The Language and Culture Division (LCD) provides accountability with support to districts that serve students participating in Bilingual Multicultural Education Programs (BMEPs) so that all participating students achieve the program goals as outlined by New Mexico statute and administrative code, which are: (1) students become bilingual and…

The Language and Culture Division (LCD) provides accountability with support to districts that serve students participating in Bilingual Multicultural Education Programs (BMEPs) so that all participating students achieve the program goals as outlined by New Mexico statute and administrative code, which are: (1) students become bilingual and…

This article explores the experiences of Spanish-speaking Latinx university students in a sign language interpreting program who were enrolled in service-learning classes. In the service-learning classes, the students partnered with a community service agency for the deaf that provided intervention services to Spanish-speaking families with deaf…

Teaching a second language to students who are Deaf and hard-of-hearing is unique because language learning techniques often disrupt spoken/phonocentric models of bilingual language learning that require speech before learning to read and write. Balanced bilingual educational strategies in education of Deaf and hard-of-hearing students include…

In recent years, deaf and hard of hearing people have raised awareness about the importance of providing early intervention, support, and resources for deaf and hard of hearing children, emphasizing the importance of using American Sign Language (ASL). With ASL, parents and educators can capitalize on the child's vision to ensure he or she is…

Capitalizing on preschoolers' inherent enthusiasm and capacity for learning, the authors developed and implemented a dual-language program to enable young children to experience diversity and multiculturalism by learning two new languages: Spanish and American Sign Language. Details of the curriculum, findings, and strategies are shared.

Storytime audiences grow ever more diverse, and it's important that the materials used in programs reflect that richness of experience. Multiculturalism need not be an occasional initiative attached to particular holidays. In this book best-selling authors MacMillan and Kirker offer a new paradigm for multicultural programs, one in which diversity…

Within education and social justice, the lenses of race, class, and gender are prevalent in analyzing multifaceted oppression, but there is a need to expand beyond those in order to obtain a more in-depth understanding of the intricacies of oppression. The autoethnographic approach enables me to use my experiences a Korean adoptee with a…

A synopsis of research on language, cognition, and communication in deaf students and adults explores basic linguistic processes, evaluates present understanding of sign language as a language, and relates language to ethnicity and biculturalism, concluding that American Sign Language should be the preferred language of instruction. (Author/CL)

Considers how learning to read can be difficult for Deaf students, but the task is even harder for Deaf minority students. Explores strategies to inspire an interest in reading and multicultural acceptance for Deaf and hearing students alike. (SG)

The deaf community in the United States is a distinct subcultural group that is bilingual, diglossic, and trimodal. The deaf should be considered a legitimate cultural and linguistic minority, and entitled to educational programs reflecting this. Inclusion of information on deaf people in multicultural education programs is advocated, and…

This paper discusses the role of American Sign Language (ASL) in educating deaf children, based on the history of using manually coded English (MCE). The paper concludes that use of ASL should not be the ultimate goal of bilingual bicultural programs, and, in some classrooms, the optimal program will be complementary use of ASL and MCE. (JDD)

This article describes the program of the Sign Talk Children's Centre (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), a bilingual/bicultural day-care program for deaf and hearing children (ages two to five) of deaf and hearing parents. It also describes the program's systematic assessment of children's language delays in both English and American Sign Language. (DB)

This discussion focuses on the growing trend in deaf education toward bilingualism/biculturalism, with special emphasis on schools for the deaf in Canada. American Sign Language and la Langue Signes Quebecois on the one hand and English and French on the other are used as examples of bilingualism. Biculturalism is seen in the deaf individual's…

The Star School staff of the Engaged Learners project at the New Mexico School for the Deaf in Santa Fe has completed its fourth year of a 5-year federally-funded program. This project aims to improve language-teaching practices of teachers who work with learners who are deaf by providing training in current bilingual theories and pedagogical…