The impetus to begin Bilingual Buds came about six years ago when the author, pregnant with twins and commuting into New York City, was reading about the numerous cognitive benefits for children of acquiring a second language early in their lives. She was surprised to learn that even by the age of six months, children begin to lose the ability to…

Describes the University of Maryland at Baltimore County's one-week foreign language exploratory program for fourth through sixth grade students, and details methods and strategies used to conduct "Spanish Day," where students learned about Spanish language and culture through songs, games, and stories. (CB)

Describes a lesson that is part of a summer enrichment program in Japanese language and culture and is taught by Interactive Distance Learning (IDL) through the Southeast Kansas Education Center. The class is designed for students going into Grades 4, 5, and 6 and runs 2 hours daily for 2 weeks. (Author/VWL)

Describes the activities and objectives of an intensive summer institute on language awareness for elementary school teachers. Evaluation of the institute included home school visits and found two benefits of the institute: (1) increased awareness and tolerance for language and cultural differences, and (2) significant practical applications of…

This teacher's guide accompanies a program designed as an introduction to Spanish as a second language in a daily, 4-hour elementary summer school program of 4 weeks in duration. The program is described as an activity-oriented, communication-based elementary foreign language immersion program. Detailed plans are provided for the first three…

During a summer course, an instructor used a method of corresponding with students to learn more about the students personally and academically. The exercise affected lesson preparation and the linguistic activities selected for the group. Objections to and benefits of the method are discussed. (MSE)

This article outlines a 2-year foreign language in the elementary school (FLES) pilot project that resulted in an unusual model of program funding and considers additional issues relevant to funding such programs. The 1990-1992 pilot project implemented by Michigan State University, the Black Child and Family Institute of Lansing, and the Lansing…

The development and results of a program designed to meet the inservice educational needs of teachers of foreign languages in the elementary schools (FLES) and to coordinate with a previously developed preservice program are described. The 2-week summer institute for inservice teachers was designed to correspond in content and emphasis with the…

A high intensity language training (HILT) summer program in English as a second language and Spanish as a second language offered to second through eighth grade students in the North Monterey County Unified School District (California) during the summers of 1982 and 1983 is described. The program funding, design, admission, development, and…

This journal serves the profession by providing a medium for the sharing of information, ideas, and concerns among teachers, administrators, researchers, and others interested in the early learning of languages. Articles in this volume include the following: "Foreign Language Teaching: What We Can Learn from Other Countries" (Ingrid U.…

A collection of essays on FLES (foreign languages in the elementary school) includes: "Public Education in America and the Implications of Foreign Language and Second Language Acquisition" (Peter Negroni); "The People Factor in the Glastonbury Public Schools" (Christine Brown); "Public Relations: Inside and Outside"…

The paper chronicles the struggles and challenges of teaching in a 6-week summer bilingual education program in a small town in Oregon. The program was a cooperative effort between a small town school district and Oregon State University at Corvallis. Teachers and researchers who entered into this project looked into the use of bilingual…

The first ten years (30 issues) of the newsletter for Iowa teachers of foreign language in the elementary school (FLES) contain a variety of articles on both curricular and extracurricular FLES programs and teaching. Topics addressed include: teacher certification; summer language camps; multicultural education and cultural awareness; program…