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Newsletter - October 2025
Dear all,
We hope you are having a great fall semester! As your classes and projects get underway, we just wanted to share some updates regarding the NLRC.
Due to recent changes in federal funding following the U.S. Department of Education’s reorganization, the NLRC has not been funded for the current year. This
shift will impact all areas of the center, meaning some of our previous programs will not be able to run with new cohorts/funding (ViVID, Collaborative PD).
The NLRC remains committed to supporting LCTL educators through our open educational resources, professional development resources, and continued efforts in strategic collaboration. We will continue to provide as much support, outreach, and programming as our current funding structure allows. We are deeply grateful for the educators, students, and partners who have championed our mission and made our work possible. Thank you for standing with us as we adapt and explore new ways to serve our community.
Below you'll find a list of currently available resources and initiatives. We invite you to take a minute to explore our free resources in case they could be helpful for you this academic year:
LCTL DOORs
Downloadable Open Online Resources (DOORs) are designed specifically for instructors of less commonly taught languages who may struggle with a lack of resources for teaching their language. Special focus is given to creating adaptable resources which instructors can then convert into their relevant linguistic and cultural contexts. The NLRC will continue to develop additional adaptable resources, as well as build a library of language-specific resources. View existing DOORs resources here.
Local LCTL Assessment Templates
Assessment in LCTLs can be difficult due to few (or no) standardized test options or lack of alignment with assessments and curriculum. The Local LCTL Assessments (LoLA) project will develop test specifications and a test-template kit for online, computer-adaptive LCTL placement and diagnostics. The LoLA project will also train LCTL educators in using the templates to develop and edit test items so that they can continue to refine assessments locally.
Teach-A-LCTL
Because opportunities to study LCTLs in formal educational contexts are limited, LCTL instruction often falls on family or community members. Many students want to study LCTLs to continue learning a language spoken at home or in their communities or to communicate more effectively within immigrant or diaspora communities. Yet many parents, guardians and community members take on the role of language educator without the support they need. The Teach-a-LCTL initiative will create two resource guides for community LCTL instruction, one at the novice and one at the intermediate level.
New to our newsletter? Explore all eleven of our projects in our three core areas of professional development, open resources, and strategic collaboration on our website!
Check out other events on our joint LRC calendar (also linked below under PD Opportunities and Resources).
Updates
Designing Effective Language Learning Materials: a Book Club and Learning Community
This academic year, the NLRC professional learning community will join a reading group facilitated by ACTFL's LCTL Special Interest Group (spearheaded by our very own Emily Heidrich Uebel, Associate Executive Director of the NLRC).
Professional learning community participants will join the reading group sessions and then meet with NLRC facilitators on a few separate occasions to supplement those discussions and work on implementing suggestions and themes from the book.
Here’s information about the reading group. Please sign up soon if you’re interested!
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The book club is focused on Designing Effective Language Learning Materials for Less Commonly Taught Languages, authored by Öner Özçelik and Amber Kennedy Kent.
The reading group will have a total of 4 sessions: October, December, February, and April. We also have invited the authors to a 5th session to do a live Q&A and presentation (date TBD).
The first reading group session will take place on:
- 🗓 Date: Thursday, October 16
- 🕓 Time: 4:00 PM Eastern Time (3pm Central, 2pm Mountain, 1pm Pacific)
- 📍 Location: Online via Zoom
- 🔗 Registration Link: https://msu.zoom.us/meeting/register/yLbRu-qjRoKAy1LTWTKapg
During this session, the reading group will discuss the Preface, Introduction, and Chapters 1–2, focusing on needs assessment and learner/contextual analysis in LCTL materials development.
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If you’re interested in the extra NLRC sessions, please reach out to us at nlrc@msu.edu and we’ll make sure you’re on the list to contact for the supplementary sessions!
NLRC by the Numbers: Online Language Teaching Courses
Our Online Language Teaching Initiative courses have seen close to 500 participants since their beginning in 2019. In Fall 2024, we were able to support 27 participants, broken down this way:
- Purposeful Technology Integration: 13 participants
- Oral Communicative Tasks: 7 Participants
- Creating Engaging Materials: 7 Participants
In Summer 2025, we were able to support 39 participants, broken down this way:
- Teaching the Whole Class: 12 Participants
- Language Teaching with Generative AI 27 participants
Free Consulting/Coaching
with the NLRC
Did you know that the NLRC offers FREE consulting/coaching?
Do you or your language department want to talk through something related to LCTL teaching or learning? From grant writing feedback to proficiency-based teaching, from online language learning to OERs, you can book time with the NLRC to gather resources, get feedback, and process ideas about the teaching and learning of LCTLs.
Don't hesitate to reach out to us to book an initial 30 minute call!
OER Textbooks from MSU
We have a wide range of OER (Open Educational Resource) LCTL textbooks published at MSU. OER Textbooks are a great form of accessible teaching and learning, for all subjects and languages! MSU and the NLRC will continue to promote and provide resources for LCTL teachers and students. Check them out here:
PD Opportunities and Resources
To view all current LRC offerings in an aggregate format, please see this calendar:
Many of our fellow Language Resource Centers and National Resource Centers (and some of our collaborative partners) have their own professional development opportunities. This section highlights some recent opportunities/resources.
CARLA is hosting a webinar "Unlocking Potential: How the Seal of Biliteracy Can Transform Higher Education Language Programs" on Tuesday, October 21st from 12-1 Central, 1-2pm Eastern. Find more information about their presentation series and register here.
Yale University has developed a series of free resources for teaching of Hindi/ Urdu. The resources on this website can be easily modified / adapted to teach other South Asian and less commonly taught languages. Additionally, most of these can be easily turned into projects.
