SPEAKING IN TONGUES
Del Olmo’s review made me want to read the book for several reasons, and I shall.
As a teacher of English as a Second Language (ESL) in the Los Angeles schools, I am curious as to what James Crawford says in his chapter on the “pedagogy of linguistics.” Sounds very academic.
Meanwhile, the taxpaying public needs to know what the public schools are doing in teaching the hundreds of thousands of non-English speakers in Los Angeles. As well as bilingual classes there are many, many students learning English by the ESL method. Simplistically, it is total immersion in English as opposed to translation. It can be used with all ages, 8 to 80. It works. Any reporter or citizen could walk into the numerous ESL classes in L.A. and see Armenians, Central Americans, Asians all learning English together.
The language of any nation is a connecting thread. Without that, many of our wonderful new Americans will quickly become ghettoized.
MARY MEYER, PASADENA
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