National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center (http://www.educ.iastate.edu/nflrc/)

Alumni Connection Newsletter - December, 2003 - Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Document Source: http://www.educ.iastate.edu/nflrc/news/200312/

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 [1].

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 [2] developed by teachers, for teachers. In our online supplement [3] 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 [4] developed and presented a graphic organizer useful for brainstorming ideas for a thematic unit. The Thematic Unit Planner [5] 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 [6], 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 [7] 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 [8] hosted by the Center for Applied Linguistics [9]) will be consolidated. In January 2004, the Department of Education [10] 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 [11], 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) [12] 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 [12].

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" [13]. 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 [14] 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) [14] published an interview [15] between ACTFL President Marty Abbot and Secretary of Education Rod Paige [16] 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 [17] during the general session in Philadelphia last month (November, 2003). In addition, Secretary Paige also spoke at the World Affairs Luncheon [18] 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) [19]: "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) [20] 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 [21]. The complete study is available for purchase in the NASBE bookstore [22]. 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) [1] 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 [1]. 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 [23] you can listen to a variety of music. Although Iowa HomeGrown has moved to Nashville, it has its origins in the heartland. Enjoy!

Links in this document

This Newsletter was pepared with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education under Title VI grant #P229A020023. The publication of products and website URLs in this newsletter is provided for informational purposes only and does not imply an endorsement by the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center, Iowa State University, or the positions or policies of the U. S. Department of Education.

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Content: Do you have suggestions for content? Information to share with fellow alumni? Send your ideas to Cindy Kendall at ckendall@msu.edu.