Bilingual and ESL Classrooms - 6th Edition by Carlos J Ovando & Mary Carol Combs (Paperback)

About the Book

This classic text integrates theory and practice to provide comprehensive coverage of bilingual and ESL education.

Book Synopsis

This classic text integrates theory and practice to provide comprehensive coverage of bilingual and ESL education.

Review Quotes

In the most recent volume, Professors Ovando and Combs offer educators ways to build "bridges of beauty" between diverse English learners' home backgrounds and the language and culture of the school. In so doing, they help us navigate the often treacherous "up and down" political terrain in which bilingual and ESL education resides. For Ovando and Combs, the starting and ending points in traversing this terrain are the learners themselves. By keeping our eyes fixed on the learners and, in the authors' words, the "great human richness" they bring with them to school, we can enrich and transform education for all.

Ovando and Combs' 6th edition offers a situated and practical guide for classroom teachers and school leaders, embedded in a deep and accessible discussion of theory and policy. The book is an excellent choice of anchors for any bilingual and ESL teacher preparation program.

The new edition of Bilingual and ESL Classrooms stands firmly on the shoulders of the five previous editions, and like each of its predecessors, it has incorporated new insights from the continually growing body of evidence that supports the relevance of bilingual education for a new and increasingly diverse group of students.

The often used word to denote a special status for a literary or scholarly work is "classic." The new edition of Bilingual and ESL Classrooms deserves this appellation but with a difference in that the authors have continued to subtly and overtly generate new and often profound narratives of explanation and application of the most important theoretical and methodological issues and direction in bilingual education. Theirs is a narrative completely devoid of superficial solutions but instead very hard-nosed and uncompromising in their command of the literature and practice of bilingualism.

The 6th Edition of Bilingual and ESL Classrooms provides us with the information to make powerful choices for both ourselves and our students. It also challenges us to use this information to create classrooms where learning is stimulated by caring and collaborative relationships across cultural and linguistic boundaries.

About the Author

CARLOS J. OVANDO is Professor Emeritus, School of Transborder Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University. Before joining the School of Transborder Studies, he served as associate dean of Teacher Education and director of the Division of Curriculum and Instruction in the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education.

MARY CAROL COMBS is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching, Language and Sociocultural Studies, University of Arizona, in Tucson. Her research explores the intersections between language and education policies, school funding, and public perceptions about immigration and schooling, particularly in the state of Arizona.