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Newsletter - November 2025
Dear all, we hope that your fall is going as well as possible! We were excited to join the LCTL Book Club this past month and wanted to encourage you all to join the learning community to extend lessons from the book club! See below for more details!
New to our newsletter? Explore all 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.
The first session of the book club was in October, and the second session will be in December. Please register 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 second reading group session will take place on:
- 🗓 Date: Thursday, December 11
- 🕓 Time: 3:00 PM Eastern Time (2pm Central, 1pm Mountain, 12pm Pacific)
- 📍 Location: Online via Zoom
- 🔗 Registration Link: https://msu.zoom.us/meeting/register/RCe_LQ31R0C2-NLfx7qwyA
During this session, the reading group will discuss Chapters 3-5, exploring how to design LCTL materials with purpose and clarity.
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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!
New Publication: "L2 motivation, anxiety, and intended effort among learners of African languages in the United States"
While this article did not stem from the NLRC, it was coauthored by Paula Winke, the lead for the LoLA project, and we thought that our LCTL colleagues would find it interesting!
"We are so excited that this paper is out [...], fully open access, in the journal Foreign Language Annals. Fifty-three learners of African languages in the United States filled out a survey on their motivations for learning, and 10 of the 53 additionally participated in follow-up interviews. Read to find out what we found in relation to Zoltán Dörnyei's popular model of language-learning motivation. The results might surprise you!
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:
NLRC Social Media Highlight
After a low-key summer, we resumed our more regular posting on social media! In late September, we celebrated International Translation Day and, quickly thereafter, recognized the impacts that teachers have on all of us in recognition of World Teachers' Day! We celebrated the end of Hispanic and Latinx Heritage month on October 15th and celebrated the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil in Diwali: "शुभ दिवाली: प्रकाश और समृद्धि का त्योहार"
Check out our social media pages for more updates!
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 hosted a webinar "CARLA Presentation: Seals of Biliteracy: New Tools to Support Equity and Access" on Wednesday, November 12 and the recording is available for viewing. Find out more about their upcoming presentations.
CERCLL's Intercultural Competence Conference with the theme of "Intercultural Competence in a Rapidly Changing World: Supporting Sustainable Futures for All" will be in Tucson, Arizona, from February 27-March 1, 2026. Remote attendance is possible. Registration should be open soon and early bird registration rates end January 5, 2026!
