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What do you think the strengths of your presentation are? What do you think the weaknesses of your presentation are? If possible, videotape students while they are presenting. Seeing themselves on video will allow them to have a better sense of what their presenting styles and strengths are. This is a possible guide that can be used to help students prepare for their presentations.
See also the responses for our November question: How do you have students prepare for giving presentations in class? Lend Me an Ear - Teaching Listening Strategies for World Language Learning
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This month’s theme is connecting math content to language learning. As usual, our best resource is you – so we asked our readers how you integrate math content into your language classes. Here are some of your ideas: 
This month we examine the National Standard of Foreign Language Learning relating to Interpretive Communication. Interpretive Communication refers to the understanding of material that is read or heard. Often language teachers do not use recorded materials because students react with dismay; "I can’t understand a thing!" When a teacher gives support before the listening task through instruction in strategies, students are able to break down the flow of sound into comprehensible language. The strategies-based instruction (SBI) approach developed by Cohen (1998) can be summarized with the graphic shown here. Students are guided to apply strategies before, during and after a language task. If students are supported through these three phases of a task with learning strategies, they can successfully finish the task and develop their own repertoire of strategies to apply to other learning contexts.
To develop listening comprehension skills while expanding social studies knowledge, the Spanish teacher can use a foreign language podcast, such as our Culture Club 
Pay attention to what the students are talking about as they come in to class, stand in the hallway, or chat in the cafeteria. Listen carefully without being intrusive and always remain aware of confidentiality. Just get a sense of the topics that are capturing their interest on any given day.
Leave room for students to ask questions. Be sure to provide sufficient information, in the form of a rubric for a formal assessment or in a list of "be sure to include …" if it is a less forma situation, so that students know what you expect from them. Always encourage them to ask for further details. They need to learn to seek information and to manipulate those interrogatives.
Everyday every student should have as much time as possible to speak the language. Working in pairs, or small groups, provides lots of opportunity for speaking and communicating. Take the vocabulary out of the book and make the language become a real means of communication. Insist on the use of interrogatives in these paired encounters. Not all of these conversations need to be graded for anything other than doing it.
There should be a reasonable combination of impromptu and prepared conversations. Those that are impromptu can be practice situations with new material that lead them to th
e ability to do a prepared conversation (skit) at the end of the lesson. However, some of the impromptu exercises should be graded. Encouraging students to think on their feet is a necessary step to successful real-life conversations.
The students spend a great deal of time with their friends on the internet. Bring those writing exchanges and experiences into the oral realm and have them do some web-cam conversations. This can be accomplished within your classroom if your school has firewall and safety issues you need to accommodate. Web cams are inexpensive, easy to install, and easy to operate. Students will enjoy the visual dimension of their on-line conversations.
When you are creating assignments for the students, keep in mind the proficiency aspect of your expectations. You want them to be actively engaged in using the material (words, structure, and concepts) to communicate their ideas. Vary these culminating activities so they take different forms. With this type of activity there is really no right or wrong answer, so encourage students to express their opinions.
Building a community of trust
The real key here is to keep students talking, in controlled and uncontrolled situations. The teacher doesn’t always have to be the leader; give the students an opportunity to talk about anything they wish. The only requirement is that it must be in the TL. Give a very reasonable, easy to achieve time frame, and let them exceed that limit before you stop them. Reward them by letting them know they talked for "twice as long" as you had asked them to talk!
Baron has worked across the curriculum with teachers of ESL and Spanish in the Elementary and Junior High levels. The guitar work tends to be with teachers of younger kids, as the songs are simple and appealing to younger students. Teachers find, Baron says, that learning to play a guitar is "absolutely the most helpful thing - having the instrument in their hands give them more control - they can adapt the pace and sculpt the song lyric according to what they teach." Another aspect of this empowerment is that after learning to sing the songs, the kids start writing lyrics themselves. "The teachers then get their students to sing the songs for other kids. The music helps memory but also is an outreach to the rest of the community. It’s really a grassroots approach that introduces making music in a very fun spirit."
Guitars in the Classroom developed from a method Baron created called Smart Start Guitar - she started in 1998 to produce a simple method of teaching guitar to little kids. The kids couldn’t read, so she created an auditory-kinesthetic method of teaching guitar. This utilizes Open G guitar tuning called slack-key tuning. The learners add one finger at a time, working on coordination. There is no pressure, and no practice required. Teachers take the guitars into their classrooms in the first week, and the students love it! Like a ‘Fun night out." First six week course is free, after that students are asked to contribute the cost of instruction. Materials are provided for free. There are a number of books which Baron has published, available at : 
Baron writes that "music’s "total engagement" carries two social bonuses for certain students. One is the inclusion of movement in the classroom setting, something some kids crave and rarely find an acceptable way to do during class time. Whether they are rocking, shaking a shaker, strumming a guitar, clapping hands, or stepping in a circle around the perimeter of the room, kids who learn best while in motion get more chances when music is incorporated."San Miguel de Allende Mexico
This group consisted of about 12 students, a teacher, and a parent. They spent their spring break working at an orphanage where one of the students and her father had volunteered previously. The students painted walls, refurbished the laundry facility, and set up a trampoline. In their free time, with the children who live in the orphanage, they played soccer and jumped on the trampoline. One of the results of their stay at the orphanage was the purchase of a truck the director uses to pick up food and to take the children on excursions. The group hopes to continue their association with a fund raising campaign to purchase needed improvements for the kitchen, including a new stove and hot water heater. In their on-going efforts to help the orphanage, the students are in contact with the people there. Having seen the facility and talked with the staff and residents, decisions about what kinds of things they can do are made mutually and for the benefit of the orphanage. These students have a continuing direct immersion experience where they are able to see the positive effects of their work immediately. |
Honduras
 The purpose of this project was to help lay a pipeline from the main water line into a village in the highlands. After a 6-hour bus ride from Tegucigalpa, the road ended and the group had to hike the rest of the way to the village. For a week, a group of students and adults carried PVC pipe up the mountainside, laid and attached piping, and ended up with a source of water in the village where there had been none previously. After the water "system" was installed and working, the women no longer had to spend hours each day going down the mountain to collect water to carry back up to the village. Volunteers trained the villagers in how to make the water safe for drinking. In addition to the knowledge that not everybody has safe, running water in their home, the experience fostered among this group awareness of the need to help others less fortunate than we are, and many continue to return to some sort of service project on a regular basis. |
Near Quetzaltenango, Guatemala The first time the group went to Guatemala, they spent time in a highlands village building stoves. In the traditional Maya house, the cooking fire/stove is inside the home, with no ventilation to the outside. Because of the health risks associated with this, the sponsoring organization worked with the local people to plan a course of action. People with the technical knowledge and skills would come to help teach the villagers how to build and maintain stoves that are safely vented to the outside. As with all of these projects, time with the children was always set aside. Volunteers and villagers worked together for a week, learning about each other in the process. Although the common language was Spanish, many students came away with a small vocabulary of Maya words as well. The 2006 project was once again in the western highlands of Guatemala. This time the purpose was two-fold. Most of the group helped to build new homes to replace those destroyed by Hurricane Stan in 2005. The remainder worked with the local women, teaching them knitting techniques and helping with deciding what items would be marketable in the US. These women have no other source of income and the knitting project will help them to become self-sufficient. |
Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras
Medical volunteers are desperately needed everywhere around the world and there are many organizations that sponsor volunteer teams. One in particular focuses on Central America, with offices in Honduras. In addition to health screening and treatment, this particular organization builds medical facilities, including a prosthetic clinic, they repair wheelchairs, and they conduct professional growth seminars for health care providers. They not only provide medical care; they provide instruction in diet and good health, literacy, and computer use and maintenance. The volunteers spend a lot of time at orphanages playing with the children, who do not get a lot of attention from outsiders. One major project that has had a very positive impact on the entire region is the construction of a gymnasium that is used by everyone for sports and physical fitness. As in all projects of this type, translators are desperately needed and one need not be fluent to be of use. Although these four capsules only touch the surface of what is available in Latin America, it is very easy to find similar projects in other parts of the world. Language skills improved and in every case, participants came away with a much better understanding of the problems facing a developing nation. As one participant stated, "During the time I spent volunteering there, I did learn a lot about life in third world countries, and about myself. My Spanish got so much better and my confidence in speaking Spanish increased, too." In addition, knowledge about the indigenous cultures brought a new respect for these people in the minds of the volunteers. |
This is an experience that doesn’t just happen for a week while students are in the locale; it is an experience that starts months before with preparation and extends for months after with follow-up and continued contact with the people. The key to any successful learning experience is to involve the students before, during, and after the experience. Preparation for what they will be doing, what they will be seeing, hearing, tasting, and smelling, for what the expectations are, for how to behave in specific circumstances will help insure that the in-country experience will be a positive one. Researching the type of project you choose, the qualifications for the volunteers, the support services provided to the volunteers, the living arrangements, and the travel arrangements are of paramount importance. While in the country regular conversations with your students about what they are thinking and feeling will help them sort out conflicting emotions and reactions. If students are kept busy all day, there is less likelihood of something going bad. Start and/or end your time with an opportunity to tour some of the more famous landmarks of the country. This will provide a point of departure with others who did not go on the trip, but will ask, "What did you see?" Follow-up should include some time where students are able to express their emotions about what they have seen and done. Time to organize continued contact with the people they had such an intense experience and with whom they accomplished a specific goal may also be appropriate.
Whatever you choose to do, if it is planned well, the students are well prepared, and there is sufficient support provided to them while there, your choice of a community service learning experience in another country will be a positive and memorable experience for your students.
Las Voces de las Mujeres: An Ethnographic Approach to Listening
Assistant Professor of Spanish and TESL
Hawaii’s Pacific University
Las Voces de las Mujeres is an ongoing project to bring the voices of women of Latin America and Iberia to students of Spanish through streaming video on the internet. The project is available free of charge and hosted at San Diego State University's Language Acquisition Resource Center's (LARC) Digital Media Archive (larc.sdsu.edu/voces). In addition, a 2-dvd set of interviews with women from Guatemala can be purchased from the National Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC) at University of Hawai'i Manoa (nflrc.hawaii.edu/publications.cfm) for $25.00. Videotaped interviews were conducted in 2003 with 20 women in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, in 2005 with 20 women in Morelia, Michoacán, México, and most recently in Donostia, País Vasco, and Tarapoto, Peru (available in 2007).
This growing video archive presents the views, values, and choices of women of many ages (10 to 78), backgrounds, and professions by asking each woman the same set of seven open-ended questions in Spanish:
- Introducción. Introduction, description of family, profession, personality.
- ¿Cuáles son las tres cosas más importantes en su vida? ¿Por qué son importantes? What are the three most important things in your life, and why are they important?
- ¿Qué problemas tiene en su vida? ¿Qué hace para resolverlos? What problems do you have? How are you trying to resolve these problems?
- ¿Cuáles son los valores más importantes que aprendió Ud. de su madre? ¿Cómo pasa estos valores a otras personas? What values did you learn from your mother? How do you pass these values to others?
- ¿Hay una experiencia que me pueda contar que tuvo un impacto fuerte en su vida? Is there an experience you can tell me about that had a strong impact on your life?
- ¿Qué espera para su futuro? ¿el futuro de su familia? ¿el futuro de su país? What do you hope for your own future, the future of your family, and the future of your country?
- Si tuviera la oportunidad de hacer cualquier cosa, sin importar el dinero, ¿Qué haría? If you could do anything, and money didn't matter, what would you do?
- Help students explore the female views of cultures with an inductive approach.
- Provide students with repetitive, structured, and student-controlled listening practice.
- Provide a model for an ethnographic approach to learning language and culture.
These listening materials are different from most recorded interviews in that they provide students with many voices answering the same set of questions. Responses contain many of the same vocabulary words and structures, which provides repetition and restatement in listening practice, and exposes students to regional varieties of Spanish. Students can listen to an entire interview of one particular woman, or compare all of the women's answers to one question.
Students should answer the questions themselves before listening to the interviews and share their own answers with classmates. The sharing of both personal answers and later summary and analysis by students of the women's answers helps to create a social context and builds community in the classroom. This activity is a challenge for some students, as these are not questions most U.S. students have thought about. By answering the questions and sharing their answers in class before listening to Las Voces interviews, students also activate important vocabulary and grammar structures that are needed to express their answers in Spanish. The teacher also can use class discussion of the students' own answers to help students analyze which questions generate answers that are shared by many students (shared cultural values) and which questions seem to solicit different answers (individual variation). This type of analysis serves as a model for drawing careful generalizations .
The future of Las Voces project is secure, thanks to a commitment from LARC at San Diego State University, to host the project on a video-streaming internet server. I am now collaborating with two San Diego State Univ. faculty, Hanada Taha-Thomure and Huma Ghoshat, to expand the project to include Women's Voices in Urdu, Farsi, and Arabic.
- Access Las Voces free of charge at: larc.sdsu.edu/voces
- Worksheets and methodology for using Las Voces at various levels at:nflrc.hawaii.edu/voces/
- Las Voces Guatemala interviews published in 2-DVD set by NFLRC (2005).nflrc.hawaii.edu/voces/ .
- Questions, comments, and worksheets to use with Las Voces should be directed to Tess Lane at tlane@hpu.edu.
Spanish Honor Society Benefits Students and Sponsors
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School
A couple of years ago I attended the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese annual meeting for the first time, and a friend urged me to go to the workshop led by the leaders of the Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica (SHH) a national Spanish Honor Society. He told me that the directors were very friendly and encouraging, and he was right. At the meeting, sponsors of chapters all over the US got together to report on the activities of each chapter. Some were incredibly active, while others were less so. Everyone was brimming with enthusiasm and creative ways to get students of Spanish to use the language outside the classroom. I sat there thinking it might be worthwhile for me to charter a chapter. Finally the editor of the SHH literary magazine got up to make her report. ¡Albricias!, the SHH literary magazine, publishes student essays, poetry, and drawings on a quarterly basis. She said that the magazine was particularly in need of good essays, and she urged us to have our students submit compositions, telling us that they would very likely be published. That did it for me. I had just finished teaching a Spanish III Honors course, and I had some very good writers in class, so I thought I would take the plunge and start a chapter. It was one of the best decisions of my career.
Chartering a chapter of SHH is easy. The forms can be downloaded from the SHH website, www.sociedadhonorariahispanica.org, and the one-time fee is only $25. Each SHH sponsor receives a copy of ¡Albricias! each quarter, along with a becas packet in December describing the various awards offered to teachers and students. Students are eligible for membership in SHH after their freshman year. They are required to be honors students in Spanish, but the society is flexible enough to let each school set its own standards for admission. Students pay $5 one time when they are invited to join the organization, and once they are members they are eligible to contribute to the literary magazine, and compete for scholarships and free trips.
The first year I launched our Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz chapter of SHH I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but my students were very enthusiastic about being invited to join the group, and they brainstormed activities. In order to raise funds for service activities, we sponsored several Taco Tuesdays at school, for which the members of SHH would each bring in a major ingredient of taco salads, and we sold them at lunch for $5 each, which covered a taco salad, rice, dessert, and a drink. The whole school loves taco salad, so we were able to raise enough money to offer scholarships to two students who were going to Oaxaca on a summer study program. We also put together a Day of the Dead altar, with a poster explaining this Mexican tradition and its connection to our celebration of All Saints Day and All Souls Day. We sold skull pops at lunch to get the rest of the school involved. In the springtime, we sent a group of SHH students and other Spanish students into downtown DC to the Organization of American States to help with their annual Food Fest. Each OAS member nation sets up a booth and sells food and drinks, and our students sold tickets used to buy the various dishes. They got a chance to use their Spanish in a festive atmosphere, with people from all over the world.
Since our chapter was launched, we have had several of our members have their original work published in ¡Albricias! The first year, our president wrote an essay about her impressions of Oaxaca. Last year, a student published an essay describing an orphan she met while on a service trip to Peru. Another student wrote a poem about the tango, and one of our members contributed a beautiful drawing of a Peruvian horse. I was surprised and delighted at the range of talent among our members. I had no idea that Gelsie was a talented artist, although I’d taught her in class. The fact that ¡Albricias! publishes work in a variety of creative endeavors means that sponsors can tap into their students’ wide-ranging interests and talents. Each item that is published is printed with a biography of the student and his or her picture, and contributors receive a copy of the publication, and a check for $35 for their work.
Each year the sponsors of SHH chapters are invited to nominate one junior and one senior for special SHH awards. The national SHH organization awards twelve $2000 scholarships and forty $1000 scholarships to outstanding seniors, to be used for college expenses. In addition, the SHH awards 20 Junior Travel Awards. The national directors take a group of 20 outstanding juniors from around the country on a 10-day, all expense paid trip in July through a Spanish-speaking country. Last summer I was fortunate that my student Karen Campion was one of the students chosen for the trip. She flew to Chicago, where she met the directors and the other participants, and they traveled to Mexico City, Taxco, Teotihuacan, Guadalajara and other cities. Karen is our president of SHH this year, and she came away from the trip sparked with enthusiasm for SHH and filled with new ideas she had gleaned from SHH activities described by the other participants.
This year our chapter of SHH has sponsored a Day of the Dead activity for our Saturday School, an enrichment program for inner city students. We met with a group of 7th graders and helped them make tissue paper skull masks and flowers, which later adorned our Day of the Dead altar. Our Taco Tuesdays continue to raise money for good causes. We are sponsoring the travel fees needed by a Honduran girl in the little town of Cerrón to pay a truck driver to drive her from her town to the high school and back each day. We recently sent money to the Religious Teachers Filippini, a group of nuns working in Brazil to prevent prostitution of very young girls by removing them from their families and teaching them to sew, and giving them sewing machines, so they will be more valuable to their families as seamstresses than they would be as prostitutes. We have finally saved enough money to sponsor a Salsa Mixer, which will be held in the spring, and we are hoping to sponsor salsa lessons before the mixer.
Reaching Out to Colleagues in the Field of Languages: Working to build a National Museum of Language
The Language Resource had the pleasure of talking with one of the founders of the National Museum of Language in College Park, Maryland the other day. Amelia Murdoch told us about plans for the museum and how language teachers can get involved. This museum promises to be a great resource for all of us who work in the language field.
LR: How did the idea come about for a Museum of Language?
AM: Well, this is on our website, http://languagemuseum.org/history.htm but I’ll tell you about it.
I worked at the National Security Agency and I was on an advisory group to a top administrator who was in charge of research, who was also responsible for linguistic matters. The advisory group would complain to him that administrators didn’t understand the problems of linguists.
One Air Force Colonel was told it took ten years to train a linguist, and he said, "Why, that’s as long as it takes to train a pilot!" He seemed to think that linguists could be trained overnight. Another time we were trying to compile glossaries, and one manager said, "Why do you need somebody to buy your dictionaries?" - not realizing that we had world-wide responsibilities. For example, an African language might have a dictionary that was written in the 1940s that would be inadequate to today’s needs. The language guru, as we call him, George Vergine, he said, "Why don’t you have a language fair?" The graphics dept offered to do the entire exhibit for us, and it was successful because it was visually oriented, simplified. Each exhibit was unclassified but it illustrated a problem that was common to our work.
The effect of that exhibit on people when they first saw it was so outstanding, that it made us think we ought to do it on a museum scale. This was a way to reach people who do not understand the many aspects of language, that it changes, not in terms of years, but daily, and to illustrate that some languages are related, that it’s better to train people in related languages, and that in some countries, knowing one language is not enough, but you have to learn three languages, as in African countries where you have the national language, and the tribal language, and a colonial language.
When we did the language fair, the agency paid to have it put on display at the Greenbelt Armory for four days, and they paid to have the high school kids bussed in to see the exhibit. We found that some language teachers did not have a background in language – they were hired because they were native speakers of the language but they didn’t have much knowledge of language. We realized the teachers needed to have these concepts just as much as the kids did.
So we worked on it over the years, and in 1985 some of us were going to go to the Smithsonian, but no one wanted to do enough work to get it in shape to present to the Smithsonian. In ’97 I decided we had to get it together. When a group met, we decided to do it ourselves, not to go through the bureaucracy. Once we have it established, we may offer it to the Smithsonian, but we wanted to get the job done, that’s how we felt.
LR: On the website and in the newsletter there’s a picture of a building. Where would that be?
AM: We hired a young architectural student; we told him the site we wanted, and we’re trying to get a museum complex started near the Metro stop in College Park. That area has been designated as a museum complex by the city of College Park, There’s an aviation museum there now. We’d get a developer to build a complex centered around the language museum. Now we can’t ask for anything for exhibits because we don’t have storage space. We consider that an interim building. The young man who designed it did it as his master’s project. He was working with a specialist in museum design. It’s a serious effort by us to look to the future. But it requires a great deal of money and political clout. It’s hard to get sites the public will agree with. We’ll have to develop more public sentiment about the museum.
LR: It’s a beautiful building. Right now the exhibits in the museum
AM: They are very minor.
LR: I see you have some language lab equipment.
AM: We really don’t have anything yet. We have two rooms in the office building now, one has information about our programs, and the other has information on the museum itself, the building and the site. I’d like to have somebody design the program room so when you walk in it looks like a museum. We need more helping hands. The website, I think, is shaping up. That seems to be the place where the action is now, and where people want to help.
LR: What’s your ideal museum exhibit?
AM: We have decided on major themes
Universal Aspects of Language
Language in Society
Languages of the World
I’m working on the area of Language in Society – one of the things you can see in the US is in place names – the Indians have moved but the names of places have remained. We might start with the states’ names – that’s something everyone can relate to.
I’ve been talking with people about this since 1971, and if you talk to someone long enough, you discover that everybody has some special interest in language. When I talk about language I’m not just talking about conjugating verbs, and linguistics. People who are professional linguists often think of linguistics as being the subject, but the subject is really language. Language is so much a part of everything we do – language is technology, it’s the invention of the telephone, it’s the invention of the radio, it’s the study of the brain, and linguists do all of these things, but language is a larger study than the study of linguistics. I want the public to come in an see ‘how does the brain process language?’ I want two figures, because I want one to talk and one to listen, to show what happens when you speak, what goes on in the brain, how the ears operate, how the eyes operate, I want to show problems with hearing; what the brain is doing. This is not health; it’s all language. This huge battle at Gallaudet University is a language battle.
LR: What do you envision being a good exhibit in your new building? What would be interesting to the average ten year old?
AM: One topic that stood out as we talked to people about this museum is the Linguistic Heritage of America. I think it should show each of the foreign language elements that came to this country and where they went. And the food – think of the Latino food that is available here now.
The British wanted to have a "World of Language" museum, but they were looking to focus on the history of the English language. We could not make that the center of ours, because a lot of people in America would say, "I don’t care two hoots about the history of the English Language". They are more interested in their linguistic heritage, what the contribution is of that language.
LR: That’s the main feature of our culture, the diversity.
AM: Absolutely, and that’s what we say – we want to show how all of these linguistics groups have come to America and contributed to our literature… I’d like to have an author in residence, who’d stay for a year. We could have workshops with children. I’d like to have a separate hall for the Young Linguists. It would replicate what we are doing for the adults but at a child’s level. They’d have things on the floor, maybe maps, and writing and poetry workshops.
LR: My friend’s kids are really interested in different writing systems, and play with plastic Japanese or Chinese characters.
AM: What I want to have is displays on the various writing systems – and the evolution of writing instruments. You could have things so they could see what is the difference between a fountain pen and a quill pen.
LR: And a typewriter! Most of them have never seen a typewriter before.
AM: At ACTFL last year, we had a typewriter and everyone was drawn to it. People say, language is no intangible, but language is responsible for much of technology. It’s all interrelated. People don’t realize that, but a huge amount of technology today is oriented toward language. People want to see it faster, they want to see it clearer, or they want to have more fonts. One of the items we have listed under the Universal Aspects of Language refers to the recording of language. Everybody, I don’t care how smart or well educated they were, said, "Well, I hope you’re gonna have writing, too." She laughed. "What do you mean, records were originally written records!" That shocked me – this shows how language has evolved in society - they think of records as oral. In England, the history of the country is in the Hall of Records; births and deaths and all of that is in the Hall of Records.
I want to include both first language and second language acquisition. It’s important for people to come in and understand how kids learn. I want to have an explanation of the body as a language machine, with the brain as the control – how the ears work, how the eyes work, how your breath, how the lungs work, sign language, of course – the theory is, of course, that the use of the hands was essential in the beginning, in the origins of language – that it’s always been a part of language.
LR: I’ve always felt that gesture is very important.
AM: Yes, that’s it – there’s something in us that if you tied your hands and you couldn’t use them….
LR: You’d have trouble talking!
AM: I heard a lecture once by a woman who had this theory – and every thing was a gesture. That’s part of the universal aspect of language. You have the language machine – the physical and psychological functioning of the body. And then of course, the recording of language. It’s essential to being human. The fact that we are able to record language has changed the world.
LR: What kind of action would you like our readers to take if they want to support the museum?
AM: You can go to our website and let us know if you have a suggestion for a simple display, (we don’t have room for anything large) if you have a small display that you would like to design or build if necessary – if you’d need things like newspapers or writing instruments you’d have to gather those yourself. We’d also like donations and for people to become members. And remember us in your will.
LR: I think a lot of the foreign language teachers have probably been doing this kind of thing to inform people…
AM: Yes, the teachers are our best source of ideas. Not the linguistic scholar, who might not be able to put it into a workable idea of how to present it. But schoolteachers have. They’re used to doing this, they’ve been doing this for their constituents, for their students.
LR: To convey the importance of language.
AM: I’ve been disappointed that more of them have not stepped forward. I think that we can do more in terms of educating people in all walks of life. I’d like the museum to eventually become the ultimate place for the endangered languages of the world. Wouldn’t it be wonderful? If you have a museum that’s dedicated to language, that’s the place to have the endangered languages, not the Library of Congress – once we’re really established and have a few million dollars, we’d ask them to donate some of the materials they have so scholars can come. I see the museum as a place for anybody who wants to know something about language, and they don’t know where to go. When I was a sophomore in high school and I was asked what I wanted to do, I said I wanted to be a translator, because that’s the only thing I knew about.
I want to open up the world to students coming along, who say, "Why should I study French?" or "Why should I study Spanish?" We want to have two language lecture series, one is sort of a general one, and then I want to have ‘Language and Your Career, where we’d bring in doctors, nurses, teachers, and architects, who’d talk about the use of language in their work. It’s a huge project, so we need more volunteers, and we really need more money in the next year.
LR: Thank you for talking with us today.
Readers can contact the National Museum of Language
through their website http://languagemuseum.org/ or
National Museum of Language
Administrative Offices
Executive Building Suite 202
7100 Baltimore Avenue
College Park, MD 20740
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Promoting Foreign Language Development in the Art Classroom
At Loudon County Virginia's professional development days for its art teachers in August, Art Educator, Dr. K. B. Basseches and Foreign Language Consultant, Cynthia Weill demonstrated how to incorporate foreign language skill development into art and craft making activities.
Over a period of two days the presenters offered three workshops. The first presentation focused on wood carving and ceramics making in Oaxaca, Mexico. A second gave participants an in-depth review of textile arts from around the world such as Chilean harpilleras, Panamanian molas, story cloth and embroidery. In the first two sessions the presenters focused on the development of and intergenerational practices involved in making each of the crafts. A third presentation on Hurricane Katrina introduced participants to an art show arranged by Basseches entitled "…and the levee broke: meditations on the power of water" in which children and artist made art representing the theme of "the power of water."
With each session, the instructors modeled ways for the participants to reproduce variations of the art forms introduced such as ceramic sculpture and molas. For the former, the presenters described the methods artisans in Mexico use to create their ceramic work. Basseches emphasized the difference between making the art (as the Mexican originators do when they create their art) and making art "in the style of…" the Mexican artists (which is what students in American schools would do after seeing the Mexican work). Participants were also introduced to the skill of making Polaroid transfers to focus on the skill of "overlapping." Polaroid transfers were introduced as a contemporary interpretation of the mola tradition to produce the impression of shallow depth. Then art teachers were shown how they could work across disciplines with a foreign language teacher to improve skill areas in listening, speaking, reading and writing as well as vocabulary development.
An example of this combination of fine arts, content, and foreign language revolved around a unit on the Aguilar sisters of Oaxaca, Mexico. The sisters: Guillermina, Josefina, Irene and Concepción are internationally known ceramists working in a figurative style. As children, the girls were taught by their mother to make useful household objects of clay to sell in the local market to help supplement the family income. As they grew more skilled, each sister began working in a more figurative style. Now their work reflects the world around them as in the image of women at the local market. However, eldest sister Guillermina’s work has become increasingly autobiographical as she represents herself in clay at various stages of her life.
Weill, who did much of her thesis research on Oaxacan artisans, presented the group with slides of Guillermina Aguilar's working process. Participants saw each stage of Guillermina's creative process from mixing clay, to modeling a figure, firing the object in a kiln, then painting the final work. Participants understood how Guillermina depends on all members of her family including her grandchildren to help her with this highly labor-intensive process.
After gaining an understanding of how Guillermina and her sisters made their work and the sources of their inspiration, participants combined art making and development of foreign language skills. For the first activity key items related to Guillermina's ceramic making were placed in a box. Then participants were asked to pull something from the box without looking. The instructor asked, "What is it?" / "¿Qué es?" Participants were then given the name for the object in Spanish such as clay, "barro" and ceramic figure, "figura de cerámica."
These words were carefully chosen to develop the learner's knowledge of ceramic making and to develop vocabulary for the following reading activity. The presenters read a translated and simplified version of the children’s book, Josefina by Jeanette Winter. Josefina is the second eldest Aguilar sister. The book is especially useful because it documents the process of clay figure development through the pictures. Between the pictures and the new vocabulary the participants were able to follow the text of the book as it was read in Spanish. To reinforce understanding of the text the participants were asked to sequence pictures of the book that had been photocopied without the text. After they sequenced the work, the participants were given the text to place with the pictures. Knowledge of the key vocabulary taught in the beginning helped the participants to complete this task. For a final reading activity, the participants were given the text without the pictures and asked to draw illustrations for the written description.
As a culminating foreign language activity, participants were taught vocabulary for parts of the body: head, "cabeza," body, "cuerpo" as well as the commands for "make" and "put." Using Total Physical Response techniques (TPR) the instructors called off commands: make a head, "hagan una cabeza;" make a body, "hagan un cuerpo;" put the head on the body, "pongan la cabeza con el cuerpo." By the time the instructors were finished with the commands, the predominately monolingual art teachers had completed a clay figure.
The second part of the session was devoted to studio art making activities in which teachers could apply their knowledge of the ceramic tradition to make their own sculptures reflective of their own personal traits and symbols. One of the points made during the lecture on Guillermina Aguilar was how she evolved from making utilitarian objects to figurative/autobiographical pieces.
In her twenties, Guillermina began experimenting with figurative work. She made the piece below in her late twenties. She felt that the piece was a statement on her life at the time.
Now that Guillermina is a grandmother she continues her autobiographical work. This piece of an old woman holding a young woman who is in turn holding a bowl is a commentary on her evolution as an artist.
In order to prepare for the related ceramic making activity, participants were asked to make sketches from their own lives. After developing approximately six thumbnail sketches learners were given clay and asked to create an autobiographical statement. The teacher's artistic response was varied. Pieces included a triad of female figures representing the artist’s role as wife, mother and teacher. Another teacher depicted himself as a fisherman and a painter.
Feedback on the introduction of foreign language into the art education classroom was very positive. Comments included, "I would have learned a foreign language if it had been taught to me in an art context;" and "I always thought there were natural connections between art and language development. It’s just that no one ever showed me how to do it before."
K.B. Basseches is a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is past president of the West Virginia Art Education Associations and was named West Virginia's Art Educator of the Year in 2002 and the West Virginia Art Education Association Higher Education Art Educator of the Year in 2000.
Cindy Weill was a Spanish teacher in the Glastonbury Public Schools in CT. She is trained as an art historian and studies the process of folk artisans around the world.
Gross J. & Hayne H. (1998). Drawing facilitates children’s verbal reports of Emotionally laden events. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 1999, 5, (3). 265-283.
Wesson M. & Salmon K. (2001). Drawing and showing: Helping children to report emotionally laden events. Applied Cognitive Psychology. (15) 301-320.
©2006 The National Capital Language Resource Center
Involving Parents in Their Children's Foreign Language Learning
Research indicates that parental involvement in children's education positively impacts on children's learning. The National Standards for Foreign Language Learning call for progress toward extending learning into the community. Foreign language teachers can create and foster links between the school, home, and community by involving parents. This can benefit students by giving their academic learning relevance in terms of their home environments and community. While many school programs exist to inform parents of school procedures and activities, parental involvement as outlined in this article builds upon parents' knowledge and experiences and on their roles as community members. These enrich, enhance, and extend students' academic learning. This article suggests ways to establish links to home and community and identifies two areas of activities which support these links. (Note: the word parent is used in this article to describe any adult caretaker of a child.)
After deciding the basic structure of parental involvement, the teacher lays the groundwork for its establishment by sending home letters, by holding workshops and meetings for parents, and/or by holding a discussion in class with children, informing and involving them in the project. Teachers may wish to emphasize to parents that they do not need to be familiar with the language their child is studying and that parents can participate in a number of ways, many of which are low or no cost.
Parents play an important role in making links between school and home. For example, children's interviews of parents can encourage parents and students to explore language and culture within their own homes. Students and teacher can work together to design oral interviews exploring parents' experiences with language learning and other cultures, including those being studied in the class. Sample starter questions are: Have you ever visited a country where people speak French? Why were you there? Did you ever study another language? Tell me about it. Did any of our ancestors come from a place where people spoke a language different than English? The data from these interviews can be used in class in a variety of activities, including reporting to the class orally, writing up the results of the interview, and creating visuals.
Parents can also play a valuable role in helping their children explore and become involved in their community's linguistic and cultural worlds. Parents and students can seek out community resources which are related to the language and culture being studied. These resources include radio stations or programs, newspapers, televisions shows, library holdings. They also include restaurants, movies, and food stores. Many communities have local festivals to celebrate the heritage of community members. There may also be cultural events which involve the language and culture. If attendance at such events or patronizing such establishments is not possible, simply documenting them provides evidence of their presence in the community, providing a relevance to and enhancing in-school learning. One elementary school Spanish teacher involved her students' parents by setting up a project in which students and parents together photographed stores, restaurants, and other establishments which were part of the Spanish-speaking community. This linked learning in the school, home, and community in a concrete manner.
Learning experiences shared between children and their parents and brought into the classroom provide a rich body of knowledge which can be further built upon. Parental involvement boosts student academic success by providing relevance to the home and establishing connections in the community.
Jennifer Delett and Barbara Rado Mousseau provided many ideas for this article.
Parents, Teacher, and a Community Help Make 5 de Mayo a Memorable Spanish-Speaking Event
This month we celebrate the Hispanic-American holiday, Cinco de Mayo. According to MEXonline.com, "The holiday of Cinco De Mayo, The 5th Of May, commemorates the victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. It is primarily a regional holiday celebrated in the Mexican state capital city of Puebla and throughout the state of Puebla, with some recognition in other parts of the Mexico, and especially in U.S. cities with a significant Mexican population. It is not, as many people think, Mexico's Independence Day, which is actually September 16."
My ears perked up when I heard about a nearby school that is involving students of Spanish in service learning and culture. Carol Nezzo’s class at Lakelands Park Middle School in Gaithersburg, Maryland visited a senior apartment complex to put on a program about Cinco De Mayo. They set up stations to work on crafts, history picture book making, and games with the residents, shared their experiences with cooking foods from Spanish-speaking countries. They made Ojos de Dios (God’s Eyes; a woven decoration made with sticks and yarn)and Papel Picado, intricate designs made by folding and cutting paper. How did one part-time teacher manage to organize this opportunity for her Spanish students? She called upon the resources available to her through her community, the city of Gaithersburg, and among the parents of her students.
How the City and School Collaboration Began
Maureen Herndon, who is Program Manager for Human Services in the City of Gaithersburg, is excited about the Cinco de Mayo event. Forest Oak Towers is a housing complex for seniors and disabled individuals. Speaking last week, Herndon said, “The counselor there, Connelly Stewart, is wonderful and she has been working with many residents on a wide range of issues and has also pointed out the need for fun and group activities. At the same time, Carol Nezzo called and asked us if we knew of any volunteer opportunity for her Spanish classes. We matched the two groups and are very excited to be part of this intergenerational, intercultural and sure to be fun event! Over 25 residents are presently signed up to attend.”
Cooking in Spanish
To begin learning about Mexican culture , the class made tortillas by hand and with tortilla presses.The students found that they like the press method better than making tortillas by hand. They also used the Mexican chocolate rounds that contain cinnamon to make Mexican hot chocolate. After "baking" the tortillas on top of the stove, students added cheese (Monterrey Jack) to make quesadillas, which were heated on cookie sheets in the ovens. (The school has a special teaching kitchen with six ovens.) There was some instruction in cooking safety, of course. Parent volunteer Donna Von Wald explained “It was messy, but fun!” It was a great way to get the students more deeply involved with Spanish class.
The students next had to research and choose a recipe that would be common in a Spanish-speaking country. See the worksheet Nezzo created to explain the Comida unit. To help them find recipes, Nezzo brought in books from the library. A series she found helpful was Lerner Publishing's Easy Menu Ethnic Cookbooks with titles like, "Cooking the Cuban Way," "Cooking the Mexican Way" and Cocina de la Familia by Marilyn Tausend. Nezzo liked these bnooks because "They did not look childish at all and they explained the recipes very clearly in large print."Student translated into Spanish, and made a poster with an introduction to the food and a drawing or photo; a list and a picture of the ingredients; and a map of the country. To download the worksheet directing how to make the poster, click here. Each student made the food at home, then several parent volunteers came into class to help heat up the dishes and serve them pot-luck style.
Preparation for the Fiesta
Before the Cinco de Mayo event, Nezzo had students choose a station to prepare. She explains, “The more time to brainstorm with students ahead of time, the more the students come up with their talents that they want to share. They could choose a craft station such as ojos de dios, flores, papel picado - or they could choose the history station and do book making and enter information and pictures connected with Cinco de Mayo.” To practice a dialogue about their craft or the content of their station, Nezzo had students use post-it notes to construct sentences and arrange them into a dialogue. The stations they could choose from included quesadilla making, and they took along their food posters to hang near the food preparation." Sangria was served at the fiesta as a drink, at a parent's suggestion. "Sangria originated in Spain and is now in many Latin American Countries. There are lots of recipes without alcohol. If there had been more space and time at the fiesta, it would have been possible to have a lesson based on the different fruit vocabulary and verbs in the recipe. Next year I may make a list of the foods and drinks for the students to choose from – or at least make sure that the April posters include one focused on Sangria. The students did very well choosing their own recipes. There were some duplicates, but that was ok. A substitute teacher volunteered (without pay) and the tech person helped. So we have a wonderful crew!”
Cinco de Mayo Celebration
On the day before the celebration, parent volunteers noticed only ten students had returned their permission slips. So they called and reminded parents to send in the forms, and when they came to school on Friday, 30 students had the signed forms. This is yet another way that parents can help to make such an event more successful. At Forest Oak Towers, 35 – 40 seniors and their assistants enjoyed traveling from one station to another learning about Mexican history, crafts, and food. The stations were:
- Ojos de Dios (God’s Eyes): The students used popsicle sticks for the cross pieces on this craft which comes from the Huichol Indians in Mexico. Volunteer Donna Von Wald recommends using variegated yarn so you don’t have to switch colors and still end up with a beautiful multicolored hanging.
- Flores: students showed how to make beautiful paper flowers
- Papel Picado: students showed how to fold and cut colored paper to make lacy decorations to hang from ceilings or walls.
- Making quesadillas: students assembled tortillas, cheese, and spinach to toast in the oven (much of the food was provided by the City of Gaithersburg).
- Playing games: students brought checkers and cribbage to play with the residents.
- History Picture Books: students and guests colored designs that represented aspects of Cinco de Mayo. This activity was popular - and a good way to engage people in conversations about Cinco de Mayo.
- Non-Alcoholic Sangria: students cut up fruit and mixed juices for this punch drink.
- Mexican Wedding cookies: students showed their posters of how to make the cookies and their history and provided samples.
Guests arrived and the party proceeded with a lot of activity. A few students had the food station and they helped guests to carry food to seats. Students did not eat until all guests had their food - which means the students did not eat much. (Students took and ate bag lunches at the site, because the parents and teacher were not sure about available food for the students. It turned out to be essential that they had eaten their bag lunch, because more senior guests arrived than had signed up so there was not a lot of party food for the students.) There was a welcome in Spanish from a senior resident. A community person had come with a father who acted as the Master of Ceremonies, and she translated to English. A student volunteered the true meaning of Cinco de Mayo. Most of what went on was student initiated. The celebration was greatly appreciated by the residents; Von Wald said many of them thanked the parents and students for bringing the celebration to them. The residents requested that the papel picado be left hanging, because it brightened up the room. The residents turned out to be multi-ethnic, not just Hispanic. Communication went on in English, Spanish and through demonstration. When the event was over, students had an hour to clean up and to reflect on the service they performed, how it was helpful to the community, and what they learned about themselves. They will receive service learning hours.To follow up on the event, Nezzo’s students will reflect and discuss how Spanish gets one into interesting places with interesting people. They will write for short periods in their Learning Logs.
Getting parents and the community involved
I was impressed with how much Nezzo is able to accomplish with her middle school Spanish class, so I asked how she gets parents to help out. She told about her process: “Beginning in August, I talked with all parents by phone and at Back to School night. I keep a data sheet for each family. Over Christmas break I reviewed the sheets to recall the families who were interested in volunteering. I matched them up with my notebook that I keep on possible field trips and projects. At the same time, I called the places where we might have trips in order to get tentative dates. I keep working with two types of data: 1) Family data sheets where I record what parents/guardians say and 2) My notebook that has divisions for all of the possible projects and trips that we might do - and the information that I gradually collect about these. Eventually, because of wonderful kids and parents, ideas and plans from everyone come together.” Nezzo continues: “I am a part time teacher so that I can have time for this. There are parents who are very gracious with their time. Many do have their own jobs. One or two do not. Some have flexible schedules. Some knew each other from the previous grade school. So there are many things that come together here. We have a dedicated and experienced volunteer coordinator for our school. I hope that this is not a "once in a lifetime" kind of year - but these experiences for the students do depend on a lot of people working together - and the e-mail.”
Parent Von Wald commented that many parents are happy to come in to help in the classroom, because such opportunities are rarer when their child is in middle school. Nezzo welcomes parents at any time; a special chair is set aside in her classroom for parents who are visiting. She has arranged other field trips, such as to the University of Maryland’s Language House, to demonstrate to students where language study may take them. Students in Lakelands Park Middle School Spanish classes are the beneficiaries of an imaginative teacher and generous parents who created a memorable educational experience for all involved.
(Photos by Leslie Guerra)
Parent and School Support Make an Outstanding FLES Program Possible in Fairfax County, VA
Schools across the country are looking for ways to introduce foreign language instruction to students at younger ages. One county whose world language offerings really stand out from the crowd is Fairfax County, Virginia. http://www.fcps.edu/DIS/OHSICS/forlang/ Eleven languages are offered: American Sign Language, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, French, Latin, German, Russian, Italian, and Spanish. Fairfax has had immersion schools since 1989 and has 13 immersion programs currently. FLES (Foreign Language in Elementary Schools) programs were started in the late 90s. Paula Patrick, Foreign Language Coordinator, tells us that the county has proposed introduction of foreign language in 137 elementary schools. A task force advised starting with 24 schools to be phased in gradually, utilizing 12 part-time teachers. These teachers will move up from 1st grade to 2nd grade in the next year, and so on. The county will need approximately 189 teachers for the program when all is done. Fairfax County is fortunate to be near the nation's capital, where there are many potential language teachers available. A program is being developed with local universities to support better preparation for teachers of elementary foreign language. Virginia gives a Pre-K through 12 teaching license based on course work completed in the language, or the candidate can take the Oral Proficiency Interview to demonstrate ability in the language to get an endorsement.
Parent support is necessary to successfully initiating a FLES. The demand for FLES programs comes increasingly from parents; "We read almost weekly an article on the importance of foreign languages so we are getting increased demand from parents for FLES," Patrick states. There also needs to be support from classroom teachers and from the administration. Patrick explained that prior to beginning a FLES program at a school, district foreign language staff should talk with the principal and faculty, as well as parents. She focuses on the findings of brain research at such school meetings with parents and staff, showing how learning a foreign language at an early age supports children's learning in other areas. "We have support as long as we give parents the information they need up front," Patrick reflects, "And we need to let the parents know that foreign language instruction has changed since their own experiences with it." Current communicative, interactive approaches promise that their children will not have the same kinds of ineffective or even negative associations with language learning that some parents may have had. Some parents may even look at language as interference; time taken away from the core subjects on which their children will be tested. Parents should be given the chance to give input on the proposed FLES program and ask questions so that problems can be avoided later.
Once a FLES program has begun at a school, parents need continued information on what to expect from their children. Parents will need to encourage students to practice, but there are no grades for FLES, so there is no real pressure. Patrick emphasized that "parents need to understand that the first few years kids need a lot of input - they shouldn't be asked to perform early in their study."
What is truly rewarding is the excitement that develops when a group of parents in a school offering FLES become involved with their children's learning by arranging and participating in field trips and special events, "really getting on board with the language." In fact, Patrick says, "Parents can be your best friends" in making a FLES program successful.
Communicating with parents and involving
them in their child’s foreign language learning
Last month our newsletter asked teachers how they involve parents. From the sparse response, it seems that there is little parent involvement in foreign language classes. Our May issue featured a story about a Spanish class who benefited from parents who helped with arranging a cooking activity and a field trip See the article. The teacher, Carol Nezzo, used this technique for contacting parents: she asked students to fill out a form with their home number and some information about their pets. This provides her with something to talk about with both parents and students. She calls parents and arranges with them for a part of the school year when they will be able to come in and help or help with a field trip.
Parent volunteers were alsosolicited by the school and at the beginning of the school year, Nezzo was able to get them to help set up her room, which she shared with a Chinese teacher. Wall space was limited, so she explored the use of a portable ‘word wall’ Using laminated paper, she had parents email her images that she could use to illustrate words, such as a mother welcoming a child home next to the verb “vivir.”
Another teacher, Karen, Sanchez, uses a ‘moodle’ website* set up by her school to communicate with both parents and students. She describes the capabilities of the moodle as “fantastic.” You can view her moodle if you login as a guest. One of the features of her moodle is a pop quiz for parents, which she drew from a posting by Dave Shelley on FLTeach. We've updated it with new statistics; you view the document here.
*(Moodle is a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities)
Karen has used a website for more than six years to communicate with parents. She says her school used Blackboard for a while, but it became too expensive to maintain. Her school had an online course that teachers could take for free on how to use a moodle, and when she tested it with parents they liked it better because “it's easier to manuever. It's easier to read and the kids like the calendar for planning purposes. There are lots of different types of activities/resources that can be implemented; I just plug in the info and it's set up. I can also make a webpage of sorts in it, including pictures etc. So far it seems to be the best of both worlds, the ease of BB with the features of a website. I also like the fact that I can upload all of my info now, and with one click either choose to show or "hide" the info from the students." Karen created a page on how parents can help their students. You can follow the link to her moodle . Karen's website also has information about a Spanish singer who produces karaoke online for Spanish students, and gives live concerts. "I hosted my 1st Justo concert in 2000 (http://www.justolamas.com/). I've hosted him every year since". Justo and his wife Eva told me that I was the first teacher to host him in NYS, and then I continue to help him by coordinating other concerts and creating a NY Tour week. I also brought him to the NYSAFLT annual meeting a number of years ago. My students LOVE him. We have a Justo club here, and they design a different tee shirt every year and wear glo necklaces to the show... I even changed schools in 2002 and continued to host him at my new district. I have a very small school, so I have to rent out a theatre in a neighboring city. You can see our Justo page here: http://www.geocities.com/salachic/justo.html Our next concert is in March. :-) You should definitely see him if you get the chance."
Emily Serafa Manschot has parents "participate in Student Led Conferences. The student prepares a portfolio with all of their tests, quizzes, projects, sample activities, etc. -- and presents them to his/her parents at parent teacher conferences. The students come to my room for their conference. I act as hostess for the evening, but the student's work says so much more than just "what's the grade?" The conferences take place in October and I have them do a take home conference in December/early January."
Deb Bruhn, who teaches middle school
French and Spanish, manages "an e-mail list for all parents of
Spanish students. I invite them to send me their e-mail addresses
in my first-day hand-out and I put the list together from those addresses.
I send parents information about tests, invite them to view my web
site (which includes the homework assignments), invite them to Open
House and inform them when I will be available for Parent Conferences,
just to name a few things. About 3/4 of my parents participate;
I assume that the others don't have Internet access or perhaps just
don't want to give out their addresses. Response from the parents
has been very positive. I do send home information about Parent-Teacher
Conferences by paper
for the students whose parents are not part of the e-mail list,
but that's about it. They just miss out on announcements for tests,
quizzes, or review classes. The students ALWAYS have this information,
they they are not suffering if their parents don't belong to the
list. I have never used the e-mail list to request help from parents
for a project or to chaperone a field trip. I don't think that whether
the parents received an e-mail invitation or not has any effect
on their attendance at Open House, but I do know that they like
it. I usually get a good turn-out on Back to School Night, but that
is because my kids are high achievers and high achievers' parents
are usually the ones who attend all these affairs at school! The
e-mail list is DEFINITELY working, though; I had one student who
came in to me this week who said we needed to get rid of the e-mail.
His dad got the announcement about our first quiz and made him make
vocabulary flashcards!
My Web site URL is: http://users.adelphia.net/~paul.bruhn I created it myself; trust me, you'll be able to tell!
Preparing powerful presentations
The presentational mode is one of the three components of the Communication Standard and as such requires that students do just what they seem to fear most: speak in front of the class for an extended period of time about some topic. The kicker is that, it must be in a foreign language!
There's probably nothing that strikes more terror into the well-being of students, and even some adults, than the prospect of having to give a presentation - in front of a group of people - out loud - unassisted - that lasts more than 5 minutes - about something they are supposed to know about. Gasp!
Yet, public speaking is difficult for many of the students in your classroom. Add speaking in a foreign language, and you are guaranteed to have a class full of anxious, scared students. However, this does not have to be the case! No matter the field of study or career, being able to articulate your thoughts clearly is an invaluable asset. Just imagine how much better it would be for students to successfully present in more than one language! What techniques and tips can language students use to ease the fear of public speaking in the target language? From the very first day and every day after that, help your students gain new confidence and skills by teaching your students some of the ideas discussed below.
Building Confidence and Skills for Public Speaking: The Important Pieces
1. Prepare, prepare, prepare:
Preparation is often times underrated. In fact, preparation arguably is one of the most important components to successful communication through public speaking. When preparing, what should your students be thinking about?
- Who: Who is the audience? What are their interests? Needs?
- What: What is it that you want them to know? How will you know if you have successfully communicated with them?
- How: How can you best transmit your message? What are the nonverbal cues that may add or detract from your presentation? Language is extremely important. Does your presentation have a beginning, middle, and end? Will visual aids help?
- When: Timing is also important to your presentation. How is the pace of your speaking? Remember, you do not want to be too fast or too slow. How much time is available?
- Why: As the speaker, you should be interested in what you are sharing and you want your audience to be too! In a sense, you must convince them that what you have to say is worth their attention. Remember, you want your audience to not only hear you, but to listen to you, and to remember what you have said.
2. Remember to use eye contact:
You should be able to make a connection with your audience.3. Consider Handouts:
Handouts are an excellent way to help your audience follow the presentation. Be careful, however, too many handouts can be a distraction, so choose carefully. Handouts should work to guide the listener, or to amplify or demonstrate a point.They should not be a script of your speech.4. Pay attention to your voice:
You want your audience to be able to hear what you are saying. Also vary your tone and the speed during your presentation. You want them to feel your energy as well as draw in close.5. Use visual aids:
People like to look at things. Flip charts, overhead projectors, and short video can all be used to make the presentation more memorable. Too much detail or overly technical information might be too confusing and detract from what you are actually trying to say. Above all as teachers, it is necessary to model what we want our students to learn. Do a special presentation in class and explain to your students the technical aspects of your presentation.Preparing for the final Presentation
Chances are your students may be overwhelmed by all of the new information on presenting. As the old saying goes, "practice makes perfect." To give your students an opportunity to practice developing a presentation, let them work on their class presentation in groups of two. While working in groups, allow each student to prepare and practice their presentations. Partners can aid each other with the actual content of the presentation, the development of the presentation, or the actual presenting. The group work is designed for peer evaluation and support. Also provide them with a checklist that they will use to evaluate their own presentations.
Once students have an idea of what will be expected of them, have them prepare a 5-minute presentation on their own, one that incorporates the use of notes, visuals, props, and good voice management and body language. A three-step process expanding on the presentation developed during group work will demonstrate to students the value of the various elements and will underscore the importance of practice.
Planning Verbal Content
The first step is to create an outline, and transfer it to note cards they will consult during their speech. Demonstrating good and bad techniques of voice management and body language will help the students visualize themselves in front of a group. Work with students on how to handle the note cards, how to consult notes without reading, and how to maintain eye contact with the audience, while directing their voice to the audience. This step provides them with the confidence to move forward and include visuals that will help to illustrate and clarify their presentation.The second step is to prepare a visual, which can take the form of a poster, a set of transparencies, a PowerPoint, or even a short video clip. Work with students on where to place the visual in relationship to where they will be standing, so they do not impede the audience's view. They need to practice pointing to the poster while maintaining eye and voice contact with their audience. Students find that this step takes them away from the relative comfort of a podium and their note cards, so they must know what they are saying, and how they are saying it.
Practicing with Props
The third step in the presentation might be to add a model into the mix, requiring the students to show or demonstrate the use of an item that is integral to the presentation. Work with students on how to hold this item without obscuring it in their hands. The model may be shown at any time during the speech to increase visual interest.The result of this three-step process is to provide students with enough contact with their speech, its various parts, and with actual practice, so that the final speech is a success: it covers the material well, it fits into the allotted time space, it includes the audience in the presentation, and it provides a true sense of accomplishment for the student presenter.
Final Thoughts.
Starting the very first day of class and continuing every day throughout their course of study, each successive speaking experience our students have will develop confidence and comfort, ultimately creating an individual who is self-assured when presenting information to a group. Regardless of their choice of profession, most of our students at one time or another will be in a position where they will have to speak to a gathering. It might be at work, at church, at a club meeting, or as a Scout leader. Whatever the purpose of public speaking, being able to do so comfortably in more than one language is a real asset we teachers can provide for our students.
Above all, help your students to enjoy the experience. Public speaking is an opportunity to share with others. Remind your students they have a voice and others can benefit from their input. Help your students to realize that public speaking does not have to be a chore, but can be a fun, educational, and informative experience.
These are some suggestions for checklist/guidelines to give students while preparing their presentation.
| Question | Yes | No |
| Did I speak clearly? | ||
| Was the audience able to hear me? | ||
| Did I speak at the right pace? | ||
| Did I make eye contact with the audience? | ||
| Did I connect with the audience? | ||
| Did I Use visual aids? Hand-outs? |
What do you think the strengths of your presentation are?
What do you think the weaknesses of your presentation are?
If possible, videotape students while they are presenting. Seeing themselves on video will allow them to have a better sense of what their presenting styles and strengths are.
This is a possible guide that can be used to help students prepare for their presentations.
- Stand erect, feet planted squarely on the floor.
- Stand in one place.
- Keep gestures calm and contained.
- Speak loudly enough to be heard over entire space.
- Speak at a speed appropriate for the audience and purpose.
- Speak with appropriate phrasing.
- Speak with appropriate intonation.
- Enunciate words clearly.
- Pronounce words correctly.
- Use correct grammar.
- Use a vocabulary equal to the audience.
- Provide an appropriate list of vocabulary.
- Maintain good eye contact with the audience.
- Move cards in an unobtrusive manner.
- Use 4" x 6" or 5" x 8" note cards.
- Place poster where all can easily see it.
- Avoid standing between poster and the audience.
- Use a pointer/pointing stick/laser.
- Hold pointer steady at area to be identified.
- Maintain proper eye contact with audience.
- Directs voice to audience.
- Poster supports speech.
- Poster layout is uncluttered.
- Poster layout is visually appealing.
- Poster contains correct grammar.
- Poster contains correct spelling.
- Poster vocabulary is appropriate.
- Introduce item to be shown.
- Hold item to be shown so that hands do not cover/block view.
- Item is large enough for audience to see.
- Item supports/adds to the speech.
- Continue speaking while showing/demonstrating.
- Show item to entire audience.
- Length of speech.
Your French Classroom is on Fire! What do you Grab on your Way Out?
Losing everything in a fire has always been one of my worst nightmares. When we heard the alarm during lunch on March 3 we were surprised and a little confused. Why were we having a fire drill during lunch? I was supervising freshmen and sophomores in the small computer lab in the library. We looked at each other and I said, “Well, I guess we’d better get out.” When some students in the library hesitated at the door I ordered them to leave by the nearest exit. In the lunchroom, some of the juniors and seniors were grabbing doughnuts and fish sticks to finish outside. I never had my lunch, which is still sitting in my room.
We gathered on the school lawn as we had practiced in the fire drills, still unsure of what exactly was going on. Then we saw the little wisps of white smoke coming from the room above mine. We watched for the next fifteen minutes as the smoke gently crept across the rooftop, seeping so delicately from the cracks. I kept thinking that it would be alright. It was only a little smoke. The fire department would be able to handle this. Teachers ordered the students to get into their respective classes and line up alphabetically so we could check roll. The smoke was now seeping from the rooftop at the other end of the building.
Soon after the fire trucks arrived we were instructed to go to the ball field, which was stage B of our evacuation drill. On the way, I stopped to look back at the building and saw the great grey-black smoke roiling up and then the huge ball of orange-red flame. It was over. Nothing would save our building now. The smoke became blacker, the flames shot higher. Decisions had to be made on how to proceed.
Students who had driven were allowed to leave first, with parental permission. The problem was that only one of the secretaries had her cell phone. The problem was solved when it was discovered that about thirty students had broken the cell phone rule and had their phones with them. I borrowed one to contact my husband who was taking a day off work. I had driven his car to work and the keys were inside the school. The remaining students were divided into classes and bussed to the community building. From there we still had a view of our burning building. One of my students asked me, “Mrs. Freeman, does this mean we won’t have any more fun French activities?”
We mingled, stunned, watching the fire consume the top floor. Teachers continued to borrow cell phones to contact students’ parents. My husband arrived with our neighbor. Shortly after that, our principal called those remaining together to say that school would be in session again next week. He said teachers with transportation could leave. My husband drove me home.
My husband assured me that everything would turn out alright; the school would be rebuilt. But all I could think of was the loss of twenty years’ work and all the materials I had created and collected. In addition, my handbag, my cell phone, my iPod, and the sole key to my Beetle were also inside. I thought they would be safe since they were locked in a metal cabinet, but when would I be able to recover them?
That afternoon I contacted my colleagues on FLTeach. For the past six years, FLTeach has been a great resource, discussion board and support group for me. Soon I received emails offering condolences and materials. Over the next three weeks I received teacher’s editions, ancillary materials, worksheets, workbooks and textbooks from FLTeach list members. One list member who had experienced a school fire told me that her school had had tee-shirts made that stated “I survived the fire of 1987.” Our principal liked the idea and adapted it to “We will survive!”
Over the weekend, the community came together. Students’ belongings were salvaged from their lockers and bagged. Some of the teachers’ personal belongings were also recovered from their rooms. Documents from the office were aired out and dried in the middle school gym. Water damaged computers were removed from the library and classrooms. I was able to recover my jump drive which I had left in my classroom computer. The firemen also recovered my book bag, a few cassettes and CD’s and a drawer from my old desk. My handbag, car keys, iPod and cell phone weren’t recovered until Tuesday. Volunteers helped set up classrooms in the Methodist Church and the junior high building. A computer lab was set up in the Church.
School began again on the Wednesday following the fire. As the students returned that morning, the disco hit “I will survive” was playing and they were each given a tee-shirt. Our students were sober but optimistic. Our principal reassured them that the school would survive and the seniors would graduate at the high school gymnasium on May 21.
In the following weeks local businesses, other area schools and various organizations held fund-raisers and donated money and supplies to help us get through the rest of the year. We struggled at first and wondered how we were ever going to make it through the rest of the year. At least half of my textbooks had either been burned or water-damaged. I was able to find replacement copies of the French textbooks for $16.00 each so these were replaced quickly. Fortunately, I save and transfer documents created at school on my home computer so none of that work was lost. We operated on a shortened schedule with dismissal at 12:35 and lunch until 1:00. Classes were 55 minutes long and we stayed on the block schedule of A/B days. Since the students had no lockers and as we were short of textbooks, I insisted my students be more focused and complete all their work in class so the textbooks did not leave the room.
Over the next two weeks I would start to plan a lesson, then realize, “Oh wait, I don’t have that anymore.” On March 20, we were told that we could go into the building, with a custodian, and remove anything that was irreplaceable. We were not to remove anything that was covered by insurance. On March 21, it snowed sufficiently to cancel school. I returned to the building on March 22 with my camera. The top floor was totally incinerated. The middle floor showed some water damage but didn’t look too bad except for the room next door to mine where the room above had collapsed into it. The basement was totally ruined by the 62,000 gallons of water that had been used to contain the blaze. I recovered my professional development file and left, thinking I could return the following day with a box to recover more irreplaceable items. The next day we were told that nothing more could be removed from the building because of asbestos contamination. It was frustrating to have seen undamaged items that now could not be removed. And it was time to make an inventory.
Years ago we were required to turn in an inventory at the end of every year. I found an old inventory from 1999 at home with a post-it note saying: “Put on computer.” It was a start. Over the next few weeks I kept remembering more things that I had lost. By the time I completed the inventory in April I realized how much old stuff I had had. My students used to ask, “Mrs. Freeman, how old is this video?” Several were older than the students, I must admit. On the day of the fire, some were trying to reassure others by saying that “It’s only stuff. You can replace stuff.” I thought, “Yeah, but it’s my stuff.” It was two months after the event before I was finally able to “let go” of my stuff. I began to look upon the fire as a really drastic spring cleaning.
By the last week in March we had settled into a new routine and adjusted to our new surroundings. Since we didn’t have the same bell schedule as the junior high and the church had no bell system at all we had synchronized digital clocks. I downloaded Cool Timer from the Internet and loaded my own alarm. Soon the students were leaving class singing and dancing to Karl Zero’s “Ça va, Ça va.” My concentration and memory were gradually improving but I still couldn’t concentrate long enough to enjoy a good book.
In addition to the material losses I also regretted not being able to take my students to the computer lab as frequently as before. They always looked forward to a break from the classroom and enjoyed the on-line activities on my Quia site (Quintessential Instructional Archive). When I first started using Quia in 1999, the activities were simple flashcards, matching, concentration and word search puzzles that students could play on-line. Since then the company has added a wider range of activities as well as quizzes. Subscribers can copy activities written by other Quia subscribers and modify them to suit their own needs. Last fall the company improved the quiz generator. Teachers can create questions in a bank and create quizzes on line by choosing questions from that bank. Even though I couldn’t get to the computer lab, I could still use the questions I’d created and make new quizzes. I was able to make different copies of the same quiz to discourage cheating, print out the quizzes and photocopy them. I also used Quia to create my final exams.
When we returned from Easter break things seemed almost normal. However, I was beginning to feel a little isolated from the rest of my colleagues in my “penthouse.” I began to miss the material things less and remember the old familiar building and its routines with nostalgia. I missed not talking to the math teacher between classes and greeting the science teacher when she arrived in the morning. I missed not seeing the students in the hallway.
Our principal felt that it was important for every event that had been scheduled before the fire to take place. Despite losing their projects in the fire, the science club students reconstructed their projects and continued to compete at science fairs. One student advanced to the International Fair and won a $20,000 scholarship. The annual school spring picnic was held at the high school ball diamond. There were class competitions, including a fire trivia quiz. A group photograph was taken of the entire student body and staff, all wearing the tee-shirts with the school in the background. Another school held a fund raiser to help replace the prom decorations and the DJ refused payment for his services at the prom.
The gymnasium was packed to the rafters for graduation on May 21. The spectators gave us a standing ovation as we walked down the aisle to our reserved places to “Who Says You Can’t Go Home?” by Jon Bon Jovi. We had done it. With the help of the community, the churches, businesses and many people in other communities, we had made it. But we owe most of our success to our principal with his optimism, determination, leadership and sense of humor.
Three days before our disaster, my third and fourth year French students attended a Mardi Gras Festival at a local college. Although they were a little shy and unsure of themselves, they had a great time. Next year the theme for the festival is “Heroes and Heroines.” Perfect. We can dress as firemen. They can write and perform a skit about the fire and all the other heroes and heroines who helped us survive.
After the fire, I kept reliving the event and waking up in the middle of the night thinking about it. I mourned over my losses and kept remembering more things until eventually the importance of that material stuff faded away. It has been over three months since the fire. The old building is due for demolition in June. The modular classrooms which will be our home for the next two years have arrived. I am excited and looking forward to the challenges and changes ahead. On March 3, I watched a building that had been part of my life for twenty years be destroyed by fire. Now it’s time to look ahead; it’s time to move on.
News Story: The local TV stations were there and the following article was in the Peoria Journal Star : http://www.pjstar.com/stories/052106/PHI_B9SIJR98.037.shtml
Students Using their Language in their Communities
What do a classroom; a doctor’s office, a newsroom, a day care center, a visitor’s information bureau, a hospital, a place of worship, an orphanage, and a retirement home all have in common?
At first glance, these very diverse environments appear to be completely different from one another. However, upon further examination, these sites become locations where high school students of foreign languages (FL) may put their skills to work in real-life situations.
The Five C’s of the National Standards for Foreign Languages act as a guide for teachers as they make decisions about what to include in their curriculum and lesson plans. Communities, the fifth strand, includes two standards.“The first standard emphasizes applied learning, while the second focuses on personal enrichment.” (64) The end result of the Communities strand involves putting the students in a situation where they interact with a community in the language they are learning.
This Communities strand is one that many teachers find to be the most difficult one to address successfully. They offer many reasons for this, including availability of local resources and the additional time required to set up a community experience and follow through on it. There are many communities where there are few, if any, opportunities to use a FL outside of the classroom just simply because there is a limited population of users of the FL in the area near the school. Often, the actual experience takes place after school hours, although much of the preparation can be done during class, if time and curriculum permit. In spite of these drawbacks, successful experiences gain high praise from everybody involved: students, community members, teachers, and school personnel.
What are some of the things that can be devised to bring students out of the classroom, into the community, and into contact with native speakers in a natural setting? In the box below is a list of ideas, followed by a brief description of five of the more unique endeavors.
- Teaching aide for doctor’s office staff
- Creating educational coloring books
- Translation of documents for local hospital
- Working at an orphanage
- Creating a regular newspaper page for children
- Helping out at a day care facility
- Attending religious services in the FL
- Teach an elementary school class
- Foreign film festival
- Reading to or playing games with a resident at an elder care center
- Introduce new arrivals to the services (grocery store, post office, bank) offered in the community
1. The result of a casual comment, a multi-year collaboration between an upper level Spanish class and the Department of Education (DOE) at the local hospital resulted in a variety of useful products. Among these products were: the Food Services menu for hospital patients, a coloring book for young children introducing them to the various people who work at the hospital, flyers with nutritional information for pregnant women, and application forms and information for Nurse’s Aide positions. The hospital DOE provided the students with the original documents in English. These were supplemented by a vocabulary list created by the teacher in an attempt to standardize the vocabulary. Once the documents were converted to Spanish, they were sent to the hospital, where, before being implemented, they were reviewed by the legal department.
Reactions to and comments about these projects include:
- It makes me really proud to know that the Spanish-speaking patients at the hospital can read the food services menu in their own language. And this is because I worked on the Spanish-language menu! (A student)
- Coloring books are a cool, fun way to help children become familiar with the unknown. Translating the hospital professions coloring book for the hospital education department was a rewarding experience because I know that it will help young children feel a bit more comfortable when they have a hospital experience.(A student)
- So many of the employees at the hospital are Spanish-speaking and have limited English proficiency. The documents necessary for their employment and training need to be translated into their language. Working on the application form for Nurse Aid and the HIPPA privacy information were difficult and rewarding assignments. (A student)
- Good pre-natal health is so important, and since that is the area of medicine I wish to enter, it was an honor to work on two flyers that will be given to pregnant women. These flyers will help them eat properly so that the nutritional balance is there for the development of a healthy baby. (A student)
- Have really appreciated working with you and the students…we certainly received benefits as well!! (Hospital DOE Staff Member)
- The Food Services people are delighted with their new menu! (Hospital DOE Staff Member)
2. Another multi-year collaboration arose out of a class discussion prompted by the reading of the monthly Spanish-language newspaper distributed free by the local daily newspaper. Several students felt that the missing element in that newspaper was a children’s page. They encouraged their teacher to contact the editor and to invite her to class so they could present their ideas for the addition of a children’s page. Impressed with what the students had said and their plan to execute the project, she discussed the idea with her editors and it was approved. The students determined a theme for each page, researched information, created activities centered on the theme, learned to use publishing software, and met their deadlines. They created a logo and a cast of continuing characters, including a boy and girl, and a cartoon character. The students created all of the artwork, which was original to avoid copyright issues. The editor, a native speaker of Spanish, gave the final approval of the language. Unfortunately, this project was terminated when the newspaper editors discontinued publication of the monthly Spanish language edition.
Reactions to and comments about this project included:
- It’s awesome to see my work out there for the public! (A student)
- Children need to become familiar with a newspaper, to learn about reading the newspaper for information, and to become thoughtful, discriminating readers. The local all-Spanish edition did not address these needs, so we did. We understand that the kids had fun with our pages and that was the point. (A student)
- My children really look forward to each new edition and enjoy the activities on the page. (A parent)
- Thank you and the class for doing such a fantastic job with [the children’s page]. I love it! (The Editor)
- I think it is great what you are doing with the class.(A School Board Member).
3. A teacher was asked to formulate a class for the staff of a doctor’s office where the primary language for most of the patients was Spanish. Students were enlisted to prepare vocabulary posters and to act as teacher’s aides during the role-playing practice portion of each weekly class. This very successful endeavor lasted for 10 weeks and resulted in the office staff, nurses, and PA, as well as the physician, being able to communicate much more effectively with their patient clients. All of the “students” were very appreciative of the learning opportunity this provided and the increased care and understanding they were able to provide every week as the class progressed. This experience inspired one of the teacher’s aide students to become a family practice physician in a locality where she could use her knowledge of Spanish.
Reactions to and comments about this project included:
- I wish you would package this so that I can carry it with me always! I feel so much more effective with the patients now that I can actually ask questions and sort of understand their answers. (A nurse)
- Seeing the students come to the realization of the importance of what they were doing was very special for me. This was the first time they had actually understood how Spanish could be used in important ways outside of the classroom – ways that were easily within reach of them. (The teacher)
- Wow! I didn’t think I would be able to help out my teacher with the project beyond making a poster for them. Was I ever wrong! I learned to improvise based on my knowledge of the vocabulary and my own experiences in the doctor’s office when I had the flu. And I could do it!!!! (A student)
4. Sparked by the 3-time experience of one student and her father, a class trip during winter break evolved into a week at a small orphanage in Mexico. While at the orphanage, the students spent the mornings working on a construction project and the afternoons either working on the project, teaching English, art, or music to the children, playing soccer, or relaxing. They stayed in dormitory facilities at the orphanage and ate their meals with the children. Before leaving for Mexico, the class raised money to purchase supplies to take with them to the orphanage. While there, discussions were held between the directors of the orphanage and the representative of the school to set up an on-going relationship between the school and the orphanage.
Reactions to and comments about this project included:
- The orphanage kind of reminds me of Swiss-family Robinson … something like going to camp. The kids are great and they appreciate everything we do."(A student)
- "We have [had] to behave well because the directors are so committed to the success of their home, we can't let them down." (A student)
5. Growing out of the interests and knowledge of a teacher, the members of the French Club planned and presented a French Film Festival for students and the community. They viewed several films and selected two to be shown in the high school auditorium on a weekend when there were no sporting events taking place. Dividing into two groups, the students became the resident experts on one of the films, researching everything they could find about their film. Within each group, half of the students prepared a pre-viewing introduction to a film that included background information about the actors, the location, and the historical/cultural context. The other half prepared a post-viewing discussion that included the music and photography, as well as the theme and plot. Since many of the audience members did not speak French, both films were shown with the English sub-titles and the presentations were conducted in English.
Reactions to and comments about this project included:
- This was a fabulous experience for me! It had been years since I had heard French spoken, much less seen a movie in French, and it was very exciting to see how much of it came back to me while watching these movies. I hope they continue to do this in the future! (A parent)
- I can’t believe how much I learned about France while preparing my part of the post-viewing discussion. I was so ready to do it in French and am somewhat disappointed that we had to do it in English instead. But, seeing the enjoyment of the audience was really what counted. (A student)
- Watching my students become wrapped up in their French while working on this project was enough to let me know that all of the work was worth it. (The teacher)
Even though the preceding examples principally illustrate using Spanish, there is no reason why they cannot be adapted to other languages. How can a teacher reach out and involve the community when local resources are not so readily available? The Internet offers incredible access to places where students may use their FL under the supervision of their teacher. Contacting schools in a country where the language is spoken can result in arranging an email exchange between classes. Making videos about their home community to share with other schools will provide cultural insight for the class in the L2 country. Consulting the National Standards book will provide wonderful general ideas, and specific activities for nine languages. In the event that none of the suggestions provided in the Standards for one language fit the situation, consulting the other languages should provide something that can be used or adapted to a particular situation.
Getting students out of the classroom and into the community to research and to interact with the community is what the goal of the Communities strand is all about. Students who are actively engaged in meaningful endeavors are more enthusiastic, learn more, remember more, and are more positive about their language learning experiences. In the words of one student,
“This type of project is so much more worthwhile than some end-of-the-year research project. There are so many ways we can reach out to the community, and this is one that many people don’t even think about, let alone do anything about. I’m sure the Spanish-speaking people where we live appreciate it.”
As it says in the introduction to the Foreign Language Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools,
Knowledge of the foreign language and culture is enhanced for students when they have the opportunity to apply their skills and knowledge beyond the classroom. … It is the practical application of their language skills that motivates students to continue their language study and develop a life-long interest in participating in the global community. (4)
During their work and after it is completed, students begin to understand the value of community-based experiences to everyone involved in the activity. Perhaps more importantly for the foreign language professional, students begin to understand the value of being able to really speak in another language about things of real importance. An additional plus, interwoven into all of these experiences, the students and teacher find the other four strands of the Five C’s of language learning.
There are likely any number of community-based undertakings that can be found for students who are learning a foreign language to explore. Looking at the community with a creative eye, not being held back by what is already being done, and possessing a willingness to take a chance will result in myriad ideas, several of which should be appropriate for your school, community and students. In the language of clichés, my advice is to step up to the plate, take a deep breath, and think outside of the box. If you listen to your students, something will emerge and it will become an exciting adventure for everybody involved.
RESOURCES
National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project. Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century. Lawrence, KS: Allen Press, Inc.,1999.
Commonwealth of Virginia. Board of Education. Foreign Language Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools. Richmond, VA, 2000.
The author is a 35-year veteran of the high school foreign language classroom and has seen these and many other unique experiences be highly successful and motivational. The purpose of this article is to provide a stimulus to jump-start the creative thinking juices of all teachers at any level.
The Fifth Standard – Communities – What does it really mean?
An Interview with Dr. June Phillips, Co-Chair of the Standards Task Force
Why "Communities?"
Of the five Standards of Foreign Language Learning - Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities – the last, Communities is perhaps the most confusing and least generally understood by classroom teachers. June Phillips, Project Director of the Standards for Foreign Language Learning Task Force, and Dean at Weber State University, says that the Communities standard represents the long-term goal of all foreign language standards. "It serves an as ultimate goal," she says, "Some advisors to the Task Force said this could be the only standard." What does "Communities" mean as an instructional objective? The Standards define Communities as … "Participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world." Standard 5.1 is "Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting." Standard 5.2 is "Students show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment." A teacher can measure progress towards the objectives of Standards such as Communication or Cultures in the classroom, but since Communities represents the overall goal of instruction and the behavior generally takes place outside the classroom, it appears, at first hand, impossible to set specific objectives and measure progress. Phillips, however, says that, "… while you can’t measure "life–long learning in school, students should be getting the tools" in the classroom. You can set objectives and measure progress based on more short-term goals embedded in activities that lead to engaging the students with multilingual communities. How to Address the Communities Standard in the School: Phillips says that teachers have been using existing activities or creating exciting new ones to help students participate in multilingual communities. Some of these are:
- Study Abroad – Living and studying in a foreign country allows students to be engaged in the larger foreign language community and the culture is experienced first hand. (For more information about how to prepare students for study abroad, click here)
- Foreign Travel – Foreign language teachers organize and lead students on trips to countries where they use the language and experience the culture. (For more information about how to prepare for a class trip abroad, click here)
- Service Learning – Students engage in community service activities in communities in the U.S. where their foreign language is spoken as a native language. Phillips reminds us that, "This is more easily achieved in some languages than others, it lends itself to language groups that are active in the U.S."
- Field Trips - Students visit communities where they can be exposed to the foreign language and culture. (For a video with a webguide about a field trip into a local see Tape # 26 in the Annenberg Teaching Foreign Languages K-12 Library: http://www.learner.org/resources/series185.html)
- Guest Speakers / Classroom Visitors – Visitors come into the classroom and engage the students in language and culture activities. (For a video with a webguide about a classroom visit see Tape # 14 in the Annenberg Teaching Foreign Languages K-12 Library: http://www.learner.org/resources/series185.html)
- Engaging Students in the Foreign Language Virtual Community – Students participate in the foreign community using language through international email, pod-casts, or blogging.
While these kinds of activities may take time and effort to organize and carry out, Phillips argues that meeting the Communities standards is important and should be integrated into all foreign language activities. First of all, "It helps with motivation," she states. "If the students have a sense of the community that speaks a certain language, then they will want to learn the language more." Engagement with the foreign language community, whether through travel or speakers or writing emails or blogs creates in students a "frame of mind that will encourage them to try and build their knowledge of the culture and of the people, even after their formal classroom experience is over." "You can read about perspectives, but you can’t really understand a perspective until you have been engaged with that culture – in that language.," continues Phi.
Additional information about the National Language Service Corps is available at www.nlscorps.org or you can call 1-888-SAY-NLSC.llips. "You have to go to the original sources."
®2009 National Capital Language Resource Center
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