Durango Building, Downtown Campus

Bilingual education publication, local schools honored

(Oct. 20, 2003)--A bilingual education publication and a study conducted in local elementary schools will be celebrated at a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 23 in the Durango Building Southwest Room (1.124) at the UTSA Downtown Campus. The event is free and open to the public.

The publication, "Becoming Biliterate: A Study of Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Education," is written by UTSA education professor Bertha Perez and is based on a study conducted at O.P. Storm Elementary and J. Bonham Elementary schools.

The study showcases children who use two languages to succeed in school and documents how teachers tap and develop this knowledge to challenge and expand children's thinking and literacy practices.

"In 'Becoming Biliterate,' I describe the shared intellectual and everyday activities of students and teachers in these two-way bilingual immersion classrooms and schools," said Perez. "I do so with the utmost appreciation and respect for the hard work of forging a new way of learning and becoming biliterate."

UTSA professors Ellen Riojas Clark, Mari Riojas Cortez, Belinda Bustos Flores and Howard L. Smith, hosts of the event, will recognize the two-way bilingual immersion program and the participating faculties from the schools.

For more information or to RSVP, call 210-458-2517 or e-mail Mari Riojas Cortez.