When members of the Louisiana Association for Bilingual Education meet Friday for their 23rd annual conference, they will walk away with a host of techniques to keep alive native languages of students whose primary language is not English.

The organization promotes “bilingualism, biculturalism and equality,” that is, equal opportunities for students with limited English proficiency, said Rossana Boyd, the association’s vice president and conference chairwoman. “Students need to be provided language resources so they have meaningful education through their native language.”

The association works with the state Department of Education to plan conference sessions and activities for teachers and administrators, Boyd said. Programs such as tracking the academic progress of multilingual students have resulted from the two agencies working together. At the 1998 conference in Kenner, seminars were held on multiculturalism and bilingual education, she said.

The big push this year at the “A Bridge to the World” conference in New Orleans will be the assessment of programs for the 7,000 Louisiana students with limited proficiency in English, Boyd said. It will feature these topics: “Using Folklore in English as a Second Language/Bilingual Classroom,” “Resources for Teaching About Latin America,” “Demonstration of a Science Lesson for a Fifth-Grade Spanish Immersion Class,” “Successful Utilization of Computer-Assisted Language Instruction in the ESL/Bilingual classroom,” and “Dare to Break the Dropout Cycle.”

“The conference is to enlighten educators about the purpose of the bilingual and ESL programs,” said Elsa Charlie, LABE’s secretary and an active member of the National Association of Bilingual Education. “It updates the teachers with the knowledge of what’s going on on the issues of bilingual education.”

Charlie, who lives in Kenner, has worked as a teacher of English for students of other languages in the Jefferson Parish public school system since 1979. She has taught at Alice Birney Elementary in Metairie and A.C. Alexander Elementary in Kenner.

She said the conference has shown her methods that other educators statewide are using to help students whose primary language is not English.

“I like it because sometimes it’s a good chance to meet other teachers in the same field and learn about different ways to teach these children,” she said. “We need to keep this going.”

The organization, founded in 1977, has 80 members statewide, mostly from south Louisiana. Teachers, administrators and parents make up the roster.

The association exists to promote native language maintenance and development as students are learning English, to provide staff development to teachers and administrators, to create a forum to discuss issues and concerns related to educating students, and to provide solutions to those concerns, Boyd said. All are important aspects of helping students assimilate into American culture without losing their heritage.

“What we see over and over (is) the children (who) come from other countries tend to lose their native language and learn English,” Boyd said. The association came about to preserve native languages and customs, much like the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana, Boyd said. The association is affiliated with the National Association for Bilingual Education.

Friday’s conference is open to the public and is of particular interest to parents and educators of students with limited English proficiency. Registration will be available at the conference.

Several Jefferson Parish teachers and administrators will participate, including Margie Parker, coordinator of programs for foreign language and English for students of other languages.

“What the … conference does, it promotes an awareness of the need of children to learn in their own language while they are learning English,” she said. “The hardest things for children is to keep up with math classes, science classes … while learning English.”



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