Educating Immigrant Children.

This column summarizes recent ERIC documents and journal articles, and highlights some World Wide Web resources that discuss various issues, including language issues, related to the education of immigrant children in the United States and other countries. For details about ERIC and ordering ERIC documents, please see the information following these abstracts.

ERIC Documents

ED434858

LANGUAGE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS: The Inner World of the Immigrant Child. Cristina Igoa. 1999. 15 pp. This paper describes teaching experiences that led one teacher to understand immigrant children's psychology, and the interventions necessary for fostering children's self-expression. The interventions occurred in a center for immigrant children of various cultures, where children were taught to express themselves through storytelling. The paper considers the relationship between psychology and language, and summarizes major themes in addressing the inner world of the immigrant child: 1) providing a "nest," 2) examining language arts textbooks, 3) providing early academic intervention, and 4) exploring art as a medium connecting psychology and language.

ED432432

REACHING OUT: Best Practices for Educating Mexican-Origin Children and Youth. Harriett D. Romo. 1999. 338pp. (Available from EDRS and from: ERIC/CRESS, P.O. Box 1348, Charleston, WV 25325-1348.) This book examines difficulties encountered by Mexican-origin students in American schools, and describes why some schools fall short in improving student outcomes. The author emphasizes positive changes that school staff, families, community, and students can undertake. The first chapter provides demographic information; the next five chapters focus on culture, language, gender, family and community, and social and political contexts. The seventh chapter describes organizations and programs that provide resources and services.

ED431337

SOUTH-ASIAN IMMIGRANTS: Living in Two Cultures. Lata Jadhav. 1999. 11 pp. This report discusses immigrant children from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, focusing on their adjustment to and experiences in schools in the United States and on their different learning styles. Interviews focused on the children's approaches to learning and studying, parental expectations and academic standards, native and second language use at home, language use and attitudes at school, classroom procedures and environment, and things that the children missed about their home cultures.

ED413070

STRENGTHENING REFUGEE FAMILIES: Designing Programs for Refugee and Other Families in Need. Daniel Scheinfeld, Lorraine B. Wallach, & Trudi Langendorf 1997. 256 pp. (Not Available from EDRS. Write: Lyceum Books, Inc., 5758 South Blackstone Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637.) This manual details the practices of the Refugee Families Program (RFP) in Chicago, and the issues that have arisen in connecting these families to education, medical and welfare support services. RFP works with preschool-age children, helping their families prepare the children for public school and introducing parents to possibly unfamiliar concepts of child development that are necessary for adjustment to a new environment. In four parts, the book: 1) presents an overview of the program and a description of the refugees (mostly Cambodian and Vietnamese); 2) describes the program's services; 3) explains the program administration; and 4) outlines the planning needed to set up a similar program.

ED407156

DEVELOPMENT OF A SCHOOLBASED PARENT CENTER FOR LOW-INCOME NEW IMMIGRANTS. Thomas R. Johnstone & Diana Buell Hiatt. 1997. 41 pp. This case study of a school-based parent center in a low-income Latino community investigated the ways in which the parents became involved with their children's school, and identified barriers to and supports for implementing various parent involvement activities. The case study determined that parent surveys provided an important needs assessment tool; the school's "open-door" policy emerged as the strongest link between the school and the families; the principal was the key to establishing parent involvement as a school priority; the parent center benefited from collaboration with community agencies; and parents wanted a variety of services, especially classes in English as a second language.

ED390093

YOUR LAND, MY LAND: Children in the Process of Acculturation. Jacklyn Blake Clayton. 1996. 148 pp. (Not available from EDRS; write Heinemann, 361 Hanover Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801-3912.) This book recounts the acculturation of four children from Norway, Brazil, Russia, and Bulgaria into an American elementary school, as observed by the author, teachers, parents, and children. Aside from linguistic barriers, some cultural issues are so endemic that neither teachers nor the students are fully aware of their impact. The book sheds light on the cultural adjustments made by immigrant students, examines teachers' and students' values, and recommends practical ways to reach across cultures.

ED358868

GETTING TO KNOW YOU: Fiction As a Tool To Create a World of Mutual Understanding and Respect. Gunilla Janlert. 1992. 15 pp. Migration often creates problems in the host country, and ignorance often engenders hatred toward newcomers. The author explains how fiction can be used in a school setting to offset such problems. Fiction helps teach children respect for other cultures and religions, because it presents situations and not just facts.

ED334318

CROSSING CULTURAL BORDERS: Education for Immigrant Families in America. Concha Delgado-Gaitan & Henry Trueba. 1991. 212 pp. (Available from EDRS and from Falmer Press, Taylor & Francis Inc., 1900 Frost Road, Suite 101, Bristol, PA 19007.) With the rapid increase of ethnic minorities entering industrial societies and interacting with mainstream cultures, issues of cultural and linguistic differences must be addressed. Particularly relevant to educators is understanding the process of acculturation and socialization of uprooted ethnic or low-income minority children. This book, based on an ethnographic study, describes relationships between home and school for first-generation Hispanic children in a California community. It explores the impact of cultural, community, and family setting and values on these minority children's adjustment to their new learning environment.

Journal Articles

EJ557389

PROVISION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LINGUISTIC PROFICIENCY OF YOUNG IMMIGRANTS IN ENGLAND AND WALES AND FRANCE: A Comparative Study. Monica Loewenberg & Bob Wass. Comparative Education, Vol. 33, No. 3 (November 1997): 395-409. This article compares educational practices related to the linguistic competence of young immigrants in France and England, discussing segregationist versus integrationist approaches, effectiveness of second-language instruction, and provision of mother-tongue instruction.

EJ540562

CULTURALLY RELEVANT COUNSELING SERVICES FOR KOREAN AMERICAN CHILDREN: A Systematic Approach. Bryan S. K. Kim, Michael M. Omizo, & Darryl S. Salvador. Elementary School Guidance & Counseling, Vol. 31, No. 1 (October 1996): 64-73. This article discusses Korean American children's unique cultural and psychosocial needs, and offers a useful counseling model. The article explains how to identify children who may benefit from counseling.

EJ499468

LITERACY AND BILINGUAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS: Assessing the Research. Marcel Danesi. Mosaic, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Fall 1993): 6-12. This article argues, on the basis of research carried out in Canada and Belgium, that not only does the formal learning of an ancestral language in school enhance the overall cognitive abilities of immigrant children, it also constitutes the optimal means by which such children can gain literacy in the dominant language.

EJ456308

UNDERSTANDING THE SPECIAL NEEDS OF FORMER SOVIET CHILDREN. James L. Hoot & Ella Bonkareva. Childhood Education, Vol. 69, No. 2 (Winter 1992): 82-85. The article describes characteristics of immigrant children from the former Soviet Union and implications of these characteristics for U.S. teachers. The article considers differences between U.S. and Soviet schools in scheduling practices, hygiene, racial composition, meal- and naptime routines, languages, clothing, and parent-school relationships.

EJ449886

INNER CITY TEACHERS' WORK AND THE ASSESSMENT, PLACEMENT, AND ONGOING EDUCATION OF IMMIGRANT CHILDREN. Charlotte Reid & Jon Young. Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 30, No. 9 (1992): 41-51. This article focuses on the problems that Canadian teachers face in assessing, placing, and teaching recently immigrated children in an elementary school. The article suggests the need for providing a context and resources that will enable teachers to create sound educational experiences.

The ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education (ERIC/EECE) contributed this column. Abstracts of ERIC documents and journal articles can be read on ERIC microfiche and on CD-ROM, available in many libraries. For online locations to search the ERIC database, visit the ACCESS ERIC Web site at www.accesseric.org, Most ERIC documents can be ordered in paper copy or on microfiche, and many recent documents can be ordered on the Internet, from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). For complete ordering information, contact EDRS at 800-443-3742, edrs.com, or [e-mail]. An availability source is indicated for those documents that are not available from EDRS. For journal articles, refer directly to the journal or contact article clearinghouses such as UnCover (800-787-7979), UMI (800-732-0616), or ISI (800-523-1850). Further information on elementary and early childhood education is available from ERIC/EECE, Children's Research Center, University of Illinois, 51 Gerty Drive, Champaign, IL 61820-7469; phone: [phone]; E-mail: [e-mail]; URL: ericeece.org/.