Tag Archives: language

When I was nine years old, an American boy named Kyle moved to our neighborhood in suburban Stockholm. When we met him, my best friend Gustaf immediately switched to English. I had never heard him speak much English before, but Gustaf had spent a couple of years in an American school in Germany and spoke it fluently. I only knew a few English words, but I don’t remember it ever being a problem. We played well, and I always had…

Two of the leading researchers involved with preschool television program Dora the Explorer, Head of Education Research Mariana Díaz-Wionczek and Creative/Cultural Advisor Carlos Cortés,  describe how the show evolved from merely featuring a Latina character to intentionally teaching Spanish, highlighting dual language capabilities, and promoting Latino culture. It was the early 2000s when Carlos Cortés, professor (now emeritus) at UC Riverside, and Mariana Díaz Wionczek, researcher, joined the production team of the fledgling series Dora the Explorer. At that time,…

About a month ago, we released a sneak preview of the literacy app analysis that we’re conducting with New America to discover more about the apps that families and educators are using to help children learn to read and communicate. As part of this preview, we provided a quick summary of our approach to this analysis of language- and literacy-focused apps for children ages birth to eight. Today, we are excited to share even more of our findings. In our…

Is that a poem in your pocket? What was your favorite poem from childhood? Do you, like me, occasionally shudder with the echoes of an older brother who could recite “For Sale” from memory? Does a poem evoke fond childhood memories like a shared memory between siblings, as it does for Research Fellow Sarah Vaala? Whatever your connection, poems have the ability to engage us all with a long tail effect.   Today is national Poem in Your Pocket day.…

Ming Ming Chiu of the University of Buffalo observed informal conversations between parents and children in his recent study, Inequality, family, school, and mathematics achievement: Country and student differences (Social Forces journal). After examining familial patterns in more than 100,000 students, Chiu showed that communications around current affairs, such as the recent BP oil spill, can help boost math achievement. Through discussion, children develop “mental models of mathematical quantities and processes” which support formal instruction in the classroom, resulting in…