Melrose Public Schools has announced that they are offering the Seal of Biliteracy. View press release.Melrose announces Seal of Biliteracy
Melrose Public Schools has announced that they are offering the Seal of Biliteracy. View press release.Melrose Public Schools has announced that they are offering the Seal of Biliteracy. View press release.Framingham announces Seal of Biliteracy
Framingham Public Schools has announced that it is participating in the Seal of Biliteracy initiative in Massachusetts. Congratulations!
More States and Districts Embrace Biliteracy
Thirteen states now offer a “seal of biliteracy,” and at least 10 more are working toward implementing a similar award. Students in nine of the nation’s 10 largest school systems can earn statewide or district-level recognition with the seal affixed to their diplomas or transcripts as official proof that they can speak, read, and write in more than one language.
Education Week: More States and Districts Embrace Biliteracy
Interpreters and translators needed!
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects employment of interpreters and translators to grow by 46 percent between 2012 and 2022.
NPR: Hospitals Struggle To Help Farmworkers Who Speak Triqui Or Mixteco
Massachusetts falls farther behind in language education
As dual-language programs are added around the country, Massachusetts falls farther behind in promoting language education:
School leaders in New York City, the nation’s largest district, are expanding their dual-language offerings beyond Spanish and Mandarin to include Russian, Hebrew, Japanese, and Haitian Creole.
The Houston school district opened an Arabic-language school this year, in part because the metropolitan region has seen its Arabic-speaking population spike in recent years.
And in the Westminster, Calif., schools, the state’s first Vietnamese dual-language program opened in Little Saigon, a Vietnamese enclave in Orange County.
Education Week: Districts Diversify Languages Offered in Dual-Immersion
Webinar: The Benefits of Dual-Language Learning
White House Task Force on New Americans Offers Fourth of Educational and Linguistic Integration Webinar Series, on “The Benefits of Dual-Language Learning,”
Wednesday, September 30, 2015, 2–3 p.m.
This webinar—co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA)—explores the growing body of evidence suggesting that dual-language learners—those who are exposed to more than one language during the course of their development—have cognitive, meta-cognitive, and socio-emotional advantages over children who were exposed to only one language. Among immigrants, higher levels of English fluency and skill are also correlated with higher levels of education and longer residency in the United States. Panelists will share current research and promising practices for promoting biliteracy and increasing English proficiency in immigrant communities.
The webinar link will soon be posted on the webinar series page of OELA’s website, where you can also find materials from past webinars.
Is everyone around the world really speaking English?
A global perspective on why the U.S. should invest in language learning:
…Not everyone is on the English bandwagon—by some estimates, 75% of the world does not speak English.
Let’s explore some of the policies other countries have regarding English—and why they matter to the U.S.
EDWeek: Foreign Language Policies: Is Everyone Else Really Speaking English?
Language skills needed by CEOs
English isn’t enough. As the firm’s public face, CEOs are expected to reflect the local culture, including the language, which is important at a time when the growing dominance of English can breed resentment at home.
Bloomberg Business: Global CEOs Who Lack Language Skills Get Lost in Translation
Lawmakers must act to correct flaws in how we teach English learners
Letter to the Editor in support of the LOOK Bill and Seal of Biliteracy Bill from Boston College’s Lynch School of Education professor Anne Homza:
I know of no educational research or theory that supports the state’s restrictive, one-size-fits-all sheltered-English approach. In fact, there is no evidence that such a broad yet singular approach to learning would be appropriate for the education of any subgroup of students. The fact that such an approach has been applied to the subgroup of students who happen to come to school with proficiency in a language other than English is highly discriminatory.
The Boston Globe (July 17, 2015): Lawmakers must act to correct flaws in how we teach English learners
Language Opportunity 
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