Bilingual Education in Colorado: A Disadvantage to English Learners
  Trista Harguth

Imagine life as a child in a foreign country, ignorant of the native language. Not knowing the main language would make anyone, especially children, feel isolated and secluded. Now, imagine life as an immigrant child involved in a bilingual education program, trying hard to learn the language.

The debate about bilingual education has been a long one. The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 created the first federal bilingual education policy for non-English speaking students. In 1974 the United States Supreme Court ruled that identical education was not equal education for limited-English students, meaning that teaching every student in English is not giving every student--language minority students in particular--an equal education, because not all children can understand English. In today's schools, English as a Second Language (ESL), Dual Immersion, and bilingual education are most commonly used. ESL is where English learners (students who are not fluent in English) are taught mainly in English for part of the day or the whole day with some native language assistance. Dual-Language programs instruct in two languages, in order for English speakers to learn another language and for English learners to learn English. In Bilingual education, also known as native language instruction, all or most of the school day is taught in the child's native language with little English instruction.   full text

Editor's Note:
  Karen Heise

The View From Here:
Lynne Fukuda

Who are this issue's contributors?

Process, Post-Process and Tradition
  Elizabeth K. Haller

Early in the first semester of my teaching career, I was asked if I adopted a traditional or a non-traditional style of teaching. At that time not only did I have no idea what the person meant by "traditional" and "non-traditional," but even if I had, I didn't think I had been teaching long enough to make a fair assessment. I liked the sound of "non-traditional"; therefore, I answered: "I'm not quite sure, but I think I'm leaning more toward non-traditional."

Now that the semester is drawing to an end, and I know the meaning of the above terms, I believe I can label myself as possessing a traditional style of teaching--but somehow, that just sounds bad. It seems that saying I adopt a traditional style is the same as saying, "I do not remain open to other options and choose to cling to the past." However, I am beginning to change my view. After reading Gary Olson's article, "Toward a Post-Process Composition: Abandoning the Rhetoric of Assertion," I finally have a clearer understanding of what is meant by process and post-process and believe they are linked to the ideas of traditional and non-traditional styles of teaching.   full text

Burned Notebooks
  Chris Shippey

Poetry:
     Eden's Shadow / The Dark Earth / Baptized in an April Shower
         K.L. Haley

The flowers are magnificent in spring.
An iris holds the beauty of a world
Within its purpled majesty, so small.
A tiny flower waves, so swift to bloom,
A star of white upheld on lances green.
And all around, all nature seems to sing...
          full text

Call for Papers