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Letters
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April
14, 1999 Dear
friends: On
this time of renewal, as I see the old cherry tree outside my window burst out
in blossoms and hope, my best wishes for you and your students. While
it is very sad to see that in California many districts have allowed political
persuasion to get on the way of the best possible education for their students,
it is also highly rewarding to ascertain that the efforts to give language
minority students the benefits of bilingual education and to facilitate that all
children have the advantage of learning a second language are well and strong
throughout the nation. The
NABE Conference in Denver was proof of the national awareness of
how successful dual language programs can be. The presence at CABE of
over 10,000 participants was a reaffirmation of the need and value of bilingual
education for California youth. In
February at USF we held the second Reading the World Conference on celebration
of multicultural children’s literature. This year, thanks to Isabel Campoy’s
vision and effort the conference was enriched by an exhibit of children books
illustrations “From the Magical Wizard of Oz to Grandfather’s Journey”.
The success of the exhibit has decided us to make it a permanent feature of the
conference. Isabel
and I are very pleased of having been the editors of an issue of
Cuentaquetecuento, published in Costa Rica, entirely devoted to Latino
children’s literature. Strengthening the ties with Latin America is one of our
main goals. Another
source of enthusiasm and hope is the developing of a SIG Special Interest Group
on Social Responsibility within IRA (the International Reading Association). We
are enclosing a flyer describing this effort and would like to encourage you to
join, and invite others to join. The
course on Authors in the Classroom (Teachers, Children and Parents as Authors)
continues to grow. In Miami, on the third year after our initial training, some
of the teachers from the initial group are already trainers and the enthusiasm
for creating books has spread like wildfire. In San Francisco we are in the
second year, with a most gifted group of teachers. And in Los Angeles, through
Project MORE, where we have had the pleasure of having Suni Paz work along us,
we have had the opportunity not only to work with highly creative teachers, and
very committed parents, but also to see whole schools involved excitedly in
authors’ study and enthusiastic responses to literature. All of it
incomparable sources of joy. New
books and publications are always an important addition to our lives. And there
have several in the last few months. Isabel has produced two videos: Huellas de
mi palabra and Path to my Word which explore the act of creation and being a
writer with the support of magnificent visual staging. Together we have produced
a guide, Aprender cantando, for the
Música Amiga Program and have presented much of our philosophy and our literacy
methodology through the very simple and pleasurable use of songs. We
have also upgraded the two handbooks: Home School Interaction and Effective
English Acquisition. And two new books for children have appeared: a picture
book, Three Golden Oranges (American Book Association “Pick of the List”)
and a book of childhood memories Under the Royal Palms (Notable Book in the Area
of Social Studies). We
are in the midst of preparing for our summer course in Spain, the IV Institute
on Transformative Education and Critical Pedagogy, which will take place in
Madrid between July 5th and July 24st those
interested can obtain information by contacting Nuria Alonso at 1755 O’Farrell
Apt. 1104 San Francisco, CA 94115 Ph: 415/346-7765 FAX: 415/474-4613. At
this point we would like to thank all of you who have invited us into your
classrooms, who have written or sent materials from your students, who have
attended our workshops and presentations or visited us at conferences. You are
constantly in our minds and to all of you are best wishes for a succesful end of
the year and a joyful and restful summer. Most
cordially,
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