foreign language association of georgia flag journal

FLAG JOURNAL Volume 11 Spring/Summer 2011

The Journal of the Foreign Language

Association of Georgia

Editors Peter Swanson, Ph.D Susan Crooks

Georgia State University Kennesaw State University

2 2FLAG JOURNAL Volume 11 Spring/Summer 2011

Congratulations to Clarissa Adams-Fletcher! 2010 ACTFL Teacher of the Year

Spanish Teacher at Dunwoody High School in DeKalb County

November 19, 2010, Alexandria, VA – The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

(ACTFL) has announced that Clarissa Adams Fletcher, a Spanish (Level II through AP) teacher from Dun-woody, GA, has been selected as the 2011 National Language Teacher of the Year. The award was pre-

sented at the 44th ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo in Boston, MA today.

Clarissa Adams Fletcher has been a classroom teacher for 20 years.

She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin American

Studies and a Master’s Degree in Latin American Studies with a concentration in History and Political Sci-

ence. She was honored with her school’s Teacher of the Year award in 2002 and was selected as the For-eign Language Association of Georgia Teacher of the Year in 2009. Clarissa was also selected as the 2010

World Language Teacher of the Year by the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT). Addi-

tionally, she is a National Board Certified Teacher of Spanish as well as an experienced presenter at local, state and regional conferences. Currently, she teaches in the DeKalb County School System at Dunwoody

High School. She was one of five regional winners from around the U.S. who were finalists for the national

award.

The other finalists were Martha Pero, Hudson City Schools, Hudson, OH; Maryann Woods-Murphy,

Northern Highlands Regional High School, Allendale, NJ; Amy Velasquez, Evanston Middle School,

Evanston, WY and Stephen Van Orden, Timpview High School, Provo, UT. The award, which is spon-sored by ACTFL and publisher Holt McDougal, was created to recognize a foreign language teacher who

exhibits excellence in language teaching. The selection process includes the submission of a portfolio and a

teaching video. Nominees are first evaluated by their state language organization, after which each state submits its top candidate to one of five regional committees for additional review. Regional winners are

evaluated and interviewed by the ACTFL awards committee. In her role as spokesperson for language edu-

cation over the coming year, Clarissa will deliver presentations at foreign language conferences and appear at events to promote language education through the Discover Languages … Discover the World!®


2011 FLAG Officers

President Elizabeth Combier North Georgia College & State

University, Modern Languages

305B Dunlap Hall

Dahlonega, GA 30597

Phone: 706) 867-2811

Fax: (706) 864-1485

President Elect Joe Frank Uriz Parsons Elementary School

1615 Old Peachtree Road, Suwanee,

GA 30024 Phone: (404) 556-3653

Fax (678) 957-3055

Vice-President for Advocacy Denise Overfield University of West Georgia, Foreign

Languages & Literatures

Maple Street, Carrollton, GA 30118

Phone: (678) 839-6515

Fax: (678) 839-5931

Vice-President for Language

Contests Rhonda Wells DeKalb County School System

Instruction, Bldg. B, 3770 N. Decatur

Rd., Decatur, GA 30032

Phone: 678-676-0227

Immediate Past President

David Jahner Foreign Language Director

Gwinnett County Public Schools,

Instructional Support Center

437 Old Peachtree Rd.

Suwanee, GA 30024

Phone: (678) 301-7027

Fax: (770) 277-4470

Corresponding Secretary Pat McCoy Wesleyan School

5405 Spalding Drive, Norcross, GA

30092

(770) 448-7640 x4438

Treasurer / Administrator Mary Ellen Foye P.O. Box 734, Griffin, GA 30224

Phone: (c) (770) 468-3396

Members-At-Large FLES (ESFL)

Sandra Cleveland Sharon Elementary School

Middle School

Jamie Patterson Fulton County Schools

High School

Joy Lynn Tynes Cobb County Schools

Post Secondary

Amye Sukapdjo Gainesville College

Directors FLAG Journal Editors

Peter Swanson Georgia State University, Modern

& Classical Languages

P.O. Box 3970, Atlanta, GA

30302-3970 (404)413-6595 [email protected]

Susan Crooks

Kennesaw State University

Dept. of F.L.

1000 Chastain Rd. MD 1804

Kennesaw, GA 30144-5591

Phone 770-971-9504

[email protected]

Archivist Jane Hursey

Public Relations

Conference Brandi Meeks Starr's Mill High School

193 Panther Path, Fayetteville, GA

30215

Phone: (770) 486-2710 Fax: (770)

486-2716

Electronic Media Horst Kurz

Georgia Southern University, Foreign Languages

GA DOE Liaison Jon Valentine Program Specialist for Foreign Lan-

guages & International Education

GA Department of Education

The photos on this issue’s cover are generously reprinted here compliments of the REALIA Project . The

REALIA Project publishes faculty-reviewed media for the teaching and study of modern languages and

cultures. Faculty and students at all levels are encouraged to contribute materials to our searchable, online

database. The focus of the REALIA Project is realia: Materials which convey the everyday life of different

cultures. The lower photograph is a stone bridge, the oldest standing stone structure over the Danube river at Re-

gensburg. The upper photograph is the Cupola of the National Parliament Building (Reichstag), Berlin. These

images, and so many others can be accessed from http://www.realiaproject.org/ Thank you to Ed Cieslak , French teacher, for his technological expertise creating this edition’s cover.


The 2010-2011 school year was filled with many wonderful

events, of which one of the most memorable was the designa-

tion of Clarissa Adams-Fletcher as ACTFL’s Teacher of the

Year.

Additionally, this year’s conference in Atlanta was one of the

most well-attended meetings we have ever had with over 400

members taking part. Moreover, there has been an increase in

interest in submitting articles for the FLAG Journals. In this

spring/summer volume, authors have contributed articles that focus on different aspects of foreign

language issues related to teaching and learning as well as advocacy.

Due to today’s global financial position, it is necessary for all language teachers to become advo-

cates for the profession. The Center for Applied Linguistics outlined eight easy steps to take in or-

der to become an effective advocate beginning with staying informed. While we feel it is impor-

tant to become active in FLAG, we strongly urge members to join SCOLT and ACTFL as well as

stay informed by reading quality publications such as the NECTFL Review (online) and others

found on the National Capital Language Resource Center (http://www.nclrc.org/)

Another great resource for language teachers is the REALIA Project. This year the editors of the

REALIA Project allowed us to use two pictures for the cover. We encourage FLAG members to

visit the REALIA Project and use the quality photographs to engage students in meaningful lan-

guage and cultural learning scenarios. Additionally, we strongly encourage members to submit

travel photos for publication to expand the library.

Lastly, we would like to continue to remind members to submit material of interest for the journal.

Inquiries and submissions may be sent to Dr Peter Swanson <[email protected]> or Susan

Crooks <[email protected]>. We hope that you enjoy this issue and your summer!

Editors’ Message

The REALIA Project publishes faculty-reviewed media for the teaching and study of modern

languages and cultures. Faculty and students at all levels are encouraged to contribute materials to

our searchable, online database. The focus of the REALIA Project is realia: Materials which con-

vey the everyday life of different cultures. It is available from http://realiaproject.org/


FLAG Journal

Contents

FLAG Officers ……………………………………………………………..3

Editors’ Message …………………………………………………………...4

President’s Letter …………………………………………………………..6

FLAG Award Recipients …………………………………………………..7

FLAG Spoken Language Contest….……………………………………….8

News from Colleges and Universities ……………………………………..9

Georgia Department of Education Update ………………………………...11

Congratulations to Dr. Sabine Smith...…………………………………….14

AATSP…………………….. ...……………………………………………15

FLAIR Report …..………………………………………………………….17

2011 FLAG Conference Report ……………………………………………20

A Few Do’s and Don’t for Raising a Bilingual Child……...……………....21

Grammar to Reading:: Bridging the Gap ……... ….……………………...23

Effective Advocacy is the Key to Saving World Language Jobs ………….29

Ma Vie Française: A French Identity Project…..…………………………..33

Important Dates …………………………………………………………….38

FLAG Membership Form ………………………………………………….39

A Publication of the

Georgia Association of Foreign Language Teachers

http://www.flageorgia.org/flag.htm

Volume 11 Spring/Summer 2011


President’s Letter

Dear fellow FLAG members,

The 2010/2011 academic year was a great one, and we hope that the upcoming year will be

equally productive.

The ongoing challenges in Georgia’s state budget for education have continued to affect foreign

language programs across the state. Despite those challenges, FLAG had a very successful year,

especially compared to other state and regional foreign language associations. Our 2011 Spoken

Language Contests continue to demonstrate children’s budding proficiencies and their growing

passion for foreign languages at the K-12 level. Hundreds of children participated in the events

and we are very grateful to those contest directors, coordinators and host schools for making it

such a successful event.

At the annual conference in Atlanta we had 79 different conference sessions and 10 workshop

presentations. A large number of those sessions offered ideas for all languages in a variety of

topics while others were specifically targeting Spanish, French, German, Chinese and Japanese. I

must say that it is a real pleasure at our conference to witness the interest and excitement of

teachers coming from all over Georgia to learn new activities and ideas that they can incorporate

into their own classrooms. We have a lot to be proud of here in Georgia, for we have many re-

markable teachers as witnessed by the caliber of our sessions.

It is a fact that foreign language faculty are quietly, but continually changing lives by opening

students to new cultures and by increasing their understanding of peoples around the world. As

we used to say in Dahlonega, ―There’s gold in them thar hills!” I would argue that the same is

true of our ranks of teachers across Georgia. So, please share your best ideas with a session pro-

posal; we welcome all kinds of ideas from new and seasoned teachers alike.

I would also like to encourage you to invite your colleagues to join FLAG, for it is through this

professional organization that we can meet other teachers from K-12 and university faculty, ex-

change wonderful ideas, find strong support, and create a network for both scholarly and political

information related to our profession. It is particularly important that we strengthen the collabo-

ration between the high school and college level programs, as we share the same goals for dem-

onstrated proficiency in students that migrate from high school to college.

On behalf of the FLAG Board, I wish you a wonderful summer and look forward to seeing you at

the FLAG/SCOLT/SEALLT conference March 22-24, 2012 in Atlanta!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Combier

FLAG President, 2011-2013


FLAG Awards

Dr. Pamela Spalla, Administrative Support of Foreign

Language Award Pamela Spalla has a personal, vested interest in promoting World Languages. She

realizes first-hand the value of being a world citizen and, as principal of one of the most diverse, highest achieving high schools in Georgia, continues to support and

expand enrollment in these programs. After graduating with a B.A. in English and

Business Education from Grove City College, Dr. Spalla relocated with her hus-

band Bob to Germany where she worked and raised her children. She learned the language through true immersion and still considers Nuremberg to be her second

home. After a second career in the American insurance industry, she found her way

back to the classroom where she spent 7 years teaching everything from Composition and Drama to Com-puter Programming. She holds a Masters degree from Central Michigan and an Ed.S. in Educational Ad-

ministration and Supervision from Lincoln Memorial. She is in her second year as principal at Fulton

County’s Northview High School in Johns Creek. Northview is home to 1900 students and five, healthy language programs—German, French, Spanish, Latin, and Chinese. From level 1 to AP, each offers a wide

array of exchange programs, language competitions, clubs, honoraries, and culturally enriching experi-

ences. Pam is the mother of three and grandmother of three more, all of whom have the same ―wanderlust‖

for world travel and language.

Dr. Denise Overfield

Leadership Award, Postsecondary Dr. Overfield has worked at the University of West Georgia since 1997 and is cur-

rently serving in the role of Associate Dean for the Arts and Humanities. Her teach-ing responsibilities focus primarily on language teacher preparation, including the

observation of teacher interns. She has published a number of articles and book

chapters on service learning in language education.

Dr.Horst Kurz, Professor of the Year Dr. Horst Kurz’s academic career began as a student of German Literature, Philoso-

phy, and Political Science in Germany at Universitaet Augsburg. In order to spend

a year abroad, he transferred to Ohio State, where he stayed on to complete the MA and PhD. His first job was at the College of Wooster (OH). From there, he joined

the Department of Foreign Languages at Georgia Southern University, where he

serves as Associate Professor of German. He is a member of numerous associations

and is involved in various activities, for example, ACTFL, MALCA, or MERLOT, but he is most active in the AATG GA Chapter, FLAG, and SCOLT. He has given

Quinton Prince, K-12 Teacher of Promise Quinton Prince is a French teacher at Eastside High School in Covington, Georgia

and is also the girls’ tennis coach there. He earned his B.A. from UGA in French

and studied abroad in Montpellier, France. He has garnered many awards for his scholastic achievements in French, including: Pi Delta Phi, UGA’s Department of

Romance Languages Award: 2005, Governor’s Honors Participant in French:

2003, 1st place in Georgia Southern French Oratorical Competition: 2001, 2002.

Quinton has always had a strong interest in the Francophone countries of Africa and he incorporates the study of their cultures in his classroom. He is currently im-

plementing many methods and techniques in his classroom to increase interest in

French, incorporating culturally authentic materials, as well as participating in professional groups to con-stantly gain new insight into effective practices.


FLAG Awards

Bobbi Lynn Moreno

K-12 Teacher of the Year Bobbi Lynn Moreno is currently a Spanish teacher at Southeast Bulloch High

School near Statesboro. She has a Masters of Foreign Language Education from Georgia Southern and takes great pride in supervising student teachers. She has

written grants, one of which was funded by the Georgia RESA; it enabled her and

an art professor from Georgia Southern University to collaborate with a school in

Oaxaca, Mexico. Another grant she received enabled her students to create a booklet of useful words and phrases for medical workers who work with the area

Hispanic population. The grant also provided funds to train all of her students in

CPR and in the operation of an AED defibrillator. With this knowledge these same students created posters in Spanish that explained what to do in life-threatening situations. She has spent the bulk of her career in

Southeast Bulloch High School –a small, rural school—with a top notch foreign language program. Speak-

ing, writing, and the learning of culture are the backbones of her curriculum. She believes that getting stu-dents actively involved in language use every day is the key to genuine language comprehension

and acquisition.

Olga Glymph

K-12 Leadership Award Olga Glymph has been teaching world languages for 10 years in Forsyth

County, Georgia. Currently Ms. Glymph serves as the World Language Depart-ment Head at North Forsyth High School. She also teaches Russian at North

Georgia College and State University as an adjunct instructor. Ms. Glymph is

pursuing a doctorate degree in Teaching and Learning from Liberty University.

FLAG SPOKEN LANGUAGE CONTEST

Students and teachers from around the state participated in the Foreign Language Association of Georgia MS/HS Spo-

ken Contest on March 26, 2011 at Tucker High School in DeKalb County. More than 590 students competed in Ara-

bic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Latin, and Spanish. A deluge did not dampen the spirits of the students who

competed for Superior, Excellent, or Notable ratings.

I would like to extend a special thank you to Mr. Bob McCormick and the Tucker High School World Languages de-

partment. Thank you also to all of the many teachers who brought their students and who judged so that many others

could participate.

The next MS/HS Contest will be on March 3, 2012 at Decatur High School in Decatur, Georgia. We look forward to

seeing you there!

Rhonda Wells

Contest Director


News from Georgia Colleges and Universities

The Department of Foreign Languages at KSU offers the B.A. in Modern Language and Culture

with three options for a "primary language": French, German, or Spanish. KSU also offers an

MAT in Spanish and Chinese. The Department offers minors in Chinese Studies, French & Fran-

cophone Studies, German Studies, Italian Studies, and Spanish. Teacher Certification is available

in French, German, or Spanish through the Foreign Language Education program. Additionally,

the Alternative Teacher Preparation (ATP) Program in Foreign Languages offers a non-degree un-

dergraduate program leading to P-12 teacher certification in Chinese, French, German, Italian,

Japanese, Korean, Latin, or Spanish. It is open to foreign language teachers who are currently em-

ployed full-time and have a temporary certificate--professional, provisional, intern, conditional,

permit, etc. Upon admission, candidates receive an individualized certification plan. Please visit

the KSU website (http://foreignlanguages.hss.kennesaw.edu/) for complete information on all pro-

grams.

Georgia Southern University offers B.A. degrees in Modern Languages with concentra-

tions in French, German, and Spanish. In addition, Georgia Southern offers coursework in Arabic,

Chinese, Japanese, Latin and Yoruba. Georgia Southern offers students a variety of study abroad

opportunities in France, Spain, Mexico, and Costa Rica. Programs vary from four to six weeks in

the summer to semester-long programs during the academic year. A number of scholarships are

available.

Georgia Southern offers an M. A. degree in Spanish. Total number of hours required for

the M.A. degree is 30 hours. Courses include History of the Language, Phonetics, Survey of 16th

and 17th century drama in Spain, Colonial Spanish American Literature, Contemporary Spanish

American Culture and Civilization and Second Language Acquisition. A number of Teaching As-

sistantships are available for M.A. students.

Georgia Southern University also offers the Master of Arts in Teaching Spanish. The pro-

gram is designed to prepare graduate students who have attained an advanced proficiency in Span-

ish with the necessary training to be effective foreign language teachers at the elementary, middle

and high school level. The coursework covers general principles of education, educational re-

search, second language acquisition, foreign language curriculum and methods, and graduate level

Spanish. In addition a student in the MAT program works with different mentor teachers at the

university, secondary, middle school and elementary levels culminating in a full-time internship.

Location is not a barrier to your begin student in the MAT in Spanish program at Georgia South-

ern University: 100% of the coursework can be taken in an online and study abroad format.


The Department of Modern and Classical Languages at Georgia State University offers instruc-

tion in 12 world languages and innovative programs of study. The mission of the Department is to

give students the opportunity to develop appropriate proficiencies in the modern and classical lan-

guages, to acquaint students with the literary and cultural productions of other countries, and to

provide them the opportunity to acquire critical skills through literary and cultural analysis as they

prepare for careers in teaching and research, business, translation and interpretation and other ar-

eas. As a core element in the University’s mission of internationalization, the Department pro-

motes international involvement by both faculty and students through programs such as our Lan-

guage & International Business programs, International Economics & Modern Languages pro-

grams, study abroad/student exchange programs, undergraduate foreign language clubs, and con-

ferences with international speakers/scholars. Current study abroad programs include Spain, Mex-

ico, Argentina, and Germany to name a few. Georgia State University also offers a program in

Teacher Certification in Spanish, French, German, Latin, and some less commonly taught lan-

guages such as Japanese and Chinese.

CASIE is accepting submissions for the Global Language Conference to be held April 13-15,

2012, at Atlanta International School, Atlanta, GA, USA. The conference theme is ʺLanguage and

Culture: How they form and inform identityʺ. Conference attendees will be teachers of languages

in K-12 schools and beyond in public, private, charter and international schools across the world.

Submissions are due by August 15, 2011. Registration for the event will open September 15,

2011. Visit www.casieonline.org/events/glc for more information.

Georgia State University

Center for the Advancement and Study of

International Education

http://iib.gsu.edu/IIB/AcademicPrograms_Programs_MIB-Language.aspx

http://iib.gsu.edu/IIB/AcademicPrograms_Programs_MIB-Language.aspx

http://aysps.gsu.edu/BA_IEML.html

http://aysps.gsu.edu/BA_IEML.html

http://www2.gsu.edu/%7Ewwwoia/StudyAbroad/


State of the State – Georgia 2011

Global competency is key

Coming out of one of the most challenging economic periods in American history, I find it fasci-

nating to reflect on the exponential growth in our own programs across the State of Georgia, as

well the workplace that our students are entering upon graduation from high school and college.

In a world economy that is infinitely different than anything experienced before, it has become ab-

solutely vital that our students exhibit both linguistic and cultural competencies in order to com-

pete. I had an opportunity to speak with the COO of General Electric at the Istanbul Center Art

and Essay Contest awards ceremony at Morehouse College in April. She told me, in no uncertain

terms, that the greatest impediment to growth that GE sees is its difficulty in finding employees

who are able to function competently on an international field. She told me that any applicant who

demonstrates an ability to collaborate with diverse international teams will find their resume sent

to the very top of the stack! Consequently, we’ve been working with partners to promote interna-

tional education and understanding through various initiatives targeting promotion of academic

rigor, relevance, and introduction of global competencies across all parts of the curriculum.

A huge increase in enrollment

Between 2009 and 2010, Georgia saw a five percent increase in the number of 6-12 students en-

rolled in one or more World Language. After researching this exciting but unprecedented one year

growth trend, we found the reason to be a sharp increase in language enrollment in our rural areas.

Many rural systems have historically seen higher enrollment in Career Technical diploma pro-

grams than College Preparatory programs and, under the old graduation requirement, Career Tech-

nical diploma students were not required to take a World Language. Since adoption of the single

diploma for graduation, counselors and other advisors have been recommending that all students

enroll in at least two years of language study (rather than just those planning to attend college).

I’ve heard from teachers in many systems who have seen enrollment double in one year – one

teacher outside Lenox, Georgia has 40 students in her Spanish 1 class (I’m sending her extra en-

ergy and support)! To help meet the needs of all our systems, we are reviewing the Georgia Per-

formance Standards and plan to add supplemental guidance pieces for the 16 clusters supported by

our Career, Technical and Agricultural Education. The first rollout of these World Languages/

Career Tech guidance pieces will include the Law Enforcement and Medical pathways and will

target regions of the state in which enrollment in these pathways is particularly strong.

New relationship with Nancy-Metz, France

In 2010, we adopted a memorandum of understanding with the Nancy-Metz region of France.

Through this agreement, we targeted seven schools in Georgia and Nancy-Metz and facilitated

training in development of online partnerships. As a part of the celebration of the 20 year partner-

ship between Georgia Institute of Technology and Nancy-Metz, teachers, administrators, and one

student ambassador from France flew to Georgia to take part in the events. We are currently in the

process of developing a reciprocal visit for Georgia students to take place in October, 2011 and

will be reporting on the exciting schoolwide programs and eventual statewide scaling that will re-

sult from this relationship.

Georgia school one of only 20 taking part in the prestigious Deutsches Sprachdiplom and

MOU

Georgia Department of Education


Through our partnership with the German Consulate and our high-performing German programs,

students are taking advantage of the Paschnet network of high-performing German schools and

Deutschessprachdiplom (DSD) proficiency exam, offering a means of proficiency measurement

supported through the German government. This year, Chamblee High School in DeKalb County,

Georgia became one of only 20 schools in the nation to offer this prestigious exam to students.

Over twenty students passed the exam with results that would enable them to study at German uni-

versities free of charge. As a result of this, and other exciting trends in German enrollment, the

Consulate is considering relocating its Educational Consultant to the State of Georgia.

In June, State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge will travel to Saxony, Germany to meet with

his counterpart. Our goal is to develop a relationship with schools in the Dresden area with a

strong focus on technical education and pair them with school in Georgia with similar focus – it is

our further goal to develop and sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Saxony in the coming

school year, proving access for Georgia students to high quality programs of study in Germany.

Eventually, we hope that this will lead to partnerships with companies with strong regional pres-

ences; such as Siemens across the Southeast, Volkswagen in Tennessee, Mercedes in Alabama,

BMW in South Carolina, and the North American headquarters for Porsche in Atlanta.

LinguaFolio Pilot

Georgia has been chosen to take part in the pilot rollout of the new online LinguaFolio portfolio.

Currently, over twenty teachers, as well as their students, are part of this pilot.

Proficiency testing

For the second year, City Schools of Decatur tested all of their elementary school students using

the NOELLA test. This represents the first time in Georgia history that a FLES program has

measured the results of proficiency growth and included these results in system-wide reports. In

addition, this system has begun testing middle school students using the STAMP assessment.

State advisory group

We have re-launched the Georgia International Education Statewide Advisory group, and intend to

include members from the Georgia business community along with teachers, administrators, and

university faculty. We look forward to sharing our programs with these elite members of the edu-

cational and business community, and leveraging their expertise to provide for new and relevant

opportunities for students.

Don’t forget the Latin teachers!

It’s a bit early, but I wanted to send let our Latin teachers across the state know that we are in the

early stages of a possible connection with the Istanbul Center in Atlanta to provide educational and

travel opportunities for teachers and students to study the Eastern Roman Empire.

Dual-Language and Two-Way Immersion

Finally, we are thrilled to announce the inauguration of Georgia’s Dual Language/ Two-Way Im-

mersion Affiliate Group. There are currently four Spanish Dual Immersion schools in Georgia.

Santillana Publishing, Georgia State University, and the Georgia Department of Education spon-

sored the launch of this affiliate with a day-long workshop at GSU. Over 50 teachers and adminis-



trators attended and discussed trends and goals for expanding Dual Language teaching in Georgia.

Due to the overwhelming need for bilingual teachers certified in Early Childhood Education, we

are working with our colleagues in ESOL/Title III to provide training for teachers planning to take

the GACE Certification Exam.

Georgia as a national leader

Thank you all for your hard work. Georgia is quickly becoming known across the nation as a

leader in World Languages and International Education. Our sixteen (sixteen!) different language

offerings, quality of proficiency-based teaching, and enrollment trends bode extremely well for

preparing students to meet the challenges of the new economy. The skill set that we are providing

students in no longer a minor part of the curriculum (if it ever was). It is now central, core, and

vital – and I sincerely believe that this realization is finally dawning on leaders, parents, and stu-

dents across the state.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the FLAG conference next year. Please be in touch if I can

be of any support to you or your students. If you are not currently on my mailing list, please send

me a quick message with your name and the language you teach, and I will be sure to forward all

information your way.

Keep up the amazing work. I see very good things for 2012 and beyond.

Jon Valentine

Program Specialist

[email protected]


The FLAG listserv has grown substantially over the years.

Are YOU signed up?

Go to http://www.flageorgia.org/board/feed-list.htm

The listserv keeps you up-to-date on what is happening in our

Foreign Language Community.

mailto:[email protected]


Congratulations to Dr Sabine Smith

Sabine Smith, Associate Professor of German in Kennesaw State University’s Department of For-

eign Language, was among 10 University System of Georgia faculty, alumni and supporters hon-

ored at the Seventh Annual Regents’ Award for Excellence in Education Celebration on March 26,

2011.

Smith received the University Regents' Award for Teaching Excellence during a gala at Atlanta’s

Marriott Marquis Hotel that raises funds for scholarships for students at 35 USG institutions. She

was among three USG faculty members receiving the Regents’ Teaching Excellence Award and

two who received the Regents Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award. Four alumni, includ-

ing Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter and former Board of Regents member Donald M. Leebern

Jr., also were honored. The USG Foundation hosted the event, which drew some 900 higher edu-

cation leaders, elected officials and supporters.

Also recognized from KSU was Jessica R. Hicks, a KSU music education major. She was one of

two Regents’ scholarship recipients from among 74 at USG institutions selected to extend greet-

ings to the gala’s distinguished guests, including Gov. Nathan Deal. Designating Smith the most

outstanding teacher at a regional or state university, the Board of Regents cited her innovative

teaching, the co-curricular activities she devises to immerse students in German language and cul-

ture, and her leadership in establishing a German studies major at KSU. An individual faculty

member representing the system’s two-year and state colleges and one representing research uni-

versities also received teaching excellence awards.

―This is an outstanding and richly deserved honor for Dr. Smith and for Kennesaw State,‖ Presi-

dent Daniel S. Papp said when the awards were announced. ―She exhibits an extraordinary level of

dedication to her students and the teaching profession, and a commitment to the university’s aca-

demic ideals. We are very proud of her accomplishments.‖

Smith, who holds a Ph.D. in German from the University of California, Davis, joined the KSU fac-

ulty in 1999 as the only full-time German professor in the foreign languages department. Since

then, the German studies program she helped design evolved into an undergraduate minor at Ken-

nesaw State in 2000, and became a major in 2007, and now has seven instructors. Enrollment in

German courses at KSU grew from 78 in spring 1999 to 231 in spring 2010.

"What a special day in my life, a momentous experience,‖ Smith said of the award presentation.

―It was a privilege to have been selected and a reminder to live up to the honor by continuing to

put my heart into what I truly love about this profession: teaching, mentoring, and sharing my love

for learning with others.‖

Smith is the fifth KSU faculty member to receive a Regents’ Award in five consecutive years. Past

KSU recipients include Karen Robinson, theater and performance studies (2010); Matthew La-

posata, environmental science (2009); Mary Garner, mathematics and mathematics education

(2008); and Randolph Smith, psychology (2007).

Sabbaye McGriff, KSU University Relations


AATSP Georgia

The Georgia Chapter of AATSP enjoyed another exciting year of programs and opportunities for teachers and students in the primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels. Our student accomplishments

this year included successful competitions for the AATSP High School Poster Contest, the FLES/MS

Poster Contest, the High School and College/University Composition Contests, National Spanish Exam,

Students of the Year Awards, and Spanish Immersion Camp. The winners of the AATSP High School Poster Contest were announced in October with winners

creating artwork inspired by this year’s theme Languages – Gateways to Global Communities. Our winners

this year were: First Place - Audrey Batchelor, Lowndes HS (Teacher-Carmen Ruddle), Second Place - Haley Brown, Whitewater HS (Teacher-Irma Smith), Third Place – Barbara Daniel, Whitewater HS

(Teacher-Lourdes Nieves). They received award certificates, Barnes and Nobles gift certificates, and are

featured on our chapter website. The next contest will be held in the fall of 2011, and the deadline will be in early October. Vicki Welch Alvis, Elementary/Middle School Member-at-Large, announced the winners of

the FLES/MS Poster Contest in April. The students compete in 3 categories: K-3, 4-5, 6-8. This year’s the-

me was: ELL en 2011: Mejor comienzo, mejor futuro/ELL em 2011: Para bom começo, melhor futuro. Our

winners created poster artwork on this theme and the winners were: Grades K-3 First Place Charlotte

Knight, Athens Academy, Second Place Jackson McKillip, Athens Academy, Third Place Jasmine Ba-

rrow, Athens Academy Grades 4-5 First Place Susan Elizabeth Thurmond, Athens Academy, Second

Place Carrie A. Grimes, Círculo de Amistad, Third Place Julia Norton, Parsons Elementary School Gra-des 6-8 First Place Ester HyunJu Kim, Autrey Mill Middle School, Second Place Dania Ibrahim, Au-

trey Mill Middle School, Third Place Madison King, Autrey Mill Middle School. The next contest will

start in early 2012. The window for participation in the High School and College/University Composition Contests,

coordinated by Jana Sandarg (Augusta State University) and Carmen Ruddle (Lowndes High School), was

open from March 2-March 18, 2011, and students were contacted about their results by late April. All con-

testants received either a certificate of participation, or an award certificate with Notable, Excellent, or Su-perior designations. Students at every level of study, including native speakers, are eligible to participate in

these contests, which provide valuable feedback for students in college courses emphasizing writing skills,

and for students who take the AP Spanish exams in May. Among the students with Superior ratings, 16 were chosen to receive gift cards from our chapter for being ―best of the best‖ in the Superior category.

The National Spanish Exam was administered between March 1 and April 8, 2011, and all partici-

pating students were notified of their results by the first week of May. The exam continues to be offered

electronically. Each year the number of participants has grown following the initial years of change that presented a technological challenge for many schools. Teachers are now receiving their scores electroni-

cally, and the Georgia Chapter coordinator, Stan Tucker, sends a gift to each participant from our chapter.

In addition, all students who had participated in both the National Spanish Exam and AATSP-GA Spanish Immersion Camp were given the Lázaro Herrera Award, which paid for their camp fee this year. Any

teacher who had difficulties with administering the exam this year is encouraged to contact our coordinator

in order that their concerns can be communicated to the national directors. AATSP-GA was fortunate to have superb candidates for Student of the Year awards this year. The

2011 High School Student of the Year is KC Crewdson, a student of Holy Innocents Episcopal School, and

Spanish student of Gerard Gatoux. The 2011 University Student of the Year is Marisol García Mitchell, a

student at Augusta State University, and Spanish student of Dr. Jana Sandarg. All students received plaques from our chapter, and press releases were sent to their hometown newspapers. AATSP-GA congratulates

these exceptional students on their achievements thus far.

Our annual Spanish Immersion Camp was held March 25-27, 2011 at Camp Fortson 4-H Center in Hampton, GA. A total of 96 students arrived on Friday afternoon and spent the rest of the evening getting

to know their assigned families, creating family banners, playing games together, attending a bonfire (with

smores!), and learning some dances. During the day on Saturday each family traveled to talleres offered in sports, artesanía, dance (both Flamenco and Latin), scavenger hunts, movies, and had time to work with

their families on the skit they would present on Sunday morning. Saturday evening afforded the students an

opportunity to dress in traje típico and attend Carnaval. Students danced, snacked on freshly made sopapil-

las and ―casi sangria‖, competed in speaking challenges, and swung at piñatas. The evening ended with the boys performing a serenata of ―Besame mucho‖ in front of the girls’ dorms. The closing activities on Sun-

day morning involved a rousing Mercado with much bartering for goods paid for with pesos earned for


speaking Spanish throughout the weekend, skits performed by each family, and camp awards. We thank our very energetic camp coordinators for this year, Kristin Hanewald and Velija Causevic, for a fabulous and

successful camp weekend. The students were very well behaved, super-motivated to speak Spanish, and

willing to participate in all the activities. We look forward to another exciting camp experience next spring.

Our chapter offered the following benefits to teachers and professors this year: an informative pro-fessional development conference in September, Teacher and Professor of the Year Awards, Raúl

Fernández Travel-Study Award, and New Teacher and Teacher Resource Mini-Grants.

We enjoyed another enriching conference on September 18, 2010 at Gainesville State College where our featured speaker was Ken Stewart, a national consultant to the College Board and for the Na-

tional Board for Professional Teaching Standards. He is an accomplished AP table leader and reader for AP

exams and an AP teacher at Chapel Hill High School, North Carolina. The focus of the conference was ef-fective reading strategies in foreign language, a very timely topic with the current push for increased read-

ing in the target language, and across the curriculum. Many teachers may know Ken Stewart from training

sessions for AP Spanish Language and AP Spanish Literature. In addition, Mr. Stewart has been featured in

session as one of the ―Best of FLAG‖ presenters at the 2009 FLAG/SCOLT conference in Atlanta. He has been recognized as a teacher of the year for several organizations including AATSP-NC, ACTFL, and

SCOLT. AATSP-GA is grateful to Ken for sharing so many useful and student-motivating reading strate-

gies for all levels in every language! Our chapter was pleased to recognize University of Georgia professor, Stacy Casado, as the

AATSP-GA 2011 Professor of the Year. Dr. Casado was recognized in March during the annual affiliate

meeting for AATSP-GA at the FLAG Conference which was held in Atlanta, GA. Vicki Welch Alvis, Spanish teacher at Autrey Mill Middle School, was chosen to receive the 2011

Raúl Fernández Travel-Study Award. She will study for 3 weeks in July at Estudio Sampere in Madrid hav-

ing received both the AATSP-GA Travel-Study Award and an award from SCOLT. Vicki will report on her experi-

ences from this summer in the fall edition of the AATSP-GA newsletter. Unfortunately, we did not have viable candidates for the New Teacher Mini-Grant, or the Teacher

Resource Mini-Grant this year. In these economic times, it is such a shame to see these awards go unused.

We encourage all current members and new members for the coming year to apply for these monetary awards in 2012.

Details about all of our award winners, chapter activities, deadlines, registration forms, and require-

ments for all of our activities can be found in our chapter newsletter, Al Día, and on our chapter website at

www.aatsp-ga.org.

Christy Presgrove

President


Foreign Language Association for International Rapport

(FLAIR)

Our academic alliance dates from January 16, 1985 and serves counties in Georgia and

South Carolina. We are the second oldest foreign language academic alliance in Georgia (Georgia

Southern was the first one established). Our newsletter has been in circulation for twenty-six years.

A brochure detailing what FLAIR is and what we offer, as well as our latest newsletters and stu-

dent and teacher awardees, is posted on our web page. Visit www.aug.edu/flair.

Conference

Our annual FLAIR conference was held at Augusta State University (ASU) on November

9, 2010. The conference title was ―Lights, Camera, Culture!‖ The

film from Spain, ―El secreto del corazón,‖ (in Spanish with English

subtitles) was shown. The keynote speaker, Professor Maite Conesa

Navarro (right), led the introduction and discussion in English. Pro-

fessor Conesa Navarro is the Sub-Coordinator of the Filmoteca of

Castilla y León in Salamanca, Spain. After the FLAIR conference,

Professor Conesa Navarro visited students and faculty at Georgia

Southern University. FLAIR conferences are free to all foreign lan-

guage teachers in our area.

Program on China

On Thursday, Jan 27th, at 6:30 pm, FLAIR sponsored a talk on China at Aquinas High

School. Zhang Hui, the Chinese teacher at the Academy of Richmond County and A. R. Johnson,

spoke on modern-day Chinese customs and explained the types of art in China. Her students per-

formed songs in Chinese and one student recited poetry in Chinese. Parents and teachers were very

impressed with the fluency and enthusiasm of the students. After the presentation, everyone en-

joyed typical Chinese food and drinks.

Program on Haiti

On Tuesday, February 22nd, Dr. Mallory Millender (right) spoke about America’s debt to

Haiti at Augusta State University. Dr. Millender is a retired professor

of French and the college historian of Paine College. In his presenta-

tion, he outlined the history of Haiti and the relations between Haiti

and the United States. He spoke about politics, race, religion, and lan-

guages, as well as Haiti’s contributions to world culture. The audi-

ence, which included native Haitians, engaged in a lively question and

answer session. The talk was sponsored by FLAIR and the Depart-

ment of English and Foreign Languages at ASU.

FLAIR Honor Society Induction

On March 7, 2011, the FLAIR Honor Society held its 24th induction for high school stu-

dents. Over seven hundred students from twenty-one high schools became new members. In addi-

tion to the new inductees, members from previous inductions received medals or pins: 199 were

awarded a third-year medal; 39 received a fourth-year pin; and 8 were given a fifth-year medal.

Graduating seniors who are FLAIR Honor Society members have a FLAIR seal affixed to their

high school diploma.


The students of Noelia Castro from the Academy of Richmond County provided entertain-

ment for the audience at the 2011 FLAIR Honor Society ceremony on March 7th. Students Raven

Gatling, Shaqoria Godlock and Patricia Thomas danced a Plena Santa Maria from Puerto Rico and

Courtney Bennett sang De colores and Tyla McCray sang Cielito lindo.

Door prizes for each school were boxes of Girl Scout cookies. Evans High School students

and their teacher, Leslie Dawson, served refreshments at the reception. Each high school chooses their outstanding foreign language student, who is recognized at the FLAIR Honor Society induction with a certificate and a prize, usually a CD of music and a book in the foreign language. The following students were recognized in 2011.

2011 FLAIR Outstanding Students of the Year

Rismerling Bryanna Castillo-Rivera – Spanish, Academy of Richmond County Christopher Singletary – Latin, Aquinas High School George Brown – Spanish, A. R. Johnson Health Science and Engineering School Amy Elizabeth Thorne – Spanish, Augusta Christian School Joseph David Glass – French, Augusta Preparatory Day School Susan Rachelle Mathewes – Spanish, CSRA Home Education Association Khristopher Rodriguez – Spanish, Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School Whitney Lynne Dixon – Spanish, Edmund Burke Academy Ashtin Brinkerhoff – Spanish, Evans High School Kyle Toole – French, Glenn Hills High School Emma Nicole Shipman – Spanish, Greenbrier High School Zackary Dennis – Spanish, Hephzibah High School Carrie Lynn Krebs – Spanish, Strom Thurmond High School Sara D. Mingledolph – Spanish, T. W. Josey High School Sydney Price – Spanish, Washington County High School Lindsay Taylor Williamson – Spanish, Westminster Schools of Augusta Emily Christine Waller – Spanish, Westside High School

One student from this group is chosen as the FLAIR Outstanding Student of the Year. The 2011 FLAIR Stu-dent of the Year is Joseph Glass (left), a French and

Spanish student at Augusta Preparatory Day School. The 2011 FLAIR Teacher of the Year is Michael Dockery (right), a French teacher at Greenbrier High

School. Both received a plaque and a cash award. Their photos are on the FLAIR web page.

Culinary Arts Class

This year we held a Culinary Arts class for FLAIR honor society members on March 23 at Cross Creek High School. Teachers who taught the cooking class were Julio Avila (North Au-gusta High School), Leslie Dawson (Evans High School), Michael Dockery (Greenbrier High School), Pam Light (Strom Thurmond High School), Sandra Moore (A. R. Johnson), Craig Oglesby (Cross Creek High School), and Ana Pereira (Cross Creek High School). Edwin Perez (FLAIR Treasurer) and Jana Sandarg (Augusta State University) assisted with the preparations.

FLAIR Teacher Grants

Grants are available to active FLAIR members who are presenting at a conference, work-


ing on a special project, or other similar items. Up to five $100 teacher grants are awarded per year, if funding is available, to active FLAIR teachers. Teachers may receive the grant only once. Student & Teacher Study Abroad Awards

Students who are members of the FLAIR Foreign Language Honor Society and teachers who are active members of FLAIR are eligible to receive a $250 award for participating in a study abroad program. Only one award for a student and one for a teacher will be awarded per year. They must participate in an organized program and the funds will be disbursed after receiving offi-cial documentation of completion of the program. French Student Exchange

Terry Meredith (Aquinas High School) reports that February 2011 marked the 17th year

of the exchange between Aquinas High School and St Denis International School in Loches, France. Between 10 and 15 students spend the month of February with Aquinas families. The students from France receive a schedule and attend classes at Aquinas. On the weekends, fami-lies often choose to take trips to Charleston, Savannah or Atlanta. Some students have been in-vited to go skiing with youth groups and to Disney world on family vacations. The parents of the French and American families often talk on SKYPE and form their own friendships! Aquinas stu-dents are invited to visit the families in France in the summer. These international friendships can span the decades. Everyone learns a lot and has fun. Local Spanish Teacher a Star! DiAnne Johnson (Evans High School, right) was chosen Evan’s High

School’s Star Teacher for 2011. This was indeed an honor since few foreign language teachers are chosen. Respectfully submitted, Jana Sandarg FLAIR Steering Committee Member FLAIR Newsletter Editor


2011 FLAG Conference Report

“Connecting Students to the World”

This year’s conference showed just how united foreign language teachers are! Through budget

cuts, pay cuts, and personal days, over four hundred people made their way to attend this year’s

annual FLAG Conference at the Westin Atlanta Airport Hotel near downtown Atlanta. We met

for the two day conference on March 4-5, 2011. All were eager to share ideas, receive ideas, and

be inspired by others.

In year’s past, one of the largest comments from educators attending the PLU was the fact that by

attending the PLU, they were unable to attend other sessions/workshops until after 10:00 on Satur-

day. In response, the FLAG board decided to try a different approach this year. Rather than hav-

ing a stand alone ten-hour class, participants were given the opportunity to take advantage of the

sessions and workshops being presented throughout the conference. Jon Valentine was gracious

enough to preside/present at both the orientation and summary session. He called it ―Build Your

Own PLU Workshop‖ and FLAG ended up with over forty people earning a PLU during the con-

ference. It was rated a very successful workshop by those who attended and FLAG hopes to re-

peat this in the future.

Conference participants were able to choose from nine pre-conference workshops with a variety of

themes. In addition, there were seventy-nine fifty-minute sessions offered at the 2011 confer-

ence. Each was unique, well thought out, and stimulating for teachers who attended. Even with

the untimely storms (throughout the conference), all of the presenters made it to their sessions to

share their knowledge and enthusiasm.

We were thankful to have Mr. Andre Winston Lewis, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education for

International and Foreign Language Education come and deliver the keynote address. He did a

wonderful job and we are grateful he took the time to come to FLAG.

Looking ahead, we are excited to be co-hosting next year’s conference with SCOLT. The 2012

SCOLT/FLAG Conference will be held in Atlanta on March 22-24, 2012. Make plans now to at-

tend and remember if you need hotel reservations, make them early! We look forward to seeing

you there!

Submitted by Brandi Meeks


A Few Do’s and Don’ts for Raising a Bilingual Child By Joe Terantino, Ph.D., Kennesaw State University

I should start this article by explaining that this

is a brief follow up to a previous research-

based article published in the fall 2010 FLAG

Journal, ―Goldilocks and Child Language Ac-

quisition: A Story and an Investigation on the

Effects of Bilingualism‖, and a subsequent

presentation of the study at the 2011 annual

FLAG conference in Atlanta. That research

presented the findings of an interview-based

study which examined a bilingual child’s

speech to determine if there were any negative

effects on the child’s learned English as a result

of learning Spanish simultaneously. Although

no negative effects were found related to the

child’s speech, at the FLAG conference a fruit-

ful discussion emerged related to how best to

approach bilingualism with children. The pre-

sent narrative aims to address this question

through a simple list of dos and don’ts for rais-

ing a bilingual child.

MY PERSONAL STORY

I feel by describing my personal story, readers

will have more context to how I deduced the

dos and don’ts presented here. Thus, here I will

provide an abridged version of my linguistic

autobiography. I was raised in an English-

speaking household with no exposure to for-

eign languages. Neither of my parents speaks a

language other than English. In fact, it was not

until I was a middle school student, at 11 years

of age, which I took my first Spanish course.

Since then I have been a lifelong learner of lan-

guages. It is never too late; however, along the

way to becoming bilingual in English and

Spanish, I realized the importance of starting

early in a child’s life to increase the chances of

being truly bilingual. Now, beyond my belief

sometimes, I find myself as the proud father of

a 4 year old girl with whom I have worked, al-

beit limitedly, to introduce the Spanish lan-

guage. Through this process, researching the

topic, and engaging in conversations with oth-

ers, as described previously, I have learned sev-

eral important lessons that may apply to you as

well.

THE DO’S AND DON’TS

With this brief background in mind, I would

now like to share with you some dos and don’ts

to raising a bilingual child based on my previ-

ous research and personal experiences. By no

means is this an all inclusive list, but these rec-

ommendations may help make the process eas-

ier.

The Do’s

So ―how do I teach my child a second lan-

guage?‖ The first step, 1) Do make a plan for

bilingualism as soon as possible. There are

distinct biological advantages to beginning

early in a child’s life to become bilingual; how-

ever, remember me! It’s never too late. The

first thing to consider in this plan is how you

will help make your child bilingual. Well, 2)

Do provide your child with exposure to the

language. Obviously, to learn a second lan-

guage the child must be exposed to that lan-

guage. Granted, raising a bilingual child may

be much easier if you are bilingual yourself;

however, there are other means of providing

input in the target language. If you do not speak

the target language, 3) Do research and find

an appropriate avenue for learning the lan-

guage such as an immersion school, a private

class, a nanny, an au pair, a neighbor, or a close

friend who can speak the language with your

child. Again, the key is to expose your child to

the language as much as you can. Once you

have found an appropriate avenue for exposing

your child to the language, 4) Do create a lan-

guage rich environment, and I don’t mean that

you have to spend a lot of money! Find story

books, movies, songs and sing-alongs, toys, etc.

But like I said, you don’t have to spend a lot of

money. Check out your local library, and share

with friends. Also, consider the simple things

like labeling household items in the target lan-

guage and English, and encourage your child’s

school to do the same. Then, as you feel com-

fortable 5) Do create daily routines with the

language so that your child gets used to hear-

ing and using the language. Consider perform-


ing your bedtime routine in the second lan-

guage or use the language at the dinner table.

Also, remember to refer to the labeled house-

hold objects in both languages. These types of

routines are great for increasing the child’s vo-

cabulary in the target language and creating

linguistic patterns for easier retention. Then,

after the child becomes comfortable with the

routine add to it or create another routine to in-

tegrate more of the language’s vocabulary and

structures.

The Don’ts

Well, there you have it. It’s easy to raise a bi-

lingual child, right? Yeah right! It sounds easy,

but in reality it is a long process, and there are

several pitfalls to avoid. When considering the

relevant don’ts to raising a bilingual child, by

far the most important thing to remember is

1) Don’t force a child into bilingualism if it

makes him uncomfortable. Remember, we

learn our native language through a natural

process. Try to model this as much as you can

when introducing another language. You want

your child to realize there are multiple lan-

guages, but not to be afraid or uncomfortable.

Try to find a balance, which enables the child

to learn through fun and positive experiences.

Also, 2) Don’t worry if your child doesn’t be-

come bilingual immediately. Consider how

long it took you to learn English. Besides, is

your English perfect now as an adult? I think

not. We often encounter lifelong speakers of

English who frequently make mistakes, some

more than others. Remember to be patient; it

takes time to develop true bilingualism. The

idea is to lay the linguistic foundation so that

your child will have a head start in the future.

Once you have laid this foundation, it is im-

perative that you 3) Don’t stop the linguistic

routine. It is very important to keep up the rou-

tines that you have established. This is what

keeps the language current in the child’s brain.

How many of us have heard people refer to

their language learning experiences in school?

―I took language courses (French, German,

Spanish, etc.) in school, but I don’t remember

anything now.‖ Of course not! They stopped.

These individuals have not used that language

in years. Avoid this with your child by not

stopping the routine. By not stopping you allow

your child to constantly rehearse what he

knows, and then you can add to the routine as is

appropriate. 4) Don’t forget that your child is

an individual with unique needs. I don’t need

to tell you that all kids are different in their

own ways. This applies to learning a second

language as well. It is natural for some children

to be more enthusiastic, while others are more

reserved. Last, 5) Don’t worry if your child

mixes up the two languages. Initially, as chil-

dren begin to learn another language it is natu-

ral for them to test how the grammar of differ-

ent languages applies. They will be able to for-

mulate two distinct language systems, and over

time they may become bilingual.

CONCLUSION

So, what should you do now? There are no easy

solutions, and it is important to remember to be

flexible. Not all of the recommendations pre-

sented here will apply as strictly in some con-

texts as in others. You know your child best

and what may work for him. The following

suggestions are offered only so that they may

enable you to begin the process of bilingualism.

DO:

-make a plan for bilingualism as soon as

possible.

-provide your child with exposure to the

language.

-research and find an appropriate avenue

for learning the language.

-create a language rich environment.

-create daily routines with the language.

DON’T:

-force a child into bilingualism.

-worry if your child doesn’t become bilin-

gual immediately.

-stop the linguistic routine.

-forget that your child is an individual with

unique needs.

-worry if your child mixes up the two lan-

guages.


In March 2010 at the Foreign Lan-guage Association of Georgia Annual Confer-ence, I presented a session entitled: “Grammar to Reading, Bridging the Gap.” I had collected data from my own Latin class-room which inspired me to present some successes. I coupled these with a little re-search about the different methodologies tested by the “experts.” Following my pres-entation, I attended the conference luncheon where I had the pleasure of listening to the guest speaker, Mr. Greg Duncan, a long-time advocate of foreign language education both in the state of Georgia and beyond. In his talk, Mr. Duncan explained that foreign lan-guage education in Georgia needed to step up and accept the challenge of really teach-ing a foreign language, instead of teaching about the language. Rather than focusing on the textbook assessments, he said, foreign language educators should turn their atten-tion to real language acquisition for the pur-pose of communication. Rigor and progress over the courses of the language were key aspects to his formula for success. I thought to myself, well, gee, that’s what I do.

Mr. Duncan explained that modern languages enrollment is suffering in our state…he quickly followed his statement with kudos for the Latin teachers, who, as he proclaimed, had figured out how to demon-strate their value and effectiveness in the classroom. I found his statement profound. Did I do that? For the past ten years, I have been striving to be more like modern lan-guage educators: using Latin in my class-room, trying to convince the powers that be that I needed modern language equipment, such as language labs and Promethean sys-tems, so that I could become a technologi-cally savvy communicator in the language that I taught. I was tired of people telling me that Latin was dead, and then asking, “Why should any student take Latin?” In order to prove my value as a foreign language teacher in a state that does not require foreign lan-guage for high school graduates, I had to be-

come more effective. I wanted to make my classroom a haven for real learning, not just grammar and vocabulary memorization, but a true language learning experience in which students can effectively communicate orally and in writing. To answer my critics, I had to come up with strategies and practices that demonstrated my value. How did I do it? My response to the critics and doubters is exactly in tune with the message discussed by Mr. Duncan, who made it clear that mod-ern language practices lacked perceived value in the classroom. New goals and strategies to achieve them, language use fol-lowed by better assessments that attained the goals, and rigorous programs with depth and scope are needed, he said.

As a cure for this dilemma, I insert my presentation: “Grammar to Reading, Bridg-ing the Gap. “ I believe that a slow, deliberate and fun approach to the first two years of a foreign language (the minimum amount of classes that most college-bound students take) will demonstrate its value to students and their parents, so that they will continue on in the third and fourth years of language programs. Eventually, students will be-come fluent users of the language, certainly a valuable asset in our growing global culture. In this article, I hope to reconstruct my pres-entation so that it can reach a wider audi-ence. In advance, I would like to thank the audience I had as I gave the presentation, who asked for more while providing valu-able feedback and criticism.

In my struggle to become a valued teacher of a valuable subject, I found that I had to raise my classroom expectations to reflect the modern language GPS (Georgia Performance Standards): “To equip students with realistic lifelong skills that will enable them to function competently in a language other than their own and communicate and compete effectively in the global community and marketplace.” While doing so, I kept the goal of Latin teaching (GPS) close by: “The purpose of the study of Latin is to read and

Grammar to Reading: Bridging the Gap

Jaime Claymore, Mountain View High School


understand Latin.” All the italics here are mine…these are the main ideas. Statements such as these goals beg for further interpre-tation…just what is the main goal? My an-swer: fluency. I have read a number of arti-cles about the levels of fluency, but I must remember that as a high school foreign lan-guage teacher, I am in competition with 23 hours of teenage existence. Teaching fluency to a teenager is an uphill climb on a rocky mountain in frigid temperatures and bliz-zard conditions. I attack the mountain slowly and deliberately, taking each step with caution…breaking the mountain into parts. My focus: reading. Or better yet, reading fluency. What is reading fluency, exactly? Keeping the GPS goals at hand, it is when readers are able to identify words in text quickly and accurately with a minimal amount of attention, recognize words effi-ciently and effortlessly, read connected text silently or orally with speed and good com-prehension, and to read aloud with appro-priate phrasing and expressiveness. But how do I teach that?! Originally, reading fluency, to me, was a combination of words and grammar that I assessed with translation. I taught words and grammar alone. Eventually I noticed that I had trouble connecting with my stu-dents. I would teach words, grammar, a story or two, and then assess those topics using an unknown story, or with an assess-ment that did not challenge the student to reproduce the information that I had taught. Usually, regardless of class averages or grades ( because grades fell naturally in the bell curve), I would just move onto the next chapter. Using those methods and assess-ments, there was a severe disconnect from what I expected and achieved in terms of student knowledge and real ability. In order to keep in line with what was expected of me and my calendar, either determined by a de-partment chair or a county supervisor, I was compromising my classroom strategies and therefore, the effectiveness of my teaching. I learned, after assessing my own practices, that I needed to focus more on student abil-ity. I could not just present, assess, and move on. I needed to work at getting teenag-

ers to become active participants in foreign language acquisition. All of this made me think about how I taught my own children how to become ef-fective communicators. The first step: mod-eling good speaking skills. Well, I can speak the language I teach…I just needed to do it daily, more, every chance I got. I needed to reconstruct lessons using a variety of direc-tives in the target language and, this is a kicker, not be afraid of introducing a word or a topic just because it is usually introduced in a later chapter or semester. The students responded very well to this, probably be-cause I made it seem like I was teaching something forbidden or exciting. Arguably, I had to be more organized and remember that taking risks is part of communication. The effect on my students was amazing. They were not longer afraid to take risks, in speaking, reading aloud, or writing. The second step was reading every-day. I do not know how many times in my life I have read The Cat in the Hat, or Green Eggs and Ham, but I am sure that it is too many to count. So I asked myself, why do we read the same stories over and over to chil-dren in our native languages but expect our teenage language learners to pick up brand new words, inflection, grammar, and pro-nunciation, without focused repetition? So, I began to use this same strategy in my class-room. I repeated stories. I constantly used pictures. I dedicated time to explain new and unknown words, usually building on re-cently acquired vocabulary in the target lan-guage as well as derivatives. And this worked. Students were learning, using, and manipulating words in order to create their own stories, cartoons, or situations. Spend-ing more time on a story and then assessing knowledge gained from that story yielded better grades, a better grading curve, and more confident learners. Each successive lesson and unit was a success. This hap-pened so much that these students were hungry for more stories. Bingo! At this point, I discovered a problem. Where do I get material that is both new and interesting to teenagers?! Just like my chil-dren at home, I needed my students to be-


come and stay interested in reading. This is when I finally realized that teaching reading to students I only see for an hour each day would be a slow, laborious process for me. It is, however, essential because, “it is only through the actual reading experience that FL readers can acquire the complex linguis-tic, world, and topical knowledge needed to improve their reading skills.” And I add, lan-guage skills. After seeking out my own strategies that revolved around language manipula-tion, especially using pictures, and engaging students in the reading and writing process, I found that I had greater success. I required students to produce language in order to prove their knowledge and ability in the tar-get language. My students enjoyed coming to my class because they actually had the chance to do, to perform, and to actively learn. I reported my successes to my princi-pal and my county in our required annual teaching report. I also prepared to present at FLAG. This is when I began to do a little research. I learned about two different lan-guage acquisition theories: Automaticity Theory (AT) and Verbal Efficiency Theory (VET).

According to AT, educators should aim at helping learners automatize lexical access through a great amount of repeated exposure to print. In other words, reading material over and over again will eventually help students become more fluent in read-ing. The problem here, for FL educators, is gaining access to a great amount of print. This is where I had to engage my own abili-ties. While it was time consuming, so was re-teaching and constantly reviewing material that I thought I had already taught. So, I spent much time creating situations and sto-ries of my own using much of the same grammar, vocabulary, and concepts taught throughout the initial chapters of my text. Prior to my research, I spent an equal amount of time teaching individual words and not focusing so much on phrases. My strategies for vocabulary acquisition were rather normal: flashcards, sometimes with pictures, games, quizzes. But I found that students learned the words best with some

sort of association. I would try to create word connections or contexts in which each word would be used. I experienced great success using context while specifically teaching vocabulary. Modeling vocabulary usage in the target language in context was even better.

Some of the strategies I used in order to implement this theory following my re-search were: dedicating time to learning letters in the tar-

get language;

using derivatives or cognates to teach how

words form from letters;

demonstrating the history of words from

target language to English;

specifically teaching prefixes, roots, and suf-

fixes.

When I began to implement these strate-gies in my classroom coupled with the tech-niques that I already used, students did not fail to recall or use vocabulary appropri-ately! What a difference the slow, deliberate and focused methods made on my students.

Another strategy that I began to use regularly in my classroom was the web-based program called Wordle. I copied and pasted text from a story into the Wordle con-tent box and hit enter. The Wordle program counts and then arranges the words accord-ing to their frequency. Play with the pro-gram in order to make the most of it. Here is the Green Eggs and Ham Wordle from my presentation:

Interestingly enough, when I used the Wordle program

for my presentation, I forgot to tell the program to count

high-frequency English words. I used the book Green

Eggs and Ham to demonstrate some of the activities from

my classes, but the word “not” was excluded from the

Wordle.


And below, a story from my Latin class, with which I used some Wordle strategies:

Using a Wordle:

Grammar: the frequency of new grammar in a new story

usually outweighs the former. Use a wordle to point out

new forms. Reviewing forms of words already taught. I

used forms of ―be‖ here. Vocabulary: Larger words indi-

cate commonly used words. Draw attention to new vo-

cabulary this way.

Some other activities using a Wordle (which can all be done orally, using a lan-guage lab, or in writing): Draw pictures which represent the larger

words (designate by color).

Identify: case, part of speech, declension,

conjugation, tense etc. of various words.

Choose nouns and adjectives from the

Wordle which agree, by sense or by gram-

mar.

Construct phrases, sentences using the

words in the Wordle.

Add words to the Wordle…teach by ex-

clusion. What has been left out?

Use the Wordle after reading a story:

Write a summary of the story with help from

Wordle.

Review the main ideas, words, grammar,

or concepts from the story.

Students can make their own Wordle us-

ing a story, or their own story.

Of course, different Wordles would produce different activities, especially as students

progress in the course. They are a great tool by which to play with and then master words, and that is what Automaticity Theory (AT) seeks to accomplish, word mastery. AT states that it is through a high percentage of word mastery that students become efficient readers.

As I learned about AT, I decided if I were to employ its concepts alone, I would not be content with the abilities of my stu-dents. My expectations were higher. Con-tinuing my research, I learned about Verbal Efficiency Theory (VET). VET states that there is more to language acquisition and reading competency than just words. VET showcases that students must employ higher-level reading processes, “reaching beyond lexical access,” in order to become efficient readers. These strategies are more difficult to teach yet the concepts involved can be automatized through extended practice.

I always add the comprehension element to my lessons so that I can be sure that stu-dents are not merely decoding the material. Asking questions in the target language in order to have students make predictions about what happened before the setting and time of a story as well as what will happen following the conclusion of a story are great ways to assess comprehension. I use com-prehension questions as “tickets out the door” to keep students from over-analyzing or stressing over the material. VET uses the following key strategies, which I attempt to define: Resolving anaphors: finding repetitive

words, the reasons for them (i.e. usually key

character or events)

Integrating propositions: discovering the

relationships between the characters and

events in the particular story in order to un-

derstand how and why they did, are, or will

interact in a particular way.

Using basic cognitive/metacognitive

strategies: Encouraging students to employ

common sense as they read. Beginner FL

texts do not intend to trick the reader.

Events occur in sequence, are usually stated

and restated, and characters comply with


specific stock character traits.

Activating relevant background schemas

(i.e. CONTEXT): Students must be able to

make sense of a text in its particular context.

For Latin students, context is key!

VET’s concepts, stated above, how-ever, ignore an element of teaching to young people that I have found is absolutely essen-tial to bridging the gap between grammar and reading: visualization. Looking over my children’s books made me realize how im-portant pictures can be during language ac-quisition. I extended the idea of visualiza-tion even further, looking into preschool and elementary reading teachers’ bags of tricks in order to build my own repertoire of strategies. As a big believer in contextual understanding, I have come to frequently use pictures, sign language and other ma-nipulatives, facial expressions, and acting as teaching techniques in my classroom. Con-ducting these and other exercises in the tar-get language took much preparation and practice! The process is constantly changing as students, classes, resources and energy levels change. Here are some of the micro-strategies that I have used in order to intro-duce word to context relationships in a vis-ual or manipulative manner (they increase in difficulty according to student ability): Word to picture flashcards

Picture to word class or group activities,

competitions

Sentence to picture; picture to sentence:

must be done after words are introduced.

Tense w/ pictures: highlight tense signi-

fiers using pictures in sequence with a sun in

the background indicating time in a day

Sequence with pictures

Paragraph to pictures

Picture to paragraphs

Passage to pictures: students choose the

main ideas of a passage and then demon-

strate the understanding of the passage us-

ing cartoon-style pictures in sequence

Picture to passage: this is the style of as-

sessment used by the FLAG Spoken Lan-

guage Competition for modern languages.

What an excellent tool for a classroom and in

preparation for the annual competition!

These are just a few of the various activities that I have employed in order to achieve my goal of reading fluency in my Latin classes. I find myself constantly re-flecting, however, on what has worked with which students throughout the years. Re-gardless of individual successes, I find my-self returning to the idea that foreign lan-guage acquisition is a laborious process by which I must work without end in order to feel successful. As I explained in my presen-tation, whenever I feel down throughout the course of the year, I return to a circular graph which reminds me of my personal ex-pectations, not only for my students, but also for myself. It is depicted in the graphic be-low.

In order to truly use the language that I teach, I remind

myself that only ¼ of my directions should take place in

the Level One category (recall). Students need to be

performing most of the tasks in Level Two, which means that I must not provide tools like graphic organizers.

Also, assessment should take place using Levels Two,

Three, and Four throughout the learning process. Using

the graph helps me keep my teaching balanced and

therefore, the learning of the students is also balanced.

When I balance my activities according to the categories or levels of directives in the graph, my students are much more con-nected to the material. In order to maintain that connection and not become weighed


down by the pace of learning a foreign lan-guage, I have integrated summary writing and creative writing into my assessments strategies. This way, I can alternate the as-sessment directives throughout the levels of knowledge while simultaneously providing students with creative license, and, it can be fun! I began employing summary writing as a performance final directive a few years ago. When I decided to use “write a sum-mary” for the finals, it was necessary for me to also create a paradigm of instruction that I could reproduce from class to class, year to year, so that I could be sure that I was actu-ally teaching how to summarize in the target language. The steps of this process are as follows: Simplify text to subject-object-verb from

each sentence, ignore dialogue

Make list in order of events, using a

graphic organizer that the students create

Identify key verbs and essential adverbs

such as NOT

Re-write story, using only key verb lines

from graphic organizer

Add in transitions

Review summary for missing pertinent

information

A summary should include an answer to

each of the following questions: who, what,

when, where. How and Why are not essen-

tial.

By simplifying text to the essentials, which I had been teaching throughout the course, more students were able to under-stand most of the information and complete the task. Following one year of implement-ing a majority of the strategies described in this paper, not one student failed my per-formance final at the end of the year, which was to write a summary in Latin of a previ-ously unseen Latin passage. My class aver-age for all assignments had peaked at 85%, and my students displayed enough confi-dence to seek more information and attempt tasks with greater difficulty, such as, original creative writing.

The students who had experienced

success with these teaching and learning strategies have moved from summary-writing to story-writing in order to demon-strate their knowledge and ability. The easi-est tasks to assign for such an undertaking are for students to create either a prequel or a sequel to a story previously studied, prac-ticed, and mastered. When the majority of my students found assignments such as these challenging yet rewarding, I felt that I had achieved success in reading fluency. I had also achieved Level Four with my Latin students, finally.

My definition of reading fluency has come full circle as I have spent the greater part of the past three years focused on the topic. As I previously stated, fluent readers should be able to identify, recognize, read connected text silently or orally with good comprehension, and read aloud with appro-priate phrasing and expressiveness. Yet I argue that fluent readers should be able to then use, manipulate, and create language based on what they read. Only then can for-eign language teachers know that students are fluent.

When language teachers take the time to build a language learner from the very beginning, and programs support the teachers who demonstrate the ability to cre-ate connected and meaningful lessons in or-der to produce true language learners, the value of foreign language will increase. I hope that my work and research can help find the golden mean or bridge the gap be-tween teaching grammar and learning how to read.

i. I do not quote Mr. Duncan. This was the general theme of

his speech, as I recall.

ii. Most of the information that I found is in the article ―Developing

Second And Foreign Language Reading Fluency And Its Effect On Com-

prehension: A Missing Link‖ found in The Reading Matrix, Vol. 6. 2.

September 2006 by Etsuo Taguchi, Daito Bunka University, Greta J.

Gorsuch, Texas Tech University, and Evelyn Sasamoto, Daito Bunka

University.

iii www.wordle.net; a caveat: some macrons or accent marks can be

changed into different letters by Wordle. Be sure to proofread your

results. An example of this problem can be found in the second Wordle ,

where the word vīllam was changed to vmam.

iv Webb, Norman L. and others. ―Web Alignment Tool‖ 24 July 2005.

Wisconsin Center of Educational Research. University of Wisconsin-

Madison. 2 Feb. 2006. <http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/WAT/index.aspx>.


No job is safe in this age of economic hard-ship. Businesses – both public and private – are

suffering the ravages of an economy that is spiral-

ing downward. This is not, however, a condition

that is limited to commerce. We are now seeing the negative effects of this downturn manifest them-

selves throughout our government and its agencies.

Public education is no exception. Services are down. Funding is down. Staffing is down. This

climate that we as educators find ourselves in is

further complicated by the fact that we are in the field of World Languages (WL), which is no longer

a requisite of high school graduation in the state of

Georgia. That feeling of relative security we had

for so long is now all but gone, and teachers have to work not only harder, but smarter to keep their

jobs. What might a professional educator be able to

do in order to give herself a better chance of hold-ing on to a job that may be eliminated at any time?

It may be simpler than one thinks!

The key to a World Language teacher’s main-taining a strong advocacy program is to spread the

workload! One may not realize how others who are

involved can help. Consider how much support one

could get from other WL teachers, teachers of other subjects in the school, the administration, parents,

the students themselves and certainly the commu-

nity! Each of these groups has something to offer, and the more involved they are with the program,

the better the chances of its success. The WL

teacher must be introspective and ask some hard

questions. Is he doing just enough to get by, or is he fully invested in a career and in real success as a

World Language teacher? Is he willing to put in the

extra time and effort it takes to keep a job in this climate?

These days, it goes without saying that we

should be collaborating with other teachers in the WL department. Not only does this lessen the work-

load, it creates consistency in lessons for like lan-

guages and levels. Apart from these obvious advan-

tages, this practice also protects teachers from par-ents who may wonder why their child in one Span-

ish class has to know numbers to 1000 while her

neighbor’s child in another teacher’s class does not. We want to enrich our curriculum, but if we assess

material outside the curriculum, we may be viewed

as ―too hard‖ by the students and just plain unfair by the parents. We want to avoid these or any com-

plaints. One should absolutely expose one’s stu-

dents to enriching material, but consistency of as-

sessment across classes is essential. We must not lightly consider the question of

assessment. If we are in a school with two other Spanish III teachers, we don’t want to be the one

whose classes don’t fill up because we have a repu-

tation of being ―test-happy‖ or ―homework-heavy‖.

Consistency of assessment in like classes only makes sense for everyone involved. Word gets out.

Parents and students alike are looking for the best

deal they can find. It is not always the ―easiest‖ classes that fill up first. That sometimes elusive

best deal includes having a teacher who will not

overload his students or be thought of as the hardest one. Assessment encompasses grade weighting and

pacing as well. All WL teachers in the department

should not only have the same categories of assess-

ments (test, quiz, participation, etc), but they should be weighted consistently as well. Be aware of

school or district policies for this. Is there a school-

wide or county-wide pacing chart that guides plan-ning? Can a student whose schedule needs to be

adjusted as a result of some diagnostic testing in her

WL or other class, or who moves from one school to another within the district expect to find herself

at the same place in French class, just as she might

find herself on track in Math? Let’s not be left out

when it comes to providing this service to our stu-dents.

In our field, assessments should include all

four competencies – listening, speaking, reading and writing. As for speaking, is there a high expec-

tation for the students? Are they using L2 in class?

Do we model that expectation on a daily basis to

guide them? Is there access to a language lab where students’ speaking can be recorded and assessed in

a consistent manner? Generally, students want to

know about what matters (―Will this be on the test?‖), so let’s show them that speaking the lan-

guage is of the utmost importance. Let’s ask them

what they think the ultimate goal is and remind them that their speaking ability will be assessed on

a regular basis. Let’s use an objective instrument to

assess their class participation. This is accom-

plished via the language lab, but also with class par-ticipation.

Collaboration offers exposure to best practices

for instruction in the classroom. Entire workshops are being dedicated to best practices for numerous

curricula. Did a colleague discover or design a new

game that his students love? If so, it is worth a try and comes with less possibility of failure. Is there a

better, more objective way of assessing class par-

ticipation, a key component of a student’s success?

For the past several years, some WL departments have been using a Target Language Communication

Effective Advocacy is the Key to Saving World Language Jobs Jamie Patterson, Webb Bridge Middle School


Log, which puts the responsibility for tracking par-ticipation in the students’ hands. Students are in-

structed to speak the target language as much as

possible and are given a signal by the teacher that

indicates successful communication. The student then logs the participation and a grade is determined

quarterly. This system has been successful for

years, and takes the subjectivity out of the grade. Perhaps we could consider sponsoring an after

-school WL club. Although teachers are notoriously

pressed for time, we might team up with a colleague to share the commitment so that we may have only

one afternoon a month dedicated to the activity. A

language club that meets twice a month is quite suc-

cessful and would provide extra exposure of the culture to students. Relatively simple activities,

such as a cheese-tasting or watching a portion of a

Disney DVD in the target language would be thrill-ing to those students interested in spending extra

time with the language outside the classroom. There

are numerous low-cost activities that easily could be funded by a small club dues and supplemented

by parent or community donations. One teacher

once presented a tax exempt form from her school

bookkeeper to a local bakery, which in turn pro-vided more than enough French breads and pastries

for a ―Cercle français‖ meeting. It was a tremen-

dously popular meeting! Feed them and they will come.

Learning from one’s colleagues and using their

ideas is a great way to foster consistency of instruc-

tional practices in the WL department. Is there a Peer Observation program at the school? This is a

voluntary program whereby teachers may take plan-

ning time to observe others in their department in order to get ideas for their own classroom. The

possibilities are tremendous for discovering an ac-

tivity that one has never thought of, for seeing a classroom decoration that is particularly attractive,

or for learning how the teacher manages the class

and structures activities. This practice is especially

helpful to new teachers who must learn the ways of her new school. Is it not fairly safe to say that ad-

ministration would be impressed to be presented

with such a request, if this is not already in place at the school? Remember, we’re all about being a core

component of the instructional program.

One may believe that collaboration isn’t realis-tic. Perhaps it is because she is working in a small

school or is the only teacher of a particular lan-

guage in that school. Even if that be the case, there

are still options for collaboration with colleagues at different levels or at different schools in the district.

Many activities cross age and language barriers and

can be adapted with little revising. Regardless the age or grade level of the student, or even the lan-

guage being studied, best practices for fun and en-

riching activities will be welcomed by your classes. It is not only in the area of instruction and as-

sessment that collaboration will enhance your pro-

gram. A language department that practices consis-

tent methods of corresponding with parents, enforc-ing discipline policies, developing syllabi and other

areas will be seen as a more cohesive component of

the educational unit. In most cases, teachers in other departments (Math, Social Studies, Science) or

grade levels (6th, 7th, 8th) are following group guide-

lines, so it only legitimizes the field of World Lan-guages to do so.

Presenting a united front with respect to parent

correspondence will only serve to validate the pro-

fessionalism of our departments. Let’s be sure to follow school policy while sending consistent mes-

sages about homework and behavior expectations.

Also, we must provide timely feedback when grad-ing assignments. Let’s keep it consistent with other

departments in the school. Let’s develop a relation-

ship – albeit electronic – with our parents, making ourselves a reliable source of information for them.

To accomplish this, each teacher in the department

would have to spend a good amount of time on the

front end to prepare email distribution lists for each class. However, the result is that a single email

may be sent to parents simultaneously, saving us

unbelievable amounts of time over the course of the school year, while earning kudos for ourselves.

Teachers using this system can hardly count the

thanks they receive from parents who oftentimes

struggle to stay informed. One may even go beyond activities related to one’s own class to remind par-

ents of deadlines for buying a school t-shirt for field

day, to pay library fines or to order school pictures, for example. It is these seemingly simple tasks that

can make a big difference in the life of a student

who may be overwhelmed with the responsibility of remembering so many tasks. As parents, many of

us understand the importance of communication as

much as we understand our children’s sporadic abil-

ity to get those important pieces of information home to us.

In order to further validate the professionalism

of our departments, let’s prepare a complete sylla-bus that is consistent with those of our colleagues

with regard to our program and expectations. Our

job is all about education, which doesn’t begin and end at the classroom door. Parents need to know

that we have high expectations for their children

and that they will succeed in our classrooms. Let’s

educate our parents about the Georgia Performance Standards and how we plan to teach their children

how to show what they know and can do with a sec-

ond language. We’ve now read about how World Lan-

guage teachers can help each other be more suc-


cessful at our jobs. Again, collaboration and sharing are keys here. However, let’s not overlook the po-

tential for contributions of teachers of other classes.

Inevitably, there will be some well-traveled teach-

ers in the school. Do they have stories, pictures, video to share? Do they speak the language we

teach? One teacher arranged a visit from a favorite

coach and PE teacher in her school. He was an Irishman who she discovered speaks French! He

took fifteen minutes of his planning time to visit a

7th grade French class and brought pictures of his family along. Speaking entirely in French, he

greeted the class. Then, showing the photographs,

he introduced all of his family members and gave

their ages. Imagine how the students felt hearing French with an Irish accent! It must have been the

highlight of their day, and certainly an experience

they took home to share with their parents. Students will be amazed to know that someone besides their

own WL teacher can bring the culture to them.

What a wonderful way to validate what we do in the classroom!

Aside from having guest speakers, one might

speak to a grade or subject chair to see how willing

her teachers would be to do some ―advertising‖ in their classrooms. An elementary school French

teacher in Fulton County arranged for all of the 4th

and 5th grade classroom teachers to label thirty items in their classrooms with the French names of

the objects. The students got constant vocabulary

reminders and understood that their ―real‖ teacher

cared enough about the language to open up her classroom to it. Consider convincing the Physical

Science teacher to have the Periodic Table labeled

with the root words of so many of those elements! Social studies and history teachers are great at help-

ing make connections with their subject matter. One

could provide math teachers with second language equivalents of signs, symbols and operations. Just

having these things appear in a math classroom re-

inforces the idea that math is universal. Let’s not

stop at the ―core‖ subjects. Try reaching out to art and music teachers. Will they be teaching a lesson

on French Impressionism, Picasso’s abstract art,

classical architecture or origami perhaps? Let’s help them with some simple art terms. Would the chorus

teacher be willing to add a song in another language

to the holiday program? One could offer to help work with the students to perfect their pronuncia-

tion. The possibilities for spreading language

throughout our schools are limited only to our

imagination…OK, and to what the administration will allow us to do.

Sure, many of us find ourselves teaching in a

school where World Language may be considered the forgotten child. Have we ever considered that

maybe the administration has never been impressed

by what it has seen so far? Sometimes all it takes is to ask. What is it that our administrations expect

from the WL program? Could they offer advice or

suggestions to improve the program? What could

they do to help us expand the program and make connections throughout the school? How can we

assist them in enhancing the overall school im-

provement plan? We can start with small ideas that cost little to nothing and involve other teachers and

departments. Our administrations will see the suc-

cess of these events and watch their programs be-come more popular. In one middle school, the prin-

cipal was so impressed with the teacher’s efforts

that she agreed to finance the students’ participation

in local and state spoken language contests. These funds may not always be available, but again, let’s

ask and see what happens! Popular programs lead to

happy students, which lead to happy parents, which lead to popular administrations, which lead to more

support for us and our ideas. Exhausting? Yes.

Worth it? How much do we love our jobs? Let’s not make the mistake of thinking we can

do this job without being passionate about it. These

feelings manifest themselves on a daily basis and

are apparent to our students who, let’s face it, are aware of so much more than we know. Do they feel

we are happy doing what we do? Do we enjoy

spending time with them? Are we making the learn-ing of a second language enjoyable for them? Do

we provide engaging activities in and out of the

classroom to keep them motivated to achieve?

There are so many games and competitions to be used in the classroom. There are songs to be sung.

And yes, even the older students enjoy playing

games and singing songs, especially if the lure of competitiveness is added! Additionally, there is a

wide variety of out-of-class activities in which stu-

dents may participate. The WL teacher who pre-sents these opportunities to her students is making

optimal use of her time. One could consider not

only spoken language contests, but also summer

immersion camps, dinners at ethnic restaurants, vis-its to theaters to see foreign films, and so much

more! For our most highly motivated and success-

ful students, there are advanced courses, Governor’s Honors programs, student exchanges, and opportu-

nities to tutor and travel. Let’s do all we can to

make these known! There is no better advocate for our programs than the happy student who is excited

about learning and communicates this excitement to

other students, teachers and parents. Let’s not ig-

nore the notion that we may be the teachers who are the reason behind a child’s desire to come to

school!

Many of us are parents ourselves. While we are of course aware of the inner workings of the

educational system, we are certainly at times more


in tune with our children and how well they per-form in school. Perhaps more importantly, we are

concerned with how comfortable, welcomed and

appreciated they feel in school. When we are teach-

ers who provide such an environment for students, their parents will want to become involved. So let’s

get our students noticed. Many teachers display

students’ work in their classrooms, in the hallways and in display cases throughout the school. This

should be no different for WL teachers. One school

goes so far as to require that teachers not only dis-play the students’ work, but that they provide the

rubric associated with the assignment as well as the

relevant Georgia Performance Standards and essen-

tial questions. Visiting parents are very proud to see their children’s work on display and are encouraged

to know that state standards are being taught. Even

teachers who work in portable classrooms or with-out a classroom of their own could inquire as to

where it may be possible to display student work.

One Spanish teacher found grade-level teachers very willing to share a display case in their hall.

They were in fact appreciative of their colleagues

who offered to take charge of the case for a period

of time, giving them a break from that duty. Showing pride in our students’ work is not the

only means of communicating to parents our dedi-

cation to their children. We can provide ways to help them achieve goals other than success in our

class. Several WL teachers in a large high school

arrange for students to sing holiday songs at local

senior centers. The students experience an over-whelming sense of charity by committing their time

to this activity. Of course the residents of the senior

centers enjoy these programs tremendously. Yet another benefit is that these students are able to re-

ceive credit for community service, a requirement

of this school’s graduation, while participating in an activity they enjoy. When parents are aware of the

efforts a teacher will make in order to spotlight a

child’s work or to help provide for her needs, they

make their appreciation known by providing sup-port for us in any number of ways.

One father, an international telecommunica-

tions company employee, offered to provide a free virtual exchange program to students interested in

connecting with others in a foreign country. He and

an associate in Canada were willing to provide their time and expertise to develop this exchange. It took

countless hours of preparation and planning, but the

end result was an unforgettable experience that the

students will carry with them for many years. This is certainly not typical of what a parent may be will-

ing to do, but there are countless other ways they

may get involved. It could be a simple as coming in to help with a cultural project or to assist in the

computer lab with a technology-based assignment.

It could be their volunteering to send in snacks for a cultural observance or to help chaperone an outing.

One of the best advantages to this teacher-parent

collaboration is that we get to know them on a more

personal level, they see us as individuals and they are more likely to support us should their children

express a concern about our class.

They say it ―takes a village‖…well, at the very least it we could use our community’s involvement

to boost our WL programs. We all know how much

time and effort it takes to be an effective teacher. Why not allow those in the community to assist us

in providing meaningful educational experiences to

our students? If we are not already, let’s get in-

volved in professional organizations which have been created for the sole purpose of supporting

what we do. Some may not be willing or able to

pay professional dues, but the gains one receives from such involvement are too numerous to address

here. Aside from these organizations, there are sev-

eral other possibilities which provide no-cost assis-tance. Let’s take a look in the community to find

those public and private resources. There are consu-

lar services and language alliances that provide pro-

grams both educational and entertaining. Some are willing to send representatives to speak to students

on a variety of topics. They provide classroom ma-

terials and ideas for instruction. Government agen-cies are also a wealth of knowledge about what pri-

vate international companies may be in the area and

are looking for ways to make themselves known in

the community. What better way than for them to get involved with students learning their language?

There are restaurants that may provide ethnic foods

for a club meeting, while providing discount cou-pons for those students’ families. There are muse-

ums that provide discounted admission and free

docent services to groups of students interested in viewing a particular exhibit. Again, the benefits

available to us and our students are only as limited

as our own effort to seek them out.

As teachers, our responsibilities are numerous. Our employment is not limited to pleasing one boss.

We must be all and do all for many bosses. There

are the administrative requirements of performing well as we are observed on a regular basis. There

are the parents who want to know that we are able

stewards of their children’s education. There are the students themselves who deserve the lion’s

share of our talent and effort. We can do all of this

and do it well with the support from those very ones

for whom we work. We can establish our World Language programs and indeed grow them and

keep them thriving for years to come when we ad-

vocate for ourselves, ―blow our own horns‖ and enlist the services of all with whom we come in

contact.


Ma Vie Française: A French Identity Project

By Dr. Amye R. Sukapdjo, Gainesville State College

If you are looking for a project that will

incorporate the four skills while also focusing

on culture, this may be just what you’re looking

for. This French identity project is one that I

have used in the past with my middle and high

school students, and one that I continue to use

now with my post-secondary students. Ma Vie

Française is a long-term project that culminates

in a photo album and an oral presentation com-

pleted entirely in the target language. It allows

students to be creative while they explore and

expand their linguistic and cultural knowledge

and utilize their research, writing and speaking

skills to produce a variety of examples in the

target language about a newly created target cul-

ture identity. This project is, in fact, applicable

to all languages and levels.

Yet it is also a flexible project; one that

is ready to be modified as you see fit. Intended

to work in conjunction with your regular class-

room curriculum, the framework of this project

can open up instructional and grading possibili-

ties to you as the teacher each time you assign it.

During the course of a semester or an academic

year (depending upon your academic schedule),

learners practice and develop the four skills in

the target language, expand their cultural knowl-

edge, conduct research, and express their crea-

tivity in a long-term, holistically graded project.

It builds the skills and confidence necessary for

the progression of their personal language devel-

opment process.

Here is a brief outline of how the project

works, followed by the ways that I have altered

the project to fit the language level of my former

students. I also suggest possible modifications

that can be made in different classroom settings.

Project Goals:

1. Develop the learner’s four language

skills through all three modes of commu-

nication : Interpersonal, Interpretive and

Presentational;

2. Expand the learner’s understanding and

knowledge of the target culture.

Context:

Students have been placed in the Witness

Protection Program (WPP) and must relocate to

France, where they will assume a new life, a

new profession, and a new identity. They must

fully integrate into French society.

Cultural Connections:

As part of the WPP, students take a new

name, including two ―first‖ names and the last

name of a celebrated French artist (e.g., painter,

sculptor, filmmaker, composer, dancer); in this

way, students will inherently be linked with

France’s cultural past and present. They com-

plete research on this ancestor and write a short

paper on her/him. Students also select a town or

region to research; this is where their new

French identity will live. Remembering that

they are to convince us that they have fully inte-

grated into French society, they must become

experts on their adopted town and region be-

coming knowledgeable in its perspectives, prod-

ucts and practices.

Final Project:

The final product is L ’Album Photo (the

photo album). This is divided into as many as

ten themed sections, which are general catego-

ries that work well with any textbook’s vocab-

lary and structures.

Je me présente Let me introduce myself

La ville où j’habite The town where I live

Ma famille et mes amis My family and friends

Mes loisirs My leasure time activities

Mes goûts My tastes and preferences

Mon travail My work

Je vous invite chez moi ! Come to my house!

Mes possessions préférées My favorite possessions

Mes vacances au mois d’août My vacation in August

Mes rêves My dreams

Each section has multiple components (e.g.,

images, writing), and is displayed in a two-page

layout. The multiple components are intended

to help the student practice using the language

with varied purpose. For example, students cre-

ate a tourist brochure, write a research report,


write captions for images of family and friends, and present their newly adopted French life and

hometown. [See below for an example of section components. This example comes from a third

semester undergraduate level language course. For middle and high school students, depending

upon language level, length requirements for the written elements may be changed to reflect stu-

dent abilities and proficiency levels.]

Mon Album Photo

Je me présente (Let me introduce myself) Introduce yourself. You will write a paragraph (min. 12 phrases) about your new persona. Include your new name,

your age, what you look like, your profession, your personality, names of two family members, two activities you

enjoy (& with whom), and the city where you live.

Include an image of the ―new you.‖

La ville où j’habite (The town where I live) You will make a tourist brochure about your newly adopted city.

Describe the city where you live and its surrounding region in a paragraph (min. 12 phrases). Include two (2) items of

local color in the city or region that you find interesting, such as: landmarks, regional recipes, regional clothing,

customs, holidays or festivals, or famous people.

Ma famille et Mes amis (My family and friends) You will write a two-page report en français about your famous ancestor, her/his profession, life, etc. You will in-

clude your opinion of her/him and why you did (not) follow in her/his footsteps.

Include (5) photos with a three-sentence caption of your ―new‖ family and friends.

Mes loisirs (My leasure time activities) Find four (4) pictures of activities your persona enjoys doing, or places you enjoy visiting in your spare time – one for

each season of the year. Three-sentence captions shall describe these activities. You will write a paragraph (min. 12 phrases) describing your routine quotidienne (daily routine) and what you enjoy

doing after school/work or on the weekends (les activités). Explain where, why and with whom you do ces activi-

tés.

You will take a weekend trip to Paris with family or friends. You will visit three famous monuments while there. In a

paragraph (min. 12 phrases), you will describe your trip in the past tense, where you went, with whom, why,

when, how you got there, and talk about what the weather was like when you visited. Give your opinions of what

you saw. Tell whether or not you wish to return to Paris again in the future.

Mes goûts (My tastes and preferences) Find four (4) pictures (magazines, clip art, your own drawings) of clothing styles your new persona wears – one for

each season. Include a three-sentence caption describing what you are wearing and why. Provide an opinion of

the ensemble.

HOW IT WORKS:

At the beginning of the term, I explain in detail the entire project, and now that I have sam-

ples from former students, I also show an example. I want the students to begin to visualize what

they will be doing over the course of a long period of time. Some will be anxious about having a

long-term project to complete, but reassure them that you will help them along the way and that

they will be learning skills that transfer to other courses and to life beyond the classroom. Each

section of the project should be fairly well fleshed out in your mind ahead of time (however, unex-

pected things will come up, so don’t be surprised), and should be spelled out in as much detail as

possible on paper (or online if you prefer) for the students. I provide handouts on the overall pro-

ject and on the sections for the album photo when I present the project.

Some elements of the project should be assigned as homework to be completed outside of

class such as: collecting images to use from magazines, the internet, photographs, or their own

drawings; researching their ancestor on the internet and also from print resources; or putting the

photo album itself together. Other elements are probably better worked on as a class. During or

immediately after we have completed a thematic unit that corresponds with a section of the pro-


ject, I provide handouts on the next phase that students will be expected to work on (e.g., ancestor

report, my family) along with the rubric I will use to score them. This is repeated throughout the

year/semester so that students will always have guided instruction with the written and oral tasks.

You may also wish to enlist the help of and to coordinate with your colleagues. Consider

contacting the school media specialist and the technology teachers to assist you and the students in

your efforts on this project. It also helps advertise to others the great work you’re doing with your

language students!

ASSESSMENTS:

This area is of course quite flexible depending upon how you structure your course grad-

ing. Generally, I have given homework grades for drafts that assist students in successfully com-

pleting the major written components of the project (e.g., brochure’s paragraph of invitation, para-

graph on self and family, ancestor report). In this way, students receive feedback from me – and

also from their peers when I use it for peer-editing exercises –, which helps them become more

thoughtful writers in the target language.

I save the major grades for oral presentations, the brochure and the final product. For these

grades, I use a holistic rubric that I distribute to the students along with the assignment so that they

are aware of the grading criteria. Generally speaking, these rubrics consider the linguistic, cultural

and overall efforts of the students in completing the task. Below are some examples of the assign-

ments and their rubrics, which include guiding questions for grading, for both written and oral as-

signments. They are based on a either a scale of 1 to 5 scale (for oral assessments) or on a scale of

1 to 10 (for written assessments), with either 5 or 10 being the highest possible score. It is possi-

ble to assign half points at your discretion. For those who teach a language other than French, I

have included English translations in parentheses.

For the brochure, I distribute the following at the same time and go over it in detail as a

class:

La Brochure

Vous créerez une brochure sur vos villes françaises adoptées. La brochure sera entièrement en

français. Elle ne sera plus large qu’une feuille de paper (8 ½” x 11”). Éventuellement, elle sera

mise dans votre album photo << Ma Vie Française >>. Ce projet-ci vaudra (50) points. Les élé-

ments suivants sont obligatoires: (You will create a brochure on your adopted French cities. The

brochure will be written completely in French. It should be no larger than an 8 ½‖ x 11‖ piece of

paper. Eventually, it will be placed in your photo album called <<My French Life.>> This project

is worth (50) points. The following elements are required:)

Dactylographiée et pleine de couleurs (Typed and colorful)

Utilisez une (1) carte de la France et une (1) carte/un plan de la ville (son centre-ville ou

un plan d’autoroute) (Use one map of France AND one map of the town, such as one of

downtown or a highway roadmap)

Un paragraphe d’invitation (min. 10 phrases) (A paragraph of invitation, minimum 10

sentences)

L’adresse, le numéro de téléphone et de télécopieur (fax), et l’adresse du site web de l’Of-

fice du Toursime (The address, telephone and fax numbers and the web site address of the

Town’s Tourist Office)

Minimum (2) images des monuments de la ville, et minimum (2) autres images qui convien-

nent à l’endroit (Minimum 2 images of town monuments and 2 other images from the area)

Listez et décrivez* minimum (2) endroits connus dans la ville qu’on peut visiter (e.g., parc)

(List and describe 2 well-known places to visit in the town, such as a park)

Listez et décrivez* minimum (2) produits connus de la ville ou de la région (List and des-

cribe at least 2 well-known products from the town or region)

Listez et décrivez* minimum (2) monuments à visiter dans la ville (e.g., cathédral) (List

and describe at least 2 monuments/historical places to visit in the town, such as a


cathedral)

Listez, décrivez* et donnez les dates de (2) fêtes/festivals annuels dans la ville ou dans la

région (List, describe and give the dates of 2 annual festivals in the town or region)

* Minimum (2) phrases complètes (Minimum 2 full sentences)

For the oral presentation of the album photo, I distribute the following and go over it in detail with the class.

We also discuss how students are to complete peer review sheets for one another. Asking students to be attentive lis-

teners is another facet of their language development process; it also keeps them focused and respectful during presen-

tations. I will attach those peer reviews that offer constructive criticism and accolades to the copy of the rubric with

their grade. An alternative to asking students to ―grade‖ each other is to have them write down two to three things they understood from the presentation and to turn it in to you at the end of class.

La Rubrique: La Brochure (Brochure Rubric)

Nom: ________________________ Ville: ______________________________

_____ / 50 points

Le Contenu (Content)– Tous les éléments obligatoires y sont inclus? (Are all of the required

elements included?)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Le Langage Écrit (Written Language)– Tous les éléments écrits obligatoires y sont inclus? (Are

all of the required elements included?)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Le Dessin (The Design) – La brochure, est-elle colorée, attirante, et bien planifiée? (Is the bro-

chure colorful, attractive and well designed?)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Le Français Écrit (Written French) – Le français utilisé est-il de bonne qualité? Est-ce évident

que l’étudiant(e) a créé/écrit ce travail lui/elle-même, ou vient-il d’une autre source? (Is the

French of a good/high quality? Is it obvious that the student has written/created this work by

her/himself, or is it from another source?)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

L’Effort/Le Professionalisme (Effort/Professionalism) – Est-ce évident que l’étudiant(e) et fier

(fière) de son travail? (Is it obvious that the student is proud of her/his work)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Commentaires: (Comments)

Présentez Votre Vie Française (Present your French Life)

Vous ferez une présentation de cinq minutes complètement en français. Vous partagerez votre vie française avec

nous en utilisant votre album photo. (You will make a five-minute presentation completely in French. You will share

you French life with us through your photo album.)

Guiding thoughts for your presentation:

- Greet your classmates;

-Tell us your name, your age, and where you live and in what kind of housing you live and with whom;

- Share your profession;

- Tell us about your town and region, and where it is in relation to l’hexagone. Share what is special about the geo-

graphic area. Share any cool attractions, monuments, festivals, museums, or parks that we should know about. Talk

about local food/drink. Show us your brochure.

- Share who you are related to and how so. Tell us about that person’s life (real facts) and then share some of what you have written. [This is a synopsis, not a reading of your report.]

- Describe the weather, and your favorite activities to do with friends and family, and in which season [Show the Mes

Loisirs section.];

- Then share one of your favorite sections of your album photo.


This presentation will be scored holistically and will be worth (25) points.

Mes Conseils…Pratiquez, pratiquez, pratiquez! Practice for family, friends, in front of a mirror, or even record your-

self.

I will be strict about the time limit. Presentations will begin (date), and will continue (date) as necessary. We will

draw names for the order – of course volunteers may go first. You will not only present, but you will also complete a peer review sheet on the presentations made by your camarades de classe (classmates). We will also spend time re-

viewing and sharing the albums with each other.

Peer Evaluation

Nom de la personne qui présente: (Presenter’s Name) _______________________________

Ville (Town): ________________________________________________________

Compréhension: Did you have difficulties understanding the presentation? 5 4 3 2 1

Détails + Vocabulaire: Did she/he use appropriate vocabulaire (vocabulary), 5 4 3 2 1

genre (gender), et expressions (expressions)?

Fludité: Did the student speak with a few or many hesitations? 5 4 3 2 1

Did she/he speak too fast, too slowly or at an even pace?

Structures: Were those grammatical structures used correct 5 4 3 2 1

& appropriate?

Prononciation: Was the pronunciation clear & correct? 5 4 3 2 1

Did mispronunciations lead to miscomprehension?


Rubric

Présentez Votre Album Photo (Present your Photo Album)

Nom: ______________________ Ville : ____________________ ________ / 25 points

* = obligatoire

I. Contenu (Content) 5 4 3 2 1

II. Détail / Vocabulaire (Detail/Vocabulary) 5 4 3 2 1

III. Fluidité (Fluency) 5 4 3 2 1

IV. Grammaire / Stuctures (Grammar/Structures) 5 4 3 2 1

V. Compréhension / Prononciation 5 4 3 2 1

(Comprehension / Pronunciation)


Informations: Oui Non Notes

* Je me présente

* La ville où j’habite [Brochure]

* Ma famille et mes amis

* Mes loisirs

Mes goûts


Possible Options:

The first time I completed this project with French III high schoolers, their photo albums

had ten sections. We were on an every other day eighty-five minute block schedule for the entire

school year. When I moved to middle school, we met every day for forty-two minutes for the en-

tire school year. There, we split level one language over two years, so the eighth graders com-

pleted the project with only half the number of sections (#1-5). This modification made it easy to

coordinate the textbook’s chapters with the photo album’s sections in an evenly paced manner.

The students enjoyed the project, and they told me that it prepared them for French II at the high

school.

Now at the post-secondary level, I have kept the five sections, but I have added new com-

ponents (e.g., a weekend trip to Paris), and have asked for extended examples of student writing

and research skills. For example in middle school (Level I students), students were to write only

one-sentence captions for their family photos, but in post-secondary (Level III students), I ask

them for three-sentence captions.

As mentioned before, this project provides the framework for a myriad of oral and written

language assignments and assessments that can work in conjunction with your regular classroom

curriculum. You are free to modify it as you see fit because ultimately, it has to work for you,

your curriculum and your students in order to be successful.

Other ways you might alter this project to meet your needs:

A. Select only those album photo sections that work best with the curriculum (vocabulary

and structures) that you already instruct.

B. Consider assigning only parts of the overall project if you don’t have the time to com-

plete a large project with multiple components. Perhaps your academic schedules will

only permit your students the time to create the tourist brochure, or to make and present

a poster of the friends and family. Maybe, you are hesitant to commit to doing a year-

long or semester-long project. You are free to pick and choose those components that

meet your needs and time constraints.

C. Cater the linguistic requirements to fit the level and abilities of your students, but don’t

be afraid to offer them a challenge and to push them along a bit. Sometimes that is

necessary.

A single project can be utilized for varying levels of age and linguistic ability; it’s all in the

way you structure and modify it to meet the needs and skills of your students. I have found this to

be a successful project for students with a broad range of skills at varying levels of study. If you

use backward design (starting with the end-product in mind), and you organize the students’ work

along the way, it is an enriching experience for all. Bon courage et bonne chance!

Important Dates

2011

September 9 State FL Coordinators’ Meeting, Department of Education

September 24 AATSP Fall Conference , University of Georgia

September 30 FLAG Conference session proposals due

November 15 FLAG Award nominations due

November 18-20 ACTFL Conference (Denver, CO)

http://www.flageorgia.org/conference/conference.htm

http://www.flageorgia.org/awards.htm

http://www.actfl.org


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