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Content Type: 3
Title: Teaching Effectiveness for Language Learning Network: An Introduction
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by Julie Sykes, CASLS Director
The Teaching Effectiveness for Language Learning (TELL) framework offers language educators a guide for best practices and models. The framework entails seven domains, each "designed to address a teacher's need to Prepare for Student Learning, Advance Student Learning, and Support Student Learning." These seven domains offer a means to reflect on one's own practice and align ways of talking about language teaching.
- Environment: creating a safe and supporting learning environment.
- Planning: designing positive learning experience through planning.
- The Learning Experience: providing meaningful learning experiences that advance meaning.
- Performance and Feedback: using performance and feedback to advance student learning.
- Learning Tools: maximizing the learning experience through the use of meaningful tools.
- Collaboration: collaborating with stakeholders to support student learning.
- Professionalism: continued growth as a professional to support student learning.
Lead by a team of educators, TELL sets to define what good language teaching looks like and facilitate growth and professional development. Professional development resources include self-assessments to reflect on one's own practice, feedback tools to facilitate observations and classroom instruction, and additional resources for those interested in learning more. TELL is featured here as one place to jump start your professional journey.
More information on TELL can be found at: http://www.tellproject.org.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Content Type: 4
Title: Self-Reflection Using the TELL Framework
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Self-reflection can be a powerful practice for developing and enhancing teaching and learning.
Objective: To utilize self-reflection to set short-term and long-term goals
Resources: TELL Self-Reflection Tools (http://www.tellproject.org/tools/self-assessments/)
Procedure:
- Select the domain you would like to improve on.
- Take the self-assessment.
- Based on the areas you would most like to work on, pick two short-term and two-long term goals to work on. Write them down in a place you will remember and be sure to check-in on your progress.
Source: CASLS Activity of the Week
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Content Type: 3
Title: Job-Embedded Professional Development
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By Gweneth Bruey-Finck, M.Ed
Gweneth Bruey-Finck was a high school French teacher for 8 years in the Salem-Keizer (Oregon) School District and has served as President of the Confederation in Oregon for Language Teaching (COFLT), a Board Member of the Pacific Northwest Council for Language (PNCFL), and as a state delegate to the National Assembly at ACTFL. She became a Literacy Instructional Coach (Teacher on Special Assignment) with Salem-Keizer in 2012 and recently accepted a position as a school administrator.
As K-12 language teachers, there are many barriers we face with regard to traditional professional development. The first is the specificity of our content area; we are often times left to interpret workshops or conference sessions to fit the specific needs of our target language and/or the literacy level of our students. Many of us may also not have access to specialists who are knowledgeable about language teaching, so our options may be limited in terms of professional development to attend. In addition, budget restraints in the current state of public education usually equate to fewer paid days for attending professional development sessions and less money to reimburse such activities. Given these combined forces of specialized content and fewer resources, language teachers may feel held back from the forward movement of their professional learning. However, with participation in job-embedded professional development, teachers will discover a more relevant, frequent, and rigorous experience that will transform their professional culture and improve student learning.
The defining characteristic of job-embedded professional development is that it occurs within the work day at the school site. Instead of going outside of our schools or districts to attend workshops or conferences, opportunities lie within our day-to-day practices that can transform our instruction, create connections in our professional communities, and make us more responsive to student needs. These opportunities include action research and reflective practices that feature the collection of data, both quantitative and qualitative, to inform teacher practice and affect student learning. These activities may include:
- Peer observations, reflection, and debrief
- Peer instructional coaching and mentoring
- Self analysis via videotaped lessons
- Book studies and collaborative video lesson analyses
- Collaborative teams who analyze student work and share specific instructional strategies for enrichment or intervention
Job-embedded professional learning may occur between teachers of any content area as it focuses on high-leverage instructional strategies that have shown to greatly affect student learning, regardless of the discipline. This type of professional development is more relevant than our traditional model because teachers are able to see specific strategies in action, collect data to directly assess their impact in the classroom, collaborate to discuss options and next steps, and respond accordingly. Ongoing cycles of analysis with the use of data direct from the classroom provide more frequent learning opportunities than the once/twice yearly model from days past. Lastly, these opportunities are deeper, more rigorous experiences that help teachers to critically assess their practices with regard to student learning, rather than the "take it or leave it" mindset many teachers experience with traditional workshops and presentations. With job-embedded opportunities like those above, we can transform professional development from an event occurring once or twice a year to a daily, ongoing part of our professional culture.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Content Type: 5
Title: Catching Up with WILL Graduate Brenda Gaver by Mandy Gettler, CASLS Associate Director
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In 2013, CASLS began a two-year professional development program called the Western Initiative for Language Leadership (WILL) designed for language educators teaching in rural areas of the Pacific Northwest. CASLS later expanded the program to include teachers in other areas of the country.
The first year of the program focused on using action research to improve classroom practice, and the second year focused on developing leadership skills. Teachers gathered together for weeklong summer institutes each year and stayed in contact throughout the year with one another, mentors, CASLS staff, and experts in the field.
Brenda Gaver, a Spanish teacher at East Valley High School in Spokane, Washington, joined WILL in its first year as a participant. She later served as a mentor for other WILL cohorts. "I really enjoyed the personal and professional connections that I made through WILL," Brenda recalls. "As a mentor, it was fun to support the participants and to let them know that we are not necessarily 'experts,' but colleagues sharing many of the same struggles."
Brenda credits the program with giving her the confidence to take on leadership roles in professional organizations. She has served as state conference chair twice for the Washington Association for Language Teaching (WAFLT), recording secretary for WAFLT, president for WAFLT, president for the Pacific Northwest Council for Languages (PNCFL), and eastern vice president for the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP).
Brenda continues to teach Spanish at East Valley High School in addition to being the cheerleading coach. When not engaged in her work or professional development, she enjoys traveling and scuba diving.
WILL and its expansion programs, the Southern Initiative for Language Learning and the Global Language Educators' Network, were funded by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI Language Resource Center grant.
Source: CASLS Spotlight
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Title: July 2014 Issue of Language Magazine
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The July 2014 issue of Language Magazine is available online at http://languagemagazine.com/?p=66052
In this issue:
Cutting to the Common Core: The Positive Side of the Digital Divide
Judith Zorfass and Tracy Gray recommend using digital text to differentiate reading instruction
Lure of the Sur: A Study Abroad Extravaganza
Kristal Bivona finds there’s no time like the present to immerse oneself in Latin America
Spanish Steps
Britta Schneider explains what salsa dancing has to do with language learning in a globalized world
The Community Speaks
Chi Anunwa is impressed by innovative, student-led bilingual education programs in rural Mexico
Source: Language Magazine
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Title: Special Issue of NYS TESOL Journal: Multilingual Students with Disabilities
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The latest issue of the NYS TESOL Journal is available online at http://www.journal.nystesol.org/currentissue.html
This issue has a special theme: Multilingual Students with Disabilities.
Source: NYS TESOL
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Title: Book: Young Children as Intercultural Mediators
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From http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781783092123
Young Children as Intercultural Mediators: Mandarin-speaking Chinese Families in Britain
By Zhiyan Guo
Published by Multilingual Matters
This multidisciplinary approach to cultural mediation brings together insights from anthropology, sociology, linguistics and intercultural communication to offer a detailed depiction of family life in immigrant Chinese communities. Utilizing a strongly contextualized and evidence-based narrative approach to exploring the nature of child cultural mediation, the author provides an insightful analysis of intercultural relationships between children and parents in immigrant families and of the informative aspects of their everyday lives. Furthermore, the family home setting offers the reader a glimpse of a personal territory that researchers often have great difficulty accessing. This ethnographic study will be of interest to students, researchers and professionals working in the areas of intercultural communication, childhood studies, family relations and migration studies.
Visit the publisher’s website at http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781783092123
Source: Multilingual Matters
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Title: New Book: Colloquial Burmese: The Complete Course for Beginners
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From http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415517263
Colloquial Burmese: The Complete Course for Beginners
By San San Hnin Tun, Patrick McCormick
Published by Routledge
Colloquial Burmese provides a step-by-step course in Burmese as it is written and spoken today. Combining a user-friendly approach with a thorough treatment of the language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Burmese in a broad range of situations. No prior knowledge of the language is required.
Visit the publisher’s website at http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415517263/
Source: Routledge
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Title: Book: The Bilingual Mind
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The Bilingual Mind: And What It Tells Us about Language and Thought
By Aneta Pavlenko
Published by Academic
If languages influence the way we think, do bilinguals think differently in their respective languages? And if languages do not affect thought, why do bilinguals often perceive such influence? For many years these questions remained unanswered because the research on language and thought had focused solely on the monolingual mind. Bilinguals were either excluded from this research as 'unusual' or 'messy' subjects, or treated as representative speakers of their first languages. Only recently did bi- and multilinguals become research participants in their own right. Pavlenko considers the socio-political circumstances that led to the monolingual status quo and shows how the invisibility of bilingual participants compromised the validity and reliability of findings in the study of language and cognition. She then shifts attention to the bilingual turn in the field and examines its contributions to the understanding of the human mind.
Visit the publisher’s website at http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/psycholinguistics-and-neurolinguistics/bilingual-mind-and-what-it-tells-us-about-language-and-thought?format=PB
Source: Academic
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Title: Call for Chapters: Digital Games and Language Learning: A Sociocultural Perspective
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From the CALICO-L listserv:
Dear Colleagues
We invite submissions for the following book:
Digital games and language learning: A sociocultural perspective (Edited by Dr Mark Peterson and Dr Michael Thomas)
Call for chapters
The proposed book will be divided into two parts: the first section will include theory-based papers that will provide a comprehensive overview of rationales for game-based learning that are informed by sociocultural accounts of SLA. The second section will focus on applied research and will include papers that report on actual learner game play, in-game interaction, attitudes and participation in game related online communities.
Chapters will be between 5,000 to 7,000 words long and will appeal to language teachers, graduate students and researchers working in the fields of applied linguistics, second language acquisition and the learning sciences. Submissions are encouraged focusing on one or more of the following areas:
Theory of game-based learning
Learner in-game interaction
Learner attitudes
Use of modified games
Gaming in out-of-school contexts
Integration of game-based learning
Learner participation in online game-related communities
Abstract submission and deadlines
Abstracts should be between 300 and 500 words and should be sent to both Dr Mark Peterson (tufsmp@yahoo.com) and Dr Michael Thomas (MThomas4@uclan.ac.uk).
The deadline is July 30th 2014.
Peterson, M. Call for chapters: Digital games and language learning: A sociocultural perspective. CALICO-L listserv (CALICO-L@LISTSERV.CALICO.ORG, 6 Jul 2014).
Source: CALICO-L
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