Taken from the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) listserv: “The International Journal of Multicultural Education (IJME) is soliciting reviews of multicultural children’s books for its fall issue on Indigenous cultures to be published in December. Reviews can be done for picture books, easy readers, transitional readers, chapter books and literature for young adults.
“IJME is a peer-reviewed open-access journal for scholars, practitioners and students of multicultural education. Committed to promoting educational equity, cross-cultural understanding, and global awareness in all levels of education, IJME publishes two issues a year on various multicultural education topics.
“The review should consider the text from a multicultural perspective, paying attention to multicultural and monocultural themes, civil rights, cultural normativism, intercultural exchange, hybridity and so forth. Some questions might be: How does the author represent relationships between characters of different races or ethnicities? Does the text advocate for multicultural ideals in terms of political correctness or of civil rights? Are its representations of culture authentic or pejorative? Is this book likely to change the minds of its readers? Will it strengthen the convictions of those readers who share its perspective? How does this book compare with similar books on this theme?
“For picture books, additional questions might be, does the artist create authentic individualistic representations, or are they generic or stereotypical? Do the illustrations enhance the value of the text or are they superfluous? Do they possess pedagogical value in themselves, pointing toward traditions or unusual modes of representation”?
Submissions should be sent to mjoseph@rutgers.edu. More information can be found at the IJME website. Deadline is December 1, 2008.
Category: Language and Literacy
Issues related to supporting and promoting early literacy, family literacy and retention of first language.
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Call for reviews: International Journal of Multicultural Education
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Best Start Resource Centre annual conference (Toronto)
Best Start: Ontario’s Maternal, Newborn and Child Development Resource Centre (BSRC) is holding their annual conference Feb 23-25/09 in Toronto. Of interest to immigrantchildren.ca readers, these two workshops (descriptions taken from the conference website):
Giving Birth in a New Land, with Saleha Bismilla, Toronto Public Health
The changing demographics of Ontario have an impact for service providers such as nurses, physicians, midwives, and community workers who work in reproductive health. Women from diverse cultural backgrounds may have different needs and expectations when accessing health services. Service providers should be sensitive to these needs and can help women and their partners to prepare for having a baby in Ontario.
Child Language Development in Bilingual or Multilingual Environments, with Laurie-Ann Staniforth, First Words
This concurrent session will provide an overview of normal child language development in bilingual or multilingual environments. Bilingualism in the context of language delay or disorder will also be discussed. This session will include practical considerations for service providers such as issues to consider and how to work with and support bi- and multilingual children and families.
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Encyclopedia on early childhood development: 2nd language
A useful resource from the Centre of Excellence on Early Child Development, and their Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development on 2nd Language acquisition in young children.
An overview or synthesis on second language, including:
2nd-language learning acquisition and bilingualism at an early age and the impact on early cognitive development by Ellen Bialystok
2nd language/bilingualism at an early age with emphasis on impact on early socio-cognitive and socio-emotional development by Elena Nicolaids, Monique Charbonnier and Anamaria Ppescu
Learning to read in a second language: Research, implications and recommendations for services by Esther Geva. -
Fostering language acquisition in daycare settings
From the Bernard van Leer Foundation, a report on 2nd language acquisition. Fostering Language Acquisition in Daycare Settings looks at the research on migrant children and “explores the course and duration of second language acquisition, as well as the common linguistic behaviours that may arise. Conditions that influence children’s adoption of a second language and culture are then examined, as well as similarities and differences between first and second language acquisition“.
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Research papers on mylanguage.ca
mylanguage.ca is dedicated to raising the importance of home language (L1) retention as a tool to support the development of English in newcomer children. The site, developed by Dr. Roma Chumak-Horbatsch of Ryerson University’s School of Early Childhood Education has recently been updated and two new research studies by Dr. Chumak-Horbatsch have been added:
Early bilingualism: Children of immigrants in an English-language childcare center. (2008). Psychology of Language and Communication. Vol 12, No. 1.
Mmmmm…I like English: Linguistic behaviors of Ukranian-English bilingual children. (2006). Psychology of Language and Communication. Vol 10, No. 2.Visit mylanguage.ca to download both papers.
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International Literacy Day
Sept 8th will mark International Literacy Day, established in 1965 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 2003-2013 has been declared International Literacy Decade.
Related links:
UNESCO International Year of Languages
National Adult Literacy Database (NALD)
International Literacy Day Canada-wide events
Coming up Jan 27th: Family Literacy Day
Coming up Feb 21st: International Mother Language Day -
Brave new schools: Identity and power in Canadian education
From the Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development
The 2008 R.W.B. Jackson Lecture ~ Brave New Schools: Identity and Power in Canadian EducationWe are pleased to present Professor James (Jim) Cummins, a renowned second language education scholar in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, and Canada Research Chair, Language Learning and Literacy Development in Multilingual Contexts.
As the 2008 Jackson Lecturer, Cummins will draw on data from a 5-year research program entitled From Literacy to Multiliteracies to stimulate re-examination of the foundational principles of Canadian education in an era of increasing diversity and urgent global challenges. Influenced by international agencies such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), educational policy-makers in many countries have adopted an increasingly technocratic approach to the promotion of literacy and numeracy. The focus has been on the identification and implementation of evidence-based “best practices.” However, the frame of reference within which these “best practices” have been generated typically consigns issues related to societal power relations and teacher-student identity negotiation to the margins of consideration.
This lecture will call for a radically different approach to educational policy-making. The constructs of teacher-student identity negotiation and societal power relations will be proposed as empirically validated influences on academic achievement and as fundamental to the development of effective educational policy and practice. Recent OECD research and policy recommendations on the education of immigrant students will be analyzed to show that the marginalization of issues related to power and identity in educational policy-making is an ideological process that is far from “evidence-based.” A very different set of policy options and pedagogical opportunities for Canadian education emerges when the empirical and theoretical frame of reference is broadened to acknowledge the centrality of the multiple forms of diversity that increasingly characterize schools both in Canada and internationally.
The lecture will be held Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at the George Ignatieff Theatre, Toronto. Reception at 6pm, opening remarks and lecture at 7pm.
To RSVP and/or for more information, call 416.978.1125.
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Kahani: A South Asian literary magazine for children
Kahani: A South Asian Literacy Magazine for Children was founded by Monika Jain who wanted to find resources that would be relevant to her daughter’s experience. The result: an award-winning children’s magazine, free of ads and full of Asian culture and stories.
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Social support networks: A study on recent Chinese immigrant mothers and children
CERIS (The Joint Centre of Excellent for Research in Immigration Studies and Ontario Metropolis centre) has released a new research working paper (No. 66). Development of Social Support Networks by Recent Chinese Immigrant Women with Young Children Living in London, Ontario is a research study conducted by Wei Wei Da. The study was guided by two research questions:
Where do recent Chinese immigrant women with young children go for information on child-rearing?
Where and to whom do they turn to when they want help in raising young children in a new socio-cultural context? -
Call for proposals: Expanding literacy studies (US conference)
An international, interdisciplinary graduate student conference on literacy studies will be held at Ohio State University April 3-5/09. Proposals will begin being reviewed as of September 1/08 and will be accepted until October 15/08.
From the conference website: The theme Expanding Literacy Studies “draws from the larger conversation on literacy and literacy studies, the many myths of literacy and the growing number of new and emergent literacies”.
9 other US universities are involved. Let’s get some Canadian scholars in immigrant children studies participating and ensure L1 issues and solutions are part of this conference.