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Newsletter - June 2024
Check out more of our latest happenings below, including the upcoming ViVID cohort, a new summer online course, our Fall 2024 Learning Community, and two new blog posts!
Don't forget to explore opportunities from other LRCs and Language Centers in our PD Opportunities and Resources section, at the end of the newsletter!
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 here (also linked under 'PD Opportunities and Resources').
Updates
Calling all LCTL educators! Join the ViVID Project as a fellow and participate in reflective teaching and peer mentoring through video-based feedback.
The ViVID Project provides opportunities for teachers of less-commonly-taught languages to form a lasting virtual community and use video-based feedback to develop skills in reflective teaching and peer observation. All participants will receive a $1,000 stipend for the 9-month program.
We are excited to announce our summer course schedule, which includes a brand new course we've never offered before titled Community-Oriented Teaching.
The class focuses on engagement within our classroom communities and beyond with the target language-speaking community locally and globally. We first explore what makes our language learning class communities special, review various community building efforts (e.g. extracurricular experiences) and reassess what realistic expectations for community engagement in various modalities may be.
As usual, our summer courses will be offered completely free of charge. The deadline to apply is June 3rd.
2024-2025 Learning Community – Project-Based Learning
This year’s Learning Community will focus on project-based learning. Last year and the year before the Learning Community adopted assessment-based learning and task based and proficiency-oriented language instruction, respectively. This time, we will be launching a project-based learning view on language instruction. Project based language learning can immerses language learners in real-life issues (i.e., a response to a challenging problem or question) and practical language application, achieved through creating meaningful projects serving genuine purposes, and sharing their products with an audience beyond the classroom context. The learning community is an excellent way for LCTL instructors to expand their teaching methods repertoire and explore with peers how small- or large-scale projects, infused or not with technology, help integrate culture, content and language and help advance their student to that next proficiency level. Participants will have the opportunity to:
- Learn how to design projects that engage students and help develop their language and life skills at the same time
- Create and scaffold appropriate and authentic materials with a student-centered approach
- Brainstorm with fellow LCTL instructors and learning community facilitators, and share ideas and stories to build off each other
The power of real-world texts in LCTL learning
Using real-world texts in the language classroom is not new. We find authentic texts in language textbooks most frequently in the form of advertisements, business cards, screenshots of websites, segments of newspaper articles, or literature. Yet, these real-world texts do not end up under the spotlight they deserve! To illustrate the practical application of utilizing real-world texts in language instruction, let's delve into a specific set of activities from the online platform Italian in Wonderland, a collaborative effort between Letizia Maria Bellocchio, Beppe Cavatorta, and Borbala Gaspar.
Wikipedia Expands the Small LCTL Classroom
In my daily life as a Preceptor on Armenian Language and Culture at Harvard University, it seems that not a day passes without a Wikipedia check. However, it was not until recently that I discovered that Wikipedia is an excellent tool for less commonly taught language instructors.
NLRC Social Media Highlight
As we enter the summer season, we began that by celebrating AAPI Heritage Month, as we acknowledge the cultures and diasporas of all Asian American and Pacific Islanders! We also observed World Portuguese Day on May 5th, as well as National Teachers’ Day (or, Teachers’ Appreciation Week) on May 7th! Teachers of all subjects, whether it be languages, math, or sciences, we appreciate all of you! We also have been promoting our OLT courses (Teaching the Whole Class and Community Oriented Teaching) that are beginning this summer, as well as our ViVID fellowship! Follow us on our social media for more updates and other shenanigans!
FREE PD OPPORTUNITIES
Learn more about our Summer 2024 Online Language Teaching courses!
Teaching the Whole Class
Leverage course design principles and learning technologies to facilitate proficiency development for class sections with heterogeneous learners (differing proficiency levels, heritage, abilities, backgrounds, etc.).
Summer session starts: June 7
Community-Oriented Teaching
The class focuses on engagement within our classroom communities and beyond with the target language-speaking community locally and globally. We explore what makes our language learning class communities special and imagine what realistic expectations for community engagement in various modalities may be.
Summer session starts: July 8
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 of those opportunities/resources.
- The Teaching and Learning Languages in the United States (TELL-US) podcast series is available. This resource is aimed at novice LCTL instructors with content focusing on pedagogy and school culture.
- The Language Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has several professional development events online this past academic year (2023-2024), including topics surrounding SLA and language ideologies. Check out the link above for more information!
- The Cornell Language Resource Center has a podcast called "Speaking of Language" as well as a Speaker Series (with archived videos of previous events), covering topics of wide-ranging interest for language learners and instructors!
- Registration is now open for the 11th Annual Community-Based Heritage Language Schools Conference on October 4-5, presented by the Coalition of Community-Based Heritage Language Schools!
