Californian article- Two Languages Better Than One for Kids' Brains

If you missed the article in the Californian this past Monday, we've reposted it here.  It's definitely worth the read.

Two Languages Better Than One for Kids' Brains: Study

Bilingual children excel at problem-solving, creative thinking, research suggests

THURSDAY, Aug. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Children who speak more than one language seem to have a learning advantage: Being bilingual can improve children's problem-solving skills and creative thinking, a new study suggests.
The mental sharpness needed to switch between two languages may develop skills that boost other types of thinking, explained researchers from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.
"Bilingualism is now largely seen as being beneficial to children but there remains a view that it can be confusing, and so potentially detrimental to them," study leader Fraser Lauchlan, a lecturer at the University of Strathclyde's School of Psychological Sciences & Health, said in a university news release. "Our study has found that it can have demonstrable benefits, not only in language but in arithmetic, problem-solving and enabling children to think creatively."
The study involved 121 children roughly 9 years old in Scotland and Sardinia who spoke English or Italian. Of these children, 62 were bilingual and also spoke Gaelic or Sardinian. The children were given set tasks in English or Italian. Specifically, they were asked to reproduce patterns of colored blocks, orally repeat a series of numbers, define words and solve mental math problems.
The bilingual children performed much better on the tasks than those who spoke only one language, the investigators found.
"We also assessed the children's vocabulary, not so much for their knowledge of words as their understanding of them. Again, there was a marked difference in the level of detail and richness in description from the bilingual pupils," said Lauchlan, who is also a visiting professor at the University of Cagliari in Sardinia.
"We also found they had an aptitude for selective attention -- the ability to identify and focus on information which is important, while filtering out what is not -- which could come from the 'code-switching' of thinking in two different languages," Lauchlan added.
The study authors pointed out that the bilingual children who spoke Gaelic performed better than those who spoke Sardinian. They suggested the Gaelic-speaking children may have benefitted from the formal teaching of the language and its extensive literature. In contrast, Sardinian has a largely oral tradition with no standardized form of the language.
The study was released online in advance of print publication in the International Journal of Bilingualism.
More information
The U.S. National Institutes of Health provides more information on bilingual effects in the brain.

-- Mary Elizabeth Dallas

SOURCE: University of Strathclyde, news release, Aug. 3, 2012
Last Updated: Aug. 09, 2012
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Another DLP Class Added!!!!

UPDATE
As of last week, Lincoln hired another DLP teacher! We will now have two full kinders, one full 1st grade, one combo 1st/s2nd grade class, and one 2nd grade class.  The new teacher's name is Pablo Toledo.  Mr. Toledo comes to us from San Juan Baptista where he taught dual immersion for the past five years.  Mr. Toledo will teach the straight 2nd grade class and Maestra Williamns (formerly Boni) will teach the 1/2 combo.  I know the DLPA speaks for many Lincoln dlp families when we say "HUGE THANK YOU" to SCESD!!!!

Correction from previous post:

Kinder meet and greet is schedule for Friday, August 10th 3pm-4pm.  Also, we apologize for posting the incorrect time for the Back to School Night (6pm instead of 6:30pm); we hope it didn't inconvenience anyone.

2012-2013 DLP Classes Confirmed

As I am sure that many of you already know, Lincoln DLP will have two kinder classes, one first grade class and one second grade class.  We will welcome a new teacher: Sra. Maria Covarrubias.  Maestra Covarrubias and Maestra Ruiz will teach the two A.M. kindergarten classes.  Maestra Gonzalez will teach first and Maestra Williams (the newly married Boni) will teach second.  We have heard from the district that there are plans to assist the large first grade and second grade classrooms, but specific details are yet to be disclosed.  We will certainly keep you all abreast of any development or news.

Be sure to mark your calendars for the "Back to School" night on Thursday, August 9th at 6pm.  Remember that "Back to School" night is for parents only.  Kindergarteners are encouraged to meet their teachers on Friday, August 10th from 3pm-4pm.  The school's first PTO meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 12 at 6pm.  Our first DLP meeting is TBA.  We'll keep you posted!

On behalf of the DLPA board, we are all looking forward to seeing you and your children at school in a few weeks.  And we are very excited for the new families that will be joining our little community!

Study of Dual-Language Immersion Programs in Portland

The below article peeked my interest and I want to share it with all of you.  We will follow the research project closely and post the findings here when they are available.  I wish we had 10 dual immersion  k-12  programs in our area (maybe in the future)....


Study of Dual-Language Immersion Launches in Portland Schools
Education Week
By Lesli A. Maxwell


RAND Corporation researchers have kicked off a three-year research project <http://ies.ed.gov/funding/grantsearch/details.asp?ID=1294> -backed with a $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education-to examine the effects of dual-language programs on student achievement in English/language arts, math, and science in the public schools in Portland.

This study's results will be highly anticipated, as the demand for dual-language programs increases and more school districts look to them as the future of language instruction for both English-language learners and native English-speakers.

Researchers will compare achievement, attendance, and behavior outcomes between Portland students who applied through a prekindergarten lottery to enroll in a dual-language program and were selected and students who applied but did not receive entry.

The school district in Portland offers 10 dual-language immersion programs <http://www.pps.k12.or.us/departments/immersion/index.htm> : seven in Spanish, and one each in Japanese, Russian, and Mandarin Chinese.

Portland's programs are somewhat unusual in that they span from kindergarten (in a few cases, prekindergarten) through 12th grade. None of the programs is able to accommodate all the demand for them, so Portland uses a lottery system to determine admission. For the Spanish and Russian dual-language programs, as many as half of the spaces go to native speakers, with the balance left for native English-speakers, which fits the two-way immersion model because of the mix of native and non-native speakers of the target language. The Japanese and Mandarin programs are primarily for native English-speakers.

RAND researchers will partner with researchers from the American Councils for International Education for the study.