual education, no matter how many studies prove that it is the most effective way to educate our youth."

I am so excited to live to see the day Americans no longer fight cultural awareness and multilingualism but actually pride themselves in being culturally aware and yes, even bilingual. Something tells me, that time is potentially just around the corner...

Here is Janet's article in full:

Bilingual Education: What It Is, and Why and How It Works (or Doesn’t)
By Janet M. Fuller
Director of Women’s Studies, Southern Illinois University – Carbondale

Unless you’ve been comatose for the past decade, you are probably aware that the demographics of the public schools in the United States are changing, and many schools today have sizeable populations of kids who do not speak English as their first language. As a society, we have to decide how to best serve both these children and national interests.

Note that I do not say ‘educators must decide’, because this is not a matter that is restricted to what happens in the schools, but one which has its roots in wider societal values and consequences in everyday interactions. I do not mean to downplay the importance of educators, and researchers on education, by saying this; instead, I mean to broaden the responsibility to include all citizens.

So, let’s review the various options we have when we have children in public schools in the U.S. who do not speak English.

SINK OR SWIM
What often happens is that we hope that they will quickly assimilate, learn English, adopt the ways of the mainstream, and become indistinguishable from the rest of the kids. We all know people like this; they arrived in the United States from Korea or Honduras or Russia, speaking little or no English, at the age of eight or twelve or fifteen. They learned English quickly, graduated from high school, and went on to college. Today you would never guess, from accent or demeanor, that they had not always lived in the U.S.

But there are two things we should recognize.

First, they are exceptions; studies have shown that non-English-speaking children who are simply put into mainstream classrooms are far less likely to achieve academic success than those who have the benefit of some sort of specially designed program (see here).

Often at least part of the secret to their success is that they had good literacy skills in their first (non-English) language when they arrived in the U.S. and had substantial support in their first years of schooling in English. These latter aspects are often related to socio-economic class –but kids whose own parents are not well-educated are less likely to have had access to high quality education in their home country, and are less likely to have parents who can help them with their schoolwork once they have emigrated to the U.S.

So, the bottom line: tossing non-English speaking kids into a mainstream classroom with no additional support for learning English might work for some, but is a practice which discriminates against working class kids.

The second thing we should recognize about these gifted people who have excelled with no institutional support is that there is a cost to assimilation.

Sometimes that cost is loss of the first language. Even if a child continues to speak their first language, they may lose literacy in that language, which means that their proficiency in their first language is of limited value on the job market. This devaluation in potential economic value is not the only value lost; in this highly literate society, people who have limited literacy skills in a language often have a sense of inadequacy about their overall performance in that language, leading to decreased use of the language…and this is part of the spiral of assimilation.

And aside from loss of linguistic competence, the cost of assimilation may be a sense of alienation from other speakers of that language that are not as integrated into the mainstream culture, including family members, or feeling that one has lost a connection to their first culture. Many people today who are opposed to bilingual education talk about their grandparents, and how they came to this country, learned English and didn’t teach their children Polish/German/Italian, etc., so why do these Hispanics (or these Chinese, etc.) need bilingual education? My response to that is yes, they lost their ancestral languages and assimilated; but was that a good thing? Isn’t it possible to be a good American (whatever that may be) and also a bilingual?

This method — often called ’submersion’ or the ’sink or swim’ method of educating English Language Learners — is not a fair or effective strategy, and loss of the first language is not necessary for integration into U.S. society.

TRANSITIONAL BILINGUALISM
So if we accept that we must offer some sort of support for English Learners in the public schools, what often happens is that children are offered English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction. Depending on how this is done, this is often the best, and only option; if there are children who speak Spanish, Mandarin, Guajarati and Arabic in the school district, bilingual education is clearly not an option. ESL instruction in these cases should be geared toward supporting the children in their acquisition of English and completion of assignments in other courses, but participation in ESL instruction should not prevent them from being able to participate in AP or Honors courses.

But in some communities, there IS a concentration of English Language Learners who all speak the same first language. I will refer to that language as a ‘minority language’; although immigrant languages are often majority languages in other countries, they are spoken by a minority in the U.S. context.

One of the common approaches to bilingual education is what’s called “transitional bilingual education”. In this approach, all of the speakers of the minority language are put together and taught in both the minority language and English — the minority language, their first language, so that they can continue to do grade-level work, and English so that they can learn the majority language and transition into mainstream (English-speaking) classrooms. In these programs, the institutional goal is transition, not maintenance of two languages. Often the program is structured to get the children into mainstream classrooms as quickly as possible — after one or two years of bilingual education.

And what’s wrong with that, you may ask?

What’s wrong with “transitional education” is twofold, each fold with a parallel to the problems I discussed with the sink-or-swim strategy.

First, it isn’t very effective; all studies of bilingual education show that transitional programs are less effective than maintenance programs (see, for example, this discussion of a longitudinal study) and research on literacy acquisition indicates that it takes up to six years to acquire academic competence in a second language.

Transitional education is also not very effective in terms of social integration. Think about it; the kids are isolated in classrooms with other kids of immigrant background; so who are they learning English from? The one aspect of the sink-or-swim approach which makes sense is the integration of minority language speaking children into an English language environment — we know kids learn from other kids, so it’s important for them to have contact with their English-speaking peers.

Transitional bilingual education thus really fulfills none of the goals we set for bilingual education; it isn’t an effective way of having the children become competent students in English, and it isn’t effective at all in having the children become competent social beings in English.

The second problem with transitional bilingual education is that it sends the message that the minority language is not valuable, and speaking it marks you as a second class citizen. If the goal is to learn English, the kids very quickly understand that means that a parallel goal is to lose the minority language. So again we are confronted with the question: why do we not want to create bilingual U.S. citizens?

There is one type of bilingual education program which does exactly that.

TWO-WAY IMMERSION
Commonly called Two-Way (or Dual) Immersion programs, these programs are designed to serve children who have a minority language as their first language AND those who have English as their first language, and make them all into bilinguals. The underlying ideology of such programs is that bilingualism is a good thing, and that we not only want to foster it among children who speak languages other than English in the home, but also promote it among children who speak English at home. (See http://www.cal.org/twi/directory/ for a list of such program in the U.S. — maybe there’s one near you!)

Studies of program effectiveness show that these programs are much more successful than any other type of program for the English Language Learners, and those kids who were Anglophone to start out with (that is, those who spoke English as a first language) also excel academically. (The study cited above, found here, addressed this issue.)

It takes years, however, for the children to (on average) reach the same level of average achievement as children who are not English Language Learners, but generally by the sixth grade they outperform their peers. That’s right, although in the earlier years they may not be doing quite as well, by sixth grade they OUTPERFORM their peers. And, contrary to all intuitive sense of what would work, in studies of Spanish-English bilingual programs, the programs in which the children have more instruction in Spanish — 90% Spanish, only 10% English — the children do the best. When tested in English.

How do we explain this? Is there something magical about learning two languages that makes everyone smarter?

Well, no, although there are lots of studies that show that speaking two languages increases cognitive flexibility and ability to multitask, so we know that multilingualism is good for our brains.

But there are other social factors that make these programs effective. First, the students who are not initially minority language speakers are usually a self-selected group; they are the children of parents who want this experience for their children, who value foreign language proficiency and are probably well-educated. These are kids who would probably be doing well in school anyway, so what we can say about them is that learning a second language doesn’t hurt them, and they have the added benefit of knowing a second language! I’ve talked to a lot of people who don’t like bilingual education, but no one I’ve ever talked to has found this a bad thing.

But that doesn’t explain why the kids who start school with limited proficiency in English do so much better in Two-Way Immersion programs, and that is, after all, the original goal of bilingual education.

These kids in Two-Way Immersion programs do better for a lot of reasons.

They do better because they are in a classroom where their language and, often, their culture is respected and integrated into the curriculum. They do better because they have English-speaking peers and learn English in the classroom AND through their interactions with their classmates. They do better because these programs are often part of a grassroots movement, and they have dedicated teachers, parental support, and they link the school to the wider community in meaningful ways (see, for example, this website from New Mexico). And they do better because literacy skills transfer, and if they can learn to read in their first language, then it’s easier to learn to read in English.

And, along with learning to read and write in English, and do math problems in English, and speak and understand spoken English, these kids — who started school able to speak and understand spoken the minority language — are also literate in that language, and able to do math, social studies, and science in either language.

OVERCOMING NEGATIVE ATTITUDES
But here’s the ugly truth. Many people think what’s good for the goose isn’t good for the gander. The attitudes I have encountered go something like this: ‘Wow, your English-speaking kids can also speak, read and write Spanish? Excellent! What an advantage in life! But why are we catering to the needs of those immigrant children by teaching THEM to read and write in Spanish? They already speak Spanish, why do they need to be educated in Spanish? What they need is immersion in English, because English is the language they need to get ahead!’

Wait…either bilingualism and biliteracy is good, or it’s not, and if it’s good (which most people agree it is, for people whose first language is English) then it should be good — and available, if possible — for all. So what I’m saying is that negative attitudes about bilingual education are rooted in negative attitudes about minority language speakers. The idea that their bilingualism is something to be valued and encouraged is seen as somehow un-American. And until this ideology is challenged, we will continue to encounter resistance to bilingual education, no matter how many studies prove that it is the most effective way to educate our youth.

Yes, I think bilingual education is a wonderful, beautiful thing, and not just because it teaches kids in two languages and helps them to surpass the average on standardized tests. Also because, at best, it teaches kids that there are many ways of speaking and being, and that they are all valuable. It is my firm belief that this is the most important thing they will ever learn – if they have the opportunity to learn it. Of course there are many, many other ways to teach children to understand and value diversity outside of a bilingual classroom. So while I am a proponent of bilingual education, and hope I have convinced you that it is a good thing for the children involved and for our society, more than anything I hope I have convinced you that it’s not just about language or academic success; those are things that grow in a school system situated in a society where we recognize the inherent value not just of languages, but also of the people who speak them.

Suggestions for further reading
“Reconstructing the Status Quo: Linguistic Interaction in a Dual-Language School”, by Shanan Fitts, in the Bilingual Research Journal, Volume 29, Issue 2, pages 337-365.

“Implementational and ideological spaces in bilingual education language policy”, by David Cassels Johnson, in the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Volume 13, Issue 1, pages 61-79.

Language and Education in Japan: Unequal access to bilingualism, by Yasuko Kanno. 2008. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

^{Article from online Popular Linguistics Magazine - I would have liked my article directly to their website but white on black is a little hard to read..}

^{Photo credit here}

Perfectionism kills creativity

estherbrumme@gmail.com (Esther) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 23:47:33 +0000

Something I love about the United States is how accessible inexpensive art supplies are. I clearly remember transition trainer Libby Stephens telling those of us (re)discovering the US last summer, that there is no reason to ever pay for anything full price in America. I remember being puzzled by her statement but have since seen that most every

^{Photo courtesy of www.kadoodleart.net}

Highlights from South Africa

estherbrumme@gmail.com (Esther) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 02:58:19 +0000

Even if the first two weeks flew by in a blur, we returned from South Africa with many fond memories. Before and during the Congress, we met or reconnected with dozens of stellar professionals, all dedicated to working in various areas of communication. Besides seeing Nicky Gumble or Judy Bailey in passing, none of the 200 communications staff really experienced the Congress itself, yet each pe

A little dazed, we picked up our 'cute' right-hand drive 60bhp 1L Kia Picanto. If that means nothing to you, let’s just say that it takes her 16.4 seconds (yawn) to reach 60mph. Top Gear describes the Picanto as a “virtually disposable city car (…) If the other option is walking, then the Picanto may be attractive. As soon as there's a sniff of a decent pushbike it'll be out the door though.” Aww! So anyway, we “sped” in our rental to our B&B in the Stellenbosch area, where we spent four relaxing days catching our breath. Everywhere we looked, the Western Cape was stunning. Wild ostriches, peacocks and penguins; mountains dramatically falling into turquoise beaches or rolling vineyards; flat top acacia trees and blooming proteas…It would be like heaven on earth if it weren’t for the crime. And if so many people didn’t have to live in townships. And if pedestrians didn’t just walk across the dimly lit speedways, for that matter!

Being near Stellenbosch, we visited a number of local wine estates, many of which are producing nothing short of world-class wines. The tasting experience is quite different to wine tasting in France. Most of the South African vineyards have a long list of wine and they charge a tasting fee, which allows you to try a flight of 4 to 5. You don’t usually meet the producer. And.. most of them have great websites! :) Wine tasting was a fabulous gift, not only to us but to our cellar. Still, the highlight of our post Congress days was our dining experience. The Rust en Vrede wine estate / restaurant came as a recommendation from a foodie friend and happened to be in the top 100 restaurants in the world according to San Pellegrino’s 2010 listing - a fitting venue to celebrate our anniversary (a little late). By now, we’ve been to our share of good restaurants around the world but this was truly a great restaurant. I even catch myself flipping back to Rust’s menu to revisit those extraordinary dishes served. We could not agree more with the father of modern French cuisine Fernand Point, who said: “The difference between a good restaurant and a great restaurant is the sum total of a lot of little things done well.”

At Rust, each detail was perfect. Guards at the gate had our name, the maître d’ waited for us on the pathway leading up to the restaurant. We were welcomed with a gentle “we wish you a happy anniversary. Would you like to sit here?” The sommelier was generous, spot on and not pushing his priciest wines. Most importantly of course, the food was absolutely spectacular. It was a contemporary take on classic South African-French cuisine, plated like art. It’s hard to describe in words, but one month later, I can vividly recall the ingenious flavors of every single course. My first: lemon poached white asparagus, marinated pine rings, fresh honeycomb, ruby grapefruit and tallegio cheese. I’m assuming it might be rather boring (for you!) to read the detail of our four courses here, so I’ll finish by saying that we’ve since unsuccessfully tried to trace down the most delightful Fryer’s Cove wine served with Springbok. It was presented to us in an outrageous cereal bowl size glass with a delicate flared rim, intoxicating lips and palate with a campfire-like smoky Pinot Noir fragrance. Quick, let me change the subject lest I get carried away!

We’ve since returned to reality stateside. Another move and a house-warming party later, we’re slowly settling into a fun and fairly eclectic neighborhood of Denver. Andrew is gearing up for his upcoming filming trip to Eastern Europe and I’m busy scouting out what our Denver Part II holds for me after three months on the road. A good challenge indeed. So, watch this space!

Cape Town bound!

estherbrumme@gmail.com (Esther) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 20:56:18 +0000

Today is our last day in the USA before we depart to Cape Town. It's one of those organized chaos type of days, finishing up work, sniffing baby head, doing laundry, trying to think if we have the right adapter plugs. We knew today would be hectic, so already last night, we went to our 12m² storage unit where we have stored our earthly possessions for the past two months.

The o

China vs India

estherbrumme@gmail.com (Esther) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 23:43:41 +0000

We picked up the Economist at the airport WH Smith in New Delhi. Intrigued by the cover article "Contest of the Century - China v India"*, we spent our remaining Rupees to purchase the magazine as we flew out of Delhi. It is perilous if not absurd to think you could summarize thoughts about India and China in a one and a half page editorial.

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

estherbrumme@gmail.com (Esther) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 23:50:16 +0000

Farewells are always atrocious but this time seemed more intense than ever before. Taking off from Geneva ached as if my heart were physically torn out of my body and left on the tarmac as we took off. Following our Indian filming trip, we spent three weeks in Europe - boy do I love that place. We were mainly working, but also trying our best to see several long lost friends, soak in some South

Delhi to Kerala

estherbrumme@gmail.com (Esther) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:36:21 +0000

Once filming came to a close, we boarded the Bengalore-Trivandrum Express. We boarded the sleeping carriage to the chorus of snores behind dirty blue flaps. The odd foot poked out into the aisle and each were so tempting to tickle! Squinting, we found our narrow bunks, with the previous passengers' sheet rolled in a ball. A gruff train crew helped Andrew, rudely awaking the carriage with a flip