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Content Type: 1
Title: Study Abroad in Nicaragua for K-12 Teachers
Body:
From https://www.studyabroad.miamioh.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgram&Program_ID=11892
MIAMI UNIVERSITY STUDY ABROAD FOR K-12 TEACHERS (Non-credit program)
Offered by Miami Faculty, Jill Gomez
Location: Granada, Nicaragua
Dates: 07/11/15 – 07/25/15
About the Program:
The purpose of this program is offer a continuing education experience in an immersion setting for licensed K-12 Spanish teachers for which they will earn 6 CEUs. Participants will spend 15 days in Granada, Nicaragua where they will stay with host families in conjunction with the Nicaraguan Educational Program. They will attend and participate in thirty hours of advanced conversational Spanish classes taught by native speaking professionals. In the afternoons the participants will spend an additional thirty hours observing and assisting Nicaraguan teachers in local partner schools.
For full details go to https://www.studyabroad.miamioh.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgram&Program_ID=11892
Source: Miami University
Inputdate: 2014-09-05 08:25:58
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Expdate: 2015-07-25 00:00:00
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Content Type: 1
Title: ELT Blog Carnival: Back to School
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From http://www.eflclassroom.com
The topic of the 42nd ELT Blog Carnival is Back to School. Read blog posts on the topic at http://community.eflclassroom.com/profiles/blogs/back-to-school-helpers
If you’re new to the Blog Carnival, you can learn more about it here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iglVbCOTIhsfbqz4SM772dGdmDfaDaiqvW9l7cRslu4/edit
Source: ELT Blog Carnival
Inputdate: 2014-09-05 08:29:44
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Content Type: 1
Title: Research on Making Policy Reforms Work for Dual Language Learners
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From http://www.edcentral.org/research-making-policy-reforms-work-dual-language-learners/
Research on Making Policy Reforms Work for Dual Language Learners
by Conor Williams
August 26, 2014
If there’s any unifying thread in the story of the last several years of education debates, it’s that policy changes are education reform’s first, not final, steps. Given American education’s unwieldy, chaotic governing institutions, legal and regulatory changes are almost always susceptible to being watered down—or even reversed. For instance, while it seemed like a settled victory when the Common Core State Standards were adopted by 46 states, recent implementation (and political) challenges have sapped that effort of much of its substance. Policy design and policy implementation require different skill sets (as does political mobilization). But they all matter, and the education policy community needs to think much harder about what its proposals will look like in the classroom.
Efforts to reform how U.S. schools educate dual language learners (DLLs) often run into this challenge. Many advocates concerned with DLLs’ linguistic and academic development have focused their attention on getting lawmakers to enshrine the importance of native language instruction for these students.
Read the full article at http://www.edcentral.org/research-making-policy-reforms-work-dual-language-learners/
Source: EdCentral
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Content Type: 1
Title: Scaffolding Instruction for English Language Learners: Resource Guides for English Language Arts and Mathematics
Body:
The new Scaffolding Instruction for English Language Learners Resource Guides for ELA and Mathematics provide guidance to educators on how to take the curriculum materials on EngageNY and provide additional scaffolds for ELL students according to their level of English language proficiency. The resource guides are aligned to the levels in New Language Arts Progressions and provide examples of how to apply the Progressions to the EngageNY curriculum.
The resource guides were developed by national experts in ELL instruction, Diane August and Diane Staehr Fenner, who have developed these ELL scaffolds for New York State that are aligned to the Common Core and are research-based instructional strategies for developing content and language with ELL students. The resource guides first provide a description of each scaffolding strategy used, and explain the research basis for such approaches. The guides then provide examples of lessons from each partner organization that has worked with NYS educators to develop optional curriculum modules on EngageNY, embedding research-based scaffolds into the lessons. The examples include instructions for teachers, actions for students, and additional resources to facilitate implementing each scaffolding technique.
Download the resource guides from https://www.engageny.org/resource/scaffolding-instruction-english-language-learners-resource-guides-english-language-arts-and
Source: EngageNY
Inputdate: 2014-09-05 08:31:30
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Content Type: 1
Title: 27 Ways To Greet Students
Body:
Here, from the An Ethical Island Blog, are 27 ideas for the beginning of class: http://anethicalisland.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/greeting-students/
Source: An Ethical Island
Inputdate: 2014-09-05 08:32:02
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Content Type: 1
Title: Curriculum for Using Language Outside of the Classroom
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Annenberg Learner’s September 2014 curriculum focus is using foreign languages outside of the classroom. Access associated Annenberg resources at http://www.learner.org/about/news/updates/september14.html#focus
Source: Annenberg Learner
Inputdate: 2014-09-05 08:32:39
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Content Type: 3
Title: Engaging Learners in Writing Beyond Transcribing Text: Refocusing on the Writing Cycle
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by Julie Sykes, InterCom Director
Writing is a complex, multifaceted skill requiring explicit attention in the language classroom. As such, both researchers and practitioners dedicate significant attention to developing writing abilities. Drawing on Hayes and Flower's (1980) model of the L1 writing process, researchers have proposed a variety of L2 writing process models, the majority of which include planning and reflection stages, in addition to the transcribing, or formulating, stage (see, for example, Scott, 1996). Matsuda (1997) further expands the dynamic nature of the writing process to include the interaction of the reader and the writer through the text.
Image Adapted from Scott (1996)
This observation is especially relevant today as an increasing number of interactions occur via written text in digital spaces such as discussion forums, online newspapers, social networking sites, email, and text messaging.
Despite the importance of writing, engaging learners in all stages of the writing process can be challenging. Common practice is the use of pre-writing and planning as a peripheral tool to the actual product being created. Learners are evaluated based on what they write, not the process they use to get there. This inadvertently places importance on the transcribing and revising stage, suggesting the planning stages are useful, yet less important than other phases. In order to engage learners in the writing process as a whole, it can be extremely useful to evaluate all stages of the process and connect each stage to the final product. Below are two examples of how this might apply in the second or heritage language classroom.
- Evaluating Pre-writing and Planning: Ask learners to complete a pre-writing activity in which they identify audience, genre, key words and structures, and content areas. Then, evaluate the prewriting stage using a scale related to its purpose. For example, ranging from 10 points if the pre-writing sets up the writer extremely well, 7 points if the information is adequate, but minimal, and 4-0 points if it is incomplete or missing. While points and grades are certainly not the only way to motivate learners, they can be used as a tool to emphasize the importance of a task.
- Connect Pre-writing to the Final Product: After transcribing, ask learners to go back to their prewriting activity and compare the content with their final product by highlighting common elements. For example, shared structures would be highlighted in green, organizational elements in yellow, audience cues in pink, and key words and structures in orange. Then, ask learners to make decisions about their product based on what is missing from the prewriting content. For example, did you actually follow the organization you had outlined? Were all of the key words included? If not, should they be? Is the audience you identified clear in the product? This practice is not meant to indicate everything needs to be included, but rather to draw the learners' attention back to what they originally set out to do.
References
Hayes, J. R. & Flower, L.S. (1980). Identifying the Organization of Writing Processes. In L. Gregg & E. Steinberg (Eds.), Cognitive Processes in Writing. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Matsuda, P.K. (1997). Contrastive Rhetoric in Context: A Dynamic Model of L2 Writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 6,1, 45-60.
Scott, V. M. (1996). Rethinking Foreign Language Writing. Boston, MA: Newbury House Teacher Development.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Content Type: 4
Title: Writing an Informational Article
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Learning to write an informational article is important for academic work in the target language.
Objective: To analyze and produce an appropriate informational article with meaningful facts.
Resources: Writing an Article
Procedure:
1. Pre-writing: Work with learners to highlight key features of an informational article. They should complete the resource sheet and do research on their topic.
2. Writing: Have learners write their informational article outside of class.
3. Reflect: Ask learners to compare their final product with the pre-writing to ensure they have included what they would like to include based on their planning.
Source: CASLS Activity of the Week
Inputdate: 2014-09-07 18:53:17
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Content Type: 1
Title: Book: The Routledge Handbook of Hispanic Applied Linguistics
Body:
From http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415813785/
The Routledge Handbook of Hispanic Applied Linguistics
Edited by Manel Lacorte
Published by Routledge
This book provides a comprehensive overview of Hispanic applied linguistics, allowing students to understand the field from a variety of perspectives and offering insight into the ever-growing number of professional opportunities afforded to Spanish language program graduates. The goal of this book is to re-contextualize the notion of applied linguistics as simply the application of theoretical linguistic concepts to practical settings and to consider it as its own field that addresses language-based issues and problems in a real-world context. The book is organized into five parts: 1) perspectives on learning Spanish 2) issues and environments in Spanish teaching 3) Spanish in the professions 4) the discourses of Spanish and 5) social and political contexts for Spanish. The book’s all-inclusive coverage gives students the theoretical and sociocultural context for study in Hispanic applied linguistics while offering practical information on its application in the professional sector.
Visit the publisher’s website at http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415813785/
Source: Routledge
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Content Type: 1
Title: Call for Presenters: Ohio Foreign Language Association Annual Conference
Body:
From http://www.ofla-online.org/index.php/conference
The 2015 OFLA Annual Conference will take place April 16-18, 2015, at the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky.
Presenters can submit a proposal at http://www.the-meeting-connection.com/ofla/presenter/
Proposals are due October 17, 2014.
Source: OFLA
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