26, no. 2 (Winter 1995): Back Matter
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Back Matter Winter 1995
MLA Receives NEH Grant to Develop Exemplary Programs for Secondary School Teachers in English and Foreign Languages
With the support of a grant from the Division of Education Programs of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Modern language Association has inaugurated a two-year cross-institutional project to strengthen undergraduate curricula in English and foreign languages that serve prospective secondary school teachers of these subjects. Six English and six foreign language departments will be selected to designate teams of six people (four faculty members from the department, one colleague from the school or department of education, and one secondary school teacher). Working independently on their campuses and together at two working conferences, the teams will review their undergraduate programs and consider how well these programs prepare future teachers to respond to changing circumstances in the schools and to teach the content required by state frameworks and national goals and standards in English and foreign languages. Teams will also describe teaching practices in their departments and consult with departmental colleagues to develop exemplary courses and programs designed to meet the needs of prospective teachers.
The major goals of the project are fourfold: to encourage changes in the curricula of the participating departments, to focus attention within the field on the preparation of secondary school teachers, to encourage cooperation between subject-matter specialists and education specialists, and to strengthen college teaching. These efforts will require the formulation of exemplary curricula; analyses of teaching practices in participating departments; a commitment by participating departments to strengthen programs that serve prospective secondary school teachers; discussions of the project at conferences and in MLA, ADFL, and ADE publications; and the continuing incorporation of teacher-education issues in ADFL and ADE activities such as seminars and special projects.
The MLA invited applications from English and foreign language departments at United States four-year colleges and universities likely to have teacher-preparation programs. Participants will be selected by 1 February 1995.
National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center
The National K-12 Foreign Resource Center was established at Iowa State University in February 1994 under a $400,000 grant from the Department of Education. The center's goal is to improve foreign language education in kindergarten through twelfth grade by the professional development of K-12 teachers. The center announced four institutes for the summer of 1994 and recieved 357 applications for the eighty-six spots available. Institute participants represented thirty-six states and ten languages: Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Latin, Quechua, Romanian, Russian, and Spanish. Participants in each institute have formed small groups to explore further a topic indentified at the institute and to prepare a product based on their research that can be shared with the profession. All participants recieved training in the use electronic mail to facilitate post-institute communication. Descriptions of the four institutes and the projects developed in each follow.
Teacher Partnerships Institutes. Professional development was provided to thirteen practicing K—6 teachers representing FLEX, FLES, and immersion programs in French, Japanese, Latin, and Spanish, and to nine teacher educators from institutions of higher education. Participants explored appropriate curricula, strategies, materials, activities, technology, and assessment for K—6 foreign language programs. An important outcome of this institute will be enhanced university teacher-preparation programs at the K—6 level for preservice and inservice foreign language teachers. Group projects include gathering thematic units from FLES, FLEX, and immersion programs and making them accessible to the profession; defining the thematic-unit-development process and reporting on its effectiveness; creating a video that will provide an overview of FLES, FLEX, and immersion programs through sample lessons on a common theme in various languages and at different grade levels; surveying state consultants and institutions of higher learning in states with mandates for early foreign language programs to determine if the supply of certified K—6 foreign language teachers will meet the demand as mandates take effect; and examining articulation between elementary and middle schools in long–standing immersion programs as a basis for development guidelines for successful articulation of Japanese programs just expanding to the middle school.
Curriculum Institute. A group nineteen experienced and practicing K—12 foreign language teachers and five foreign language curriculum specialists collaborated to identify and address common problems of articulation and to explore the effect of long-sequence foreign language programs and the standards movement. Group projects include identifying existing second language curriculum guides that are spiraled (recursive, layered, recycled) and can be used as models for the development of new curricula; developing a prototype for curriculum information networking in low-population states; researching and providing a guide for learner-centered activities; indentifying and defining obstacles to the implementation of a K—12 curriculum related to the national standards; identifying ongoing state, regional, and national projects for which curriculum specialists committed to K—12 articulation can provide service as resources; and identifying factors that promote successful transition of students from middle school to high school.
New Technologies in the Foreign Language Classroom Institute. Twenty practicing K—12 foreign language educators experienced in using computers previewed exemplary foreign language courseware and explored the enhancement of existing curricula through the development of lessons using computer-mediated communication and the Internet. Group projects include compiling a list of Internet sources of information and applications useful for lesson development for the foreign language classroom and providing examples or resulting lesson plans; using e–mail to develop a student-run literary magazine for students of French and German in selected high schools and documenting the process and outcomes of the project; utilizing authoring software to generate lessons for elementary and middle school foreign language classrooms and documenting the applications; and directing fourth-year Spanish students from selected schools in the use of e-mail to develop a newsletter on international, national, regional, and school topics.
Interactive Multimedia Institute. The twenty participants all with a basic working knowledge of Macintosh computers, examined exemplary multimedia hardware and software and explored the benefits of using multimedia in foreign language education. Each participant created a HyperStudio stack that would introduce multimedia into a foreign language lesson. Group projects include compiling a list of useful Internet sources and a description of effective ways of using Internet for the foreign language classroom; developing HyperStudio stack for the foreign language classroom and defining a format that will allow students to personalize the stacks; surveying participants's states to determine the number of high school foreign language teachers who use computers in the classroom and who use e-mail, then distributing the results; using e–mail to help students in three schools collaborate in planning and developing HyperStudio stacks, dramatized videos, and a puppet show; and preparing and field–testing class presentations with HyperStudio, Digital Chisel, and Passport Producer Pro for use in television distance learning.
The center invites collaborate on many of the projects developed in these institutes. A list of contact persons for the projects and information about upcoming institutes and other center intiatives can be obtained from Marcia H. Rosenbusch, Director, Natl. K—12 Foreign Language Resource Center, 300 Pearson Hall, Iowa State Univ., Ames 50011; 515 294–6699; fax 515 294–2776; nflrc@iastate.edu.
News from Washington
Foreign language and international education programs did well in this year's fiscal appropriations, particularly in view of the deficit–reduction agreement and of serious efforts at program consolidation as a result of which many programs were targeted for elimination. Overall, funding for federal education programs was increased by $869 million to a total of $27,428,000,000. Reform received $528 million, professional development received $320 million, and educational technology received $40 million. The Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) was streamlined and incorporated along with bilingual education into a new Title VII, Language Enhancement and Acquisition Programs, thus forming administrative links between teaching English as a second language and foreign language teaching. FLAP was funded as $11 million. The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education has been funded at $17.9 million, and Foreign Languages and International Education—Title VI of the Higher Education Act—at $59 million. Goals 2000: The Educate America Act was funded at $3 million. The funding for NEH remained at $177 million for the fourth straight year. The Improving America's Schools Act, reauthorizing all federal elementary and secondary education programs, has received final approval of both the House and the Senate; included in the act is the new Eisenhower Professional Development Program, which provides additional training for teachers in areas for which standards are being developed.
© 1995 by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. All Rights Reserved.
ADFL Bulletin 26, no. 2 (Winter 1995): Back Matter |
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