Project Director: Dr. Linda R. Waugh (U Arizona) [In collaboration with CMES, CLAS, Partnership Across Languages, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese (UA); NMELRC]
Description: Professional development is needed to enable teachers to help their students develop proficiency in the target language and an understanding of the cultures associated with it. This project will allow CERCLL to offer learning opportunities that directly respond to the needs of K-16 educators as identified in the CERCLL practitioner needs survey. The increasing number of schools teaching LCTLs will benefit from these events.
The goal of this project is to provide opportunities during which language educators are introduced to new, different, often technology-infused approaches to teaching language and culture.
The project responds to our practitioner survey by offering (1) workshops at the University of Arizona during the academic year, (2) in-service workshops at local and regional schools to respond to K-12 teachers’ busy schedules and limited access to professional development opportunities due to reduced school budgets, and (3) a summer series of professional development events consisting of workshops and institutes over 2 weeks. We will have a special workshop on Literature and Film for Language Teaching, a mini-project included within K-16 Initiatives, in which Dr. Natalie Hess (Northern Arizona University) will guide Language Collaborators as they generate multi-language materials for using film, poetry, and other forms of literature in language education contexts. Impacts/products Because the topics and strategies included in this project are diverse, so will be the products that result from it. In general, workshops will result in classroom-based collaborative strategies; print and e-resources used during the workshop will be available on CERCLL’s website; attendees will be asked to share curriculum materials they generate after the workshops.
Materials
Archived materials from past workshops are available for download here:
Past Projects (2006-2010)
Partnership Across Languages
Project Director: Pat Brooks (U Arizona) [In collaboration with Partnership Across Languages (PAL)]
Description: Survey tools to collect geo-linguistic data regarding curricula, articulation practices, and course materials for commonly and less-commonly taught languages as well as information about interest in new offerings in LCTLs in southern Arizona schools at the K-16 level have been developed under this project. PAL used its existing membership and infrastructure, including the annual Southern Arizona Language Fair and Second Language Teachers’ Symposium, to collect these data and also to assist in planning for the implementation of LCTLs in southern Arizona schools. A new, interactive PAL website was developed that allows public access to survey data; a chat room and question/answer opportunities will be part of the website, as well as a teacher weblog to post experiences about teaching commonly and less-commonly taught languages as well as information about the Language Fair and the PAL Symposium. PAL also offered weekend workshops and summer institutes for K-16 teachers in Arizona. The workshops/institutes serve as a model and resource for school/university collaborations nationwide.
