State board approves bilingual initiative

Aspiring and current school teachers may now earn a new certification at Southern Illinois University Carbondale to teach English as a second language and bilingual education.

Something to sing about -- Faculty and students of SIUC bilingual education serenade Gilberto Negron on his birthday. From left to right, back row: SIUC linguistics professors Joan E. Friedenberg and Mary V. Montavan; front row: graduate students Colleen E. Springer, Laura C. Silva and Negron.

"SIUC is the first and only university in the State of Illinois to offer this new teacher certification," says a beaming Joan E. Friedenberg, a linguistics professor instrumental in the initiative's September approval by the Illinois State Board of Education.

Formally, the certification is in English as a new language. It will be available to those who wish to teach grades K-12.

The SIUC linguistics department, in the College of Liberal Arts, and the teacher education program, in the College of Education and Human Services, are partnering up to administer the program.

For more information, email or call Joan E. Friedenberg at 618/453-6531.

Friedenberg heads a federally funded project based at SIUC aimed at improving bilingual education in Southern Illinois.

The U.S. Department of Education project, Bilingual Education Training for All Teachers, provides scholarship money for bilingual students who wish to become certified bilingual teachers, stipends for University faculty who attend workshops aimed at retooling teacher certification classes and small grants for teachers who learn techniques for teaching children lacking in English skills.