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Title: Integrating Study Abroad Into School Curriculum and Culture
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Integrating Study Abroad Into School Curriculum and Culture
by Matt Redman
July 22, 2015
Not all students study abroad, but every student should have the chance to learn the global competency skills that come with international experience. To make this possible, schools need to incorporate the lessons learned by those students who do study abroad into the curriculum, to share.
Students today learn in ways that are completely different from generations past. At the core of their learning are shared experiences—both their own and others'. Digital photography and video technology make it easy to incorporate firsthand accounts into curriculum. Teachers can incorporate photos of art, food, dancing, and more from other cultures into existing curricula. Or they can have students who study abroad share memories from their experience with the class.
Read the full article at http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/global_learning/2015/07/integrating_study_abroad_into_school_curriculum_and_culture.html
Source: Education Week
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Title: 10 Ways to Use QR Codes in the Classroom
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From http://eltexperiences.com
QR codes are codes that people can scan with their mobile devices. Learn how to make then and how you can use them in a language classroom in this blog post: http://eltexperiences.com/2015/07/22/10-ways-to-use-qr-codes-in-the-classroom/
Source: ELT Experiences
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Title: NCSSFL-ACTFL Global Can-Do Benchmarks
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So far in our July-August series on curriculum development, we've laid out some best practices and then elaborated on the first one, backwards design. In this week's feature article we introduce a helpful tool that will help in developing good performance objectives (something we'll explore more next week), align with national standards, prioritize communication of meaning over grammatical patterns, and incorporate goal setting, learner reflection, and proficiency-oriented feedback: the NCSSFL-ACTFL Global Can-Do Benchmarks. We will explore to to use these benchmarks more in coming Topic of the Week articles and Activities of the Week.
Source: CASLS
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Title: Reflection for Curriculum Development
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Stephanie Knight is the Language Technology Specialist for CASLS at the University of Oregon. Given busy teacher realities, this activity was developed to help teachers reflect quickly before, during, and after a unit of study.
Time is our most precious resource as educators. We want desperately to give students meaningful feedback, develop differentiated lesson plans that reach all learning styles, and have our students love our content as much as we do. Unfortunately, given the reality facing most teachers of four or more preps, close to 200 students on their respective loads, and district initiatives commanding some of the time that teachers can set aside for planning, it can be difficult to execute the craft of teaching with as much care and focus as would be desired.
This week, our hope is that the 10 following questions can be used as you plan individually or collaboratively in order to expedite important thinking, keep you involved in a continual cycle of improvement, and to work with intention.
Procedure:
- Answer the following questions before undertaking a unit of study:
- How do I define success for my students during this unit? Is it more appropriate to measure the growth of the students or the ultimate acquisition of the students?
- How will I know that students have succeeded? What data do I need to keep track of?
- What are my strengths as a teacher that I want to make sure to utilize during this unit (http://www.rutherfordlg.com/the-23-artisan-themes/)?
2) Answer the following questions during a unit of study:
- What manageable mechanisms will I use to provide feedback to my students?
- How will I know when students struggle?
- How can I make the students’ voices heard regarding intervention and differentiation needs? Will I use exit tickets, short writing and recording samples, and/or self-reflection sheets?
- Did I give the students enough opportunities to interact with the material at hand in a meaningful way so that they would commit it to memory? Did I obey the 10/24/7 rule (http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/classroom_solutions/2010/12/the-10-24-7-review)?
3) Answer the following questions after a unit of study:
- Did my students succeed? How do I know?
- What did I do well? How can I continue to use those strengths?
- What did not go well? What are 1-2 things that I want to change for next time?
It is recommended that you consider these questions as you teach all units of study. Thank you for your hard work and commitment to your students!
Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
-Theodore Roosevelt
Source: CASLS Activity of the Week
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Title: CASLS Intercom Topic of the Week: Launching LinguaFolio in the Classroom
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Ann Marie G. Gunter is a World Language Consultant for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
LinguaFolio is a proficiency-based formative assessment tool for language learners available for free from the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL) upon registration. Research has shown that LinguaFolio helps learners set and achieve language goals. When teachers ask how to get started with LinguaFolio, two activities come to mind for the first week of class.
- Explore Proficiency with the K – 12 Benchmark Self-Assessment Grid
Language learning is a lifelong process, and learners need to think about what proficiency means and how to set goals to build their proficiency in the different communication modes. Teachers can use the K – 12 Benchmark Self-Assessment Grid, downloadable from the NCSSFL site as a Word document, as an activity where learners quickly evaluate their skills in the target language by reading through the NCSSFL – ACTFL Global Can-Do Benchmarks and circling the statement in each row that matches what they can do in that skill area.
This activity provides a basis for discussing proficiency. The teacher can describe the proficiency ranges with the icons that are used to explain language abilities:
- Parrots: In the Novice range, learners are like parrots, who memorize what they hear (and read) and repeat it back to communicate in a minimal way.
- Survivors: The Intermediate range is the survivor level where learners can create with language to meet their needs, initiate simple conversations, and ask and answer questions.
- Storytellers: The Advanced range is pictured as a storyteller who can narrate and describe easily.
After this activity, learners will be able to move to the next step using the self-assessment checklists to set language learning goals and monitor progress.
- Empower Learners with the Learning Inventory
Learners need to know how they’ll practice the target language in the classroom, and also think about how they can extend their practice outside of school. The Learning Inventory is a survey that asks learners to rate how often they do things in the target language like listen to songs or watch videos, read newspapers or magazines, or converse with native speakers. There’s even space at the end for learners or teachers to add items to the survey.
The Learning Inventory is an idea generator for learners and teachers. It gives learners a list of possibilities for using the target language in a variety of ways in the world outside of the classroom. It also provides teachers with a bank of activities to draw from as they work backwards from the proficiency goals or outcomes to the assessments and tasks they want learners to do to practice the language.
Source: CASLS Topic of the Week
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Title: Comparing School Schedules
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Martha Pero Halemba is a Spanish teacher at Hudson City Schools in Ohio. She is a past president of the Ohio Foreign Language Association and the current OFLA Professional Development Chair. In addition to her own classroom teaching, she trains other teachers on curriculum development.
Today's Activity of the Week exemplifies a curriculum design process that moves from a year-long proficiency-based Student Learning Objective (Novice Mid), to a theme-based unit of instruction (schools, school activities, and passtimes) whose objectives tie in with the Can-Do Statements in LinguaFolio, to a plan for an Integrated Performance Assessment at the end of the unit, to elaboration of specific activities that will prepare students for the assessment. You can see the unit plan here. Find more guidance for using SLO's here.
Learning Objectives:
- Students can compare their schedules to a Venezuelan student’s schedule.
- Students can recognize words, phrases, and characters when associate with things they already know.
- Students can exchange information using texts, graphs, or pictures.
- Students can exchange some personal information.
Modes: Interpretive and Interpersonal and Presentational (novice mid)
Materials Needed: Schedule, Venn diagram and YouTube video
Procedure: (Stay in the target language the whole time.)
1. Show the Youtube video of students from the school. (This is the hook.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1BGJqLR8h5E
Have them read the title to try to figure out why they are dancing. Then tell them are going to check out one of the student’s schedule and compare it to their own.
2. In groups of two, have students try to make a list of all the classes they can understand without using a dictionary. (You can make this a bit of a contest to see who can get the most right if you like. My students always like to compete.)
3. When they look like they are done, give them 5 minutes to look up any word.
4. Go over the subjects with them. Ask them questions and guide them if you need to do so. Explain why some of the words are different like castellano. Have them add them to their ongoing list of new words “not in the book.” I also have them try to figure out what year this student would be in. Ask them if there are any classes we have that might stump a native Spanish speaker.
5. Now have them fill out their schedule on the empty form. I put all the days, so they get the idea that most schools in U.S have the same schedule everyday.
6. Using the schedules, have the students fill in the similarities and differences individually.
7. Have students work in groups of 2 to compare their Venn diagrams with each other orally asking and answering questions being sure to stay in the target language. (The students have an entire unit on school, so they keep the Venn diagram and keep adding information as they go.)
8. Homework: Using the information from the Venn, write a summary explaining what you learned.
Notes: This is all scaffolding to allow the students to be successful in their summative IPA.
Source: CASLS Activity of the Week
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Title: LinguaFolio Online Promotion
Body:
Last week we talked about the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements as a framework for guiding curriculum development. LinguaFolio incorporates these statements in a self-assessment framework for students, reinforcing one of our recommendations for best practices: “Goal setting and learner reflection are an integrated component of the curriculum planning and daily lesson plans so learners are always aware of where they are and where they are going.” Learn more about LinguaFolio in this week’s Topic of the Week article by guest contributor Ann Marie Gunter, and see how the Can-Do Statements can guide student learning objectives that in turn shape the choice of learning activities in Martha Pero Halemba’s Activity of the Week.
CASLS offers an online version of LinguaFolio, LinguaFolio Online. This week we’re offering 30 free subscriptions to LinguaFolio Online to the first InterCom subscriber that emails lfolio@uoregon.edu and mentions InterCom in the email body.
Source: CASLS
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Title: August 2015 Issue of Language Magazine
Body:
The August 2015 issue of Language Magazine is available at http://languagemagazine.com/?p=124226
In this issue:
Making Words Dance
Kwame Alexander and Chris Colderley explain why we need to read and write more poetry in (and outside of) the classroom
Precision Rotation
Lance Knowles applies real-world knowledge to the implementation of the Flipped Classroom
Clearing Virtual Hurdles
Sylvaine Montaudouin tackles the challenges of developing content and teaching online
Composition Tools
These innovative programs can help build student confidence in their writing skills
Arabic: Safety in Numbers
Despite attacks in some tourist centers, Kristal Bivona finds that much of the Arab world is safe for students
Culture Flash
Kristal Bivona shares the excitement of a whirlwind high school tour of Spain and France
What’s New in EdTech
A selection of the latest education technology for teachers of language and literacy
Last Writes
Richard Lederer brings true tales on language errors that impacted human lives
Source: Language Magazine
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Title: KinoKultura Special Issue: Macedonian Cinema
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KinoKultura announces the launch of a special issue on Macedonian cinema, guest edited by Maria Hristova
http://www.kinokultura.com/specials/15/macedonian.shtml
Articles:
Maria Hristova: Current Trends in Macedonian Film: Nature and Identity in The Woman Who Brushed Off Her Tears, The Third Half, and Mothers
Dijana Jelača: Peripheral Vision: Yugoslav Film the Macedonian Way
Meta Mazaj: Picturing the Pain of Others: Before the Rain and the Ethics of War Photography
Gordana P. Crnković: Mothers of Invention: Milcho Manchevski’s Delightful Icons
Hristo Petreski: A Brief Overview of the Current Situation and Prospects of Macedonian Film and Some Remarks on Recent Film Trends
Reviews:
Ivo Trajkov: The Great Water (2004) by Biljana Belamarić-Wilsey
Teona Strugar Mitevska: How I Killed A Saint (2004) by Biljana Belamarić-Wilsey
Darko Mitrevski: Bal-Can-Can (2005) by Maria Hristova
Beumers, B. [SEELANGS] KinoKultura Special Issue: Macedonian Cinema. SEELANGS listserv (SEELANGS@LISTSERV.UA.EDU, 2 Aug 2015).
Source: SEELANGS
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Title: Book: Blending Technologies in Second Language Classrooms
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Blending Technologies in Second Language Classrooms
By Paul Gruba and Don Hinkelman
Published by Palgrave Macmillan
This book introduces an approach for making principled decisions about the use of technologies specifically in Applied Linguistics. The research is grounded in the growing area of 'blended learning' that seeks to combine face-to-face instruction with online-based interactions. With both novice and experienced instructors in mind, Gruba and Hinkelman explain how to make decisions regarding computers in settings that are primarily taught face to face. Written in an accessible manner, and drawing on research and examples from a variety of contexts to illustrate and justify blended learning concepts, this new paperback will be a useful resource for language teachers, TESOL teachers and teacher educators.
Visit the publisher’s website at http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/blending-technologies-in-second-language-classrooms-paul-gruba/?sf1=barcode&st1=9781137523327
Source: Palgrave Macmillan
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