View Content #20141

Contentid20141
Content Type5
TitleBridging Project
Body

Many students who study in a language immersion context in the elementary and middle grades end up quitting world language study all together in high school. Upon first glance, this reality seems counterintuitive. Logic would dictate that upper-level secondary courses and university Language Flagship Programs would be filled with students who were predisposed to learning in their second languages. This result, however, is not supported by empirical data.

Essentially, traditional secondary language classrooms do not support the specialized needs of speakers of advanced proficiency. Given the growing mass of learners beginning high school in this exact situation, educators from Portland Public Schools, CASLS and Portland State University are beginning to design a new course in an initiative known as the Bridging Project.

On Thursday, October 1,  Dr. Julie Sykes, Director of CASLS, Dr. Steve Thorne from Portland State University, and Stephanie Knight, Language Technology Specialist at CASLS, met with a team of teachers and teachers on special assignment at PPS to begin this important planning. The course will be presented in a hybrid format; students will progress through engaging online modules designed to captivate their interest regarding issues of global and local significance, and teachers will serve as guides for student thinking and engagement. The course will culminate with a design competition in which teams enter engaging place-based experiences that they have developed for their local communities. The competition winners will receive a scholarship to support their language education at the university level.

Excitement regarding this project is palpable. Marilyn Mi, PPS teacher on special assignment, commented, “It [the Bridging Project] will connect me with my students, and I think it will work! It is going to be a great, great project."  All project design team members are excited to continue to work diligently and rapidly so that the course will be ready for the 2016-2017 school year.

SourceCASLS Spotlight
Inputdate2015-10-02 15:15:20
Lastmodifieddate2015-10-12 03:21:49
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Publishdate2015-10-12 02:15:01
Displaydate2015-10-12 00:00:00
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