Francesco L. Fratto

Director of World Languages & English as a Second Language

Half Hollow Hills CSD

August 09, 2012

Advocacy, Public Relations, and Perceptions of World Language

Programs

AD·VO·CA·CY / NOUN

: the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal : the act or process of advocating something

Questions……….Do you have a LOTE Chairperson?

How is your department treated within your district?

Who are your biggest advocates within the district?

Does the department meet regularly?

How would you describe the internal and external communication in your district?

Interesting Facts…..

United Kingdom: 71% (1997) / 44% (2008) - “National Crisis” - Agenda to increase enrollment

200 Million Chinese Schoolchildren studied English (2008)

60,000 U.S. Students studied Chinese (‘07-’08)

U.S. lacks a national action plan

Statistics

2004-2005 8,638,990* 47,983,788 18.00%

2007-2008 8,907,201** 48,112,069 18.51%

Year FL Enrollment Overall Enrollment Percentage

Foreign Language Enrollments in K-12 Public Schools: Are Students Prepared for a Global Society? (2010). Alexandria VA: American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.24states did not provide data** 17 states did not provide dataEnrollment data for those states that did not provide data was estimated

New York State

French 123,392 116,236 Spanish 507,480 559,432 Chinese 3,760 6,919 ASL* 41,579 66,887 Italian* 65,058 78,273 *

National Data

Language 2004-2005 2007-2008

Freshmen - 99%

Sophomores - 93%

Juniors - 80%

Seniors - 59%

HHH World Language Retention Rates

Do you know the enrollment numbers in

your department?

TO MAKE YOU THINK…

Situation # 1: The Italian program will be phased out and eventually eliminated. You are at a Board of Education Meeting to defend your program.

Situation # 2: Your students participated in a contest and won, now what?!

Situation # 3: A member of the media asks you as question. Are you prepared to answer it?

Your response(s)

Colleagues’ responses

Your response(s)

Colleagues’ responses

INDEX CARD

Question # 1 Question # 2

Question # 3

Your response(s)

Colleagues’ responses

Question # 4

Your response(s)

Colleagues’ responses

WHAT ARE YOU ADVOCATING?

Question # 1

WHY DO YOU BELIEVE IT IS IMPORTANT TO

ADVOCATE?

Question # 2

WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO REACH?

Question # 3

HOW DO YOU INTEND TO REACH YOUR AUDIENCE?

Question # 4

Question # 4 is the toughest! Find out the fol lowing!

District Website – who controls it? Newsletter(s)–Building? District? who accepts

articles? Media – Know your district’s protocols when

reaching out to the press! Best ways to reach parents? eBoard? Website?

Are you a member of several language associations? If not, how do I join?

How do you advoca te on a da i l y bas i s ?

Raison d’etre

Professionalism

Words

Handouts / materials

Can you add to the list?

Half Hollow Hil ls ’ Department of World Languages

Let’s take a tour…………………….

NYSAFLT: Excellence in Advocacy

Let’s visit NYSAFLT

Will you be an advocate for the French/Spanish

Language & Culture?

If so, how?

Do you tweet?

Do you need a Linkedin account?

Now, can you answer these questions?

Situation # 1: The Italian program will be phased out and eventually eliminated. You are at a Board of Education Meeting to defend your program.

Situation # 2: Your students participated in a contest and won, now what?!

Situation # 3: A member of the media asks you as question. Are you prepared to answer it?

G r a z i e !M e r c i !

¡ G r a c i a s !X i e X i e !