PreK-12 Arabic and Hebrew Professional
Development Institute
The institute was held in collaboration
with the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC)
at Iowa State University, the University of California at
Los Angeles’ (UCLA) Center for World Languages, and
the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angeles. Daily
sessions met in classrooms on the UCLA campus.
Institute Goal:
To help teachers of Arabic and Hebrew at the PreK-12
levels develop teaching practices aligned with the goals
of the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning.
Institute Purpose:
To enhance student outcomes in Arabic and Hebrew programs
by giving institute participants hands-on experiences with
research-based best practices and instructional strategies
in foreign language teaching and learning.
"For the first time, UCLA hosted a training workshop
for teachers from Arabic- and Hebrew-language parochial schools.
Iowa State University and Los Angeles-based organizers used
a Russian class for five-year-olds as a model for teaching
exclusively in the target language. "
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Institute Leaders: Cherice Montgomery,
Cindy Kendall, Elena Farkas
Language Experts: Arabic – Lena
Kholaki;Hebrew – Aviva
Kadosh
Institute Objectives:
- Consider instructional strategies
that develop language and literacy skills and meet the
needs of culturally diverse learners (including those with
a variety of learning styles and special needs) when planning
learning experiences for students;
- Identify some of the strengths and weaknesses in the
children’s demonstration class lessons participants
will observe and consider multiple hypotheses that might
explain them;
- Engage in professional dialogue and reflection with
colleagues regarding instructional methods and materials,
curriculum development, assessment, and program articulation;
- Find, evaluate, and incorporate culturally authentic
materials and supplemental resources into participants’ lessons;
- Adapt textbook lessons to make them more communicative
in nature, more proficiency-oriented, more culturally contextualized,
and better suited to students' individual needs and interests;
- Investigate instruments and techniques for assessing
students’ understanding;
- Experiment with various techniques for providing students
with feedback;
- Explore a variety of instructional media and other technologies
as tools for strengthening communication, supporting students'
learning, enhancing instruction, and improving participants’ productivity
as teachers;
- Plan culturally contextualized, standards-based, communicative
activities or lessons;
- Strengthen professional relationships with colleagues.
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