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Future Directions in Foreign Language Education
in the United States
Welcome to the December electronic newsletter of
the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center!
From No Child Left Behind and national security concerns
to the consolidation of ERIC Clearinghouses and the debut of the
Teaching of Foreign Languages Classroom Practice videos, foreign
language education is in the spotlight. Recognizing best practice
and recreating that practice in classrooms across the country is
a challenge being addressed by the American Council on the Teaching
of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), public television, and the NFLRC through
New
Visions in Action.
Cindy Kendall, Newsletter Editor
Marcia Rosenbusch, Director, National K-12 Foreign
Language Resource Center
Focus on Our Alumni
Best practice in the foreign language classroom requires a solid,
standards-based curriculum. The alumni of the NFLRC are talented
teachers and leaders in foreign language education. The NFLRC is
pleased to be able to publish standards-based
thematic units developed by teachers, for teachers. In our online
supplement you will find selections from two units, Fiestas
de Yucatán and La peineta colorada. You will also find a
graphic organizer related to thematic unit planning. The Thematic
Teaching Group (Charles Thorpe, Paris Granville, Michele Montas
and Claudette Moran) at the
NFLRC 2003 Mentoring, Leadership and Change Institute developed
and presented a graphic organizer useful for brainstorming ideas
for a thematic unit. The Thematic
Unit Planner with ACTFL Language Learning Standards is available
in PDF format.
Featured Website of the Month with a Focus
on the Classroom
Teaching
Foreign Languages K-12: A Library of Classroom Practices, is
being produced by WGBH with funding from Annenberg/CPB and in association
with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).
This product and website contain a a multi-media library for teacher
training in foreign languages with 27 half-hour and 2 one-hour video
programs, library guide, and website. The video series is scheduled
for public television broadcast in early 2004. The website has
extensive free video-on-demand. What a tremendous asset for demonstrating
to our profession and our nation what best practices in foreign
language education looks like in the classroom!
The following excerpt comes from the website: "Teaching Foreign
Languages K–12 is a video library illustrating effective instruction
and assessment strategies for teaching foreign languages. The language
classrooms shown in this library include Spanish, French, German,
Japanese, Italian, Latin, Russian, and Chinese. All classroom videos
are subtitled in English and are appropriate for K–12 teachers
of any foreign language. Created in conjunction with the American
Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the library
includes a 30-minute introduction and 60-minute overviews of ACTFL’s
Standards for Foreign Language Learning and new assessment practices,
as well as 27 classroom programs. In the half-hour classroom programs,
teachers from schools across the country model interpersonal, interpretive,
and presentational modes of communication throughout a range of
grade and competency levels. Concepts of culture, comparisons, connections
to students’ lives, and the importance of community are also
integrated into the lessons. A website and print guide accompany
the video programs, providing a complete professional development
experience."
Also, look for NFLRC alumnae Nancy Gadbois and Paris Granville
in the videos!
Focus on Research
The numerous content-specific ERIC Clearinghouses (including
the Languages and Linguistics
Clearinghouse hosted by the Center
for Applied Linguistics) will be consolidated. In January 2004,
the Department of Education
will begin to implement a reengineering plan for ERIC. The new ERIC
mission continues the core function of providing a centralized bibliographic
database of journal articles and other published and unpublished
education materials. Beginning in January, access
to ERIC will be from a centralized website, where you will be
able to:
- Search the ERIC database.
- Search the ERIC Calendar of Education-Related Conferences.
- Link to the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS) to purchase
ERIC full-text documents.
- Link to the ERIC Processing and Reference Facility to purchase
ERIC tapes and tools.
- Stay up-to-date about the ERIC transition to a new contractor
and model.
The Center for Applied Linguistics
(CAL) will continue to make available the books and other publications
produced by ERIC/CLL, and most of the content of the ERIC/CLL Web
site will be transferred to the CAL
website.
Focus on Future National Policy
On June 12, 2003, Senators Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and
Thad Cochran (R-MS) introduced S.
Res. 170 - Designating the years 2004 and 2005 and "Years of
Foreign Language Study". ACTFL is preparing to inform the
foreign language community and all Americans that the school year
2004-2005 will be designated "The Year of Languages."
ACTFL will invite foreign language and other organizations to participate
in this celebration by sponsoring or co-sponsoring an activity focused
on foreign languages. Watch for information on the ACTFL
website and information coming to you from your state, regional,
and/or national organizations about this important celebration.
ACTFL hopes to involve teachers, administrators, state, local, and
federal legislators and government officials, businesses, and parents
in this important celebration.
Focus on Current National Policy
No Child Left Behind is having a variety of effects on
foreign language education across the country. In March 2003, the
American Council on the Teaching
of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) published
an interview between ACTFL President Marty Abbot and Secretary
of Education Rod Paige that focused on No Child Left Behind
(Foreign Language Annals Volume 36, Number 1, pages 140-141).
Secretary Paige addressed
members at the ACTFL annual conference during the general session
in Philadelphia last month (November, 2003). In addition, Secretary
Paige also spoke at the World
Affairs Luncheon in November, 2003. On both occasions, Secretary
Paige emphasized the importance of foreign language education, as
illustrated in this quote from the latter address: "In my work
I have made it very clear that foreign language study is not expendable.
It is not an add-on. It is essential for a 21st Century education."
Focus on Collaborative Professional Support
From the Joint
National Committee for Languages (JNCL) and the National Council
for Languages and International Studies (NCLIS): "In the
newly released report, The Complete Curriculum: Ensuring a place
for the arts and foreign languages in America's schools, the
National Association of State Boards
of Education (NASBE) found that arts and foreign language education
is becoming marginalized and is increasingly at risk of being eliminated
as part of the core curriculum. In addition to highlighting the
benefits of foreign language education, the report offers several
recommendations to state policy makers on how to promote foreign
language study and the arts. NASBE's
summary and recommendations are available in PDF format. The
complete study is available for purchase in the NASBE
bookstore. This document includes ten recommendations
for state policy makers to ensure that the arts and foreign languages
are not lost through "No Child Left Behind", rather that
they are strengthened as part of the core curriculum."
Focus on National Direction
The NFLRC at Iowa State University, in collaboration with
the project co-chairs and task force leaders, continues to lead
the way in providing a national forum addressing the future of the
foreign language profession through the New
Visions in Action (NVA) Project. NVA is a project involving
K-16 educators from every state in a collaborative effort to improve
the profession. Individual and organizational participation is always
welcome and encouraged. Results from the national on-line survey
of ideal professional practices, conference presentations, and plans
for future action are highlighted on the
new NVA website. Each of the regional foreign language organizations
has made a commitment to work with a New Visions task force on a
specific project: SWCOLT, for example, is collaborating with the
Teacher Recruitment and Retention Task Force on a new national award
that will honor a foreign language teacher and will make the profession
more visible.
Staying on Top Using Technology
Do you multitask between programs on your computer, switching
screens by clicking your mouse? Alt + Tab is the shortcut you need
if you work on a PC platform! If you are working on your computer
and moving between one application and another (i.e. from your e-mail
to your word processing and back to your e-mail), then you can use
Alt + Tab on your keyboard to quickly move back-and-forth between
applications.
Quotes to Ponder
"Culture is 'To know the best that has been said and thought
in the world.'"
Matthew Arnold, Literature and Dogma (preface), 1873
"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think."
Socrates
"....since we can't know what knowledge will be most needed
in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead,
we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn
so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned"
John Holt, How Children Fail, 1964
"The fact is that if you have not developed language, you
simply don't have access to most of human experience, and if you
don't have access to experience, then you're not going to be able
to think properly."
Noam Chomsky, Language and Problems of Knowledge: the Managua
Lectures, 1988
"Education must provide the opportunities for self-fulfillment;
it can at best provide a rich and challenging environment for the
individual to explore, in his own way."
Noam Chomsky, Language and Freedom, 1970
"Words are both better and worse than thoughts, they
express them, and add to them; they give them power for good or
evil; they start them on an endless flight, for instruction and
comfort and blessing, or for injury and sorrow and ruin."
Tyron Edwards (1809-1894)
"Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action;
actions form habits; habits decide character; and character fixes
our destiny."
Tyron Edwards (1809-1894)
Memories of Iowa
This month we offer you sounds.
At Iowa HomeGrown
Music you can listen to a variety of music. Although Iowa HomeGrown
has moved to Nashville, it has its origins in the heartland. Enjoy!
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December,
2003 - Iowa State University, Ames, IA
