Ithaca College

Assistant Professor Cathrene Connery, of the IC Department of Education, has just published a new book, Profiles in Emergent Biliteracy: Children Making Meaning in a Chicano Community.  In the book, Dr. Connery presents ethnographic research about the language learning of Chicano kindergartners enrolled in a two-way, bilingual school in New Mexico.  Early response has been very laudatory!

“Too often we write about dual language programs from only research or policy perspectives.  This volume gets us on the ground and tells us what it is really like.  My hat’s off to M. Cathrene Connery for taking us there and filling in the blanks.  I will have all our bilingual and ESL prospective teachers read this book, and let it guide them into the profession.”  – Eugene E. Garcia, former Director of the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs in the U.S. Department of Education and Dean of the School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley; now Professor of Education and Vice President, Arizona State University.

“M. Cathrene Connery invites us for a ride in the back of her truck to experience the lives, homes, schools, and meaning making practices of two children from a dual immersion kindergarten.  Her book is a ‘must read’ that will transform the preparation of pre-service and in-service teachers, and help them define their own brand of success for children in dual language programs.  Connery offers great ideas and tools for success.”  Josie V. Tinajero, Dean College of Education, University of Texas at El Paso