explorelanguages

explore languages

Suggestions when designing and implementing Exploratory Foreign Languages with young learners

prepared in part for 19 October 2007, session S-73 at the annual conference for www.miwla.org

cf. MLA 2008 report on urgent need for language AS culture experiences, http://www.mla.org/flreport

Rationale for Exploratory Language programs

Core question: Why are we promoting Foreign Language Experience? (of these: which reason is uppermost?)

---attitudes of intercultural value: respect + curiosity [foundation for future vs. ready to use skill]

---specific intercultural strategies and dangers (translation hazards, stereotyping, avoiding knee-jerk reactions to strange ways)

Guiding Principles

1. Authentic (native speaker voice or video; artifacts and sample settings used).

2. Connect across curricular boundaries: social studies, language arts (stories, movies, poems), music, art. Connect also to real life events, places, persons both known personally and ones far away.

3. Active, engaging on the face of things, but embedded with seeds of deeper questions & insights, too.

Examples include games, crafts, daily school culture or homelife routines.

4. Indicators of success: fun, sense of confidence/self-trust, curiosity to go further.

In summary, students will have a small pool of competencies and will then be able to go on and do another exploratory langauge experience or continue on the first one with self-teaching by using such things as

- Visual vocabulary books, My First 1,000 Words in ____. Vocab builders: Korean, Japanese, French
- Movies to rent or buy; online sources of movies like http://YouTube.com or www.teachertube.com
- Rote practice exercise: vocalizing in repetition, singing along, movie sequences; or reproducing written lines.
- Decoding street signs, packages, magazine covers, webpages and other printed realia to test one's skills; e.g., for Korean street signs (2005) or written Korean elsewhere (2008)
- Thinking through the possibility of being a host family or becoming an exchange student oneself

Planning your Exploratory Course

1. Identify existing expertise, resource people and stakeholders wishing to develop and support this work.

2. Gather the resources, prepare attractive pitch for parents, teachers and students as well.

3. Advocacy grows best from local interest, concern or curiosity. In the case of Japanese, materials in support of advocating second language and foreign language experience include a VHS tape about starting a Japanese program from www.jflalc.org in Los Angeles; a trifold pamphlet also using the example of Japanese, and a collection of facts and observations about learning languages that appeared in an email exchange on the e-list for teachers of Japanese 10/2007.

More sources

There are 120National Resource Centers (NRC) and 15 Language Resource Centers (LRC) that develop and promote knowledge and interest in foreign languages and societies.

* Look for supporting country/culture materials at http://outreachworld.org (seek out specially the things by Fulbright Group Project Abroad past participants)

* NRC as agent to author work under your design and needs

* NRC as consultant to a project that you are leading; including to brainstorm ideas for existing foreign language program, prospective program, exploratory foreign languages, interdisciplinary connections of foreign languages to social studies, math/science, language arts (film, literature in translation), music/art. (see also the list of Language Resource Centers that serve teachers and students nationally)

* NRC as co-author to a project you have conceived (equal partner); see also LRCs

* NRC as guide or index to the resources you seek or will frequently use; see also LRCs

* NRC as advocate to help you promote int'l education in your school, district or ISD area

* NRC as potential grant co-author or designated Principal Investigator

* NRC as conference presenter to promote your (co) authored work

Developmental considerations

notes for the maximum effect of Exploratory Language programs

<> 2nd graders have become confident spellers, so introducing a new language's writing system will trigger their natural curiosity. Have them learn to write their own names in orthographies such as: Cyrillic (e.g. Russian), Romance Language (e.g. French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Portuguese), Arabic, Chinese characters, Japanese (katakana phonetic script), Hangeul (Korea), Hindi, ASL, Braille.

<> 4th graders begin to conceive of the world as a real, physical place and start to envision their own place and possibilities in it. So foreign language exploration stretches their probing, personal scope of identity farthest.

Course patterns - examples of reasonable displacement

Sort content by grade level and classroom application, based on total instructional hours planned: about 3.5 hours, 7 hours, 15 hours. Using the following categories for spreadsheet of suitable content, fill in filenames, links, publication titles.

- land and landscape

- people today including student peers' life (daily routines at home, school, during holidays and changing seasonal events, life course events)

- people in the past and of historical events

- language: how it looks, sounds, special features or qualities, literature in translation to sample (poems, prose, news media, films)

- art that is visual

- art that is performative including music

=============================================

3.5 hours 7 hours 15 hours

45 minutes x 5 days 45 minutes x 10 days 45 minutes x 20 days

ele grades 1-2

ele grades 4-5

ele grades 7-8

ele grades 9-12

Possible Infusions across Curriculum Lines

ele art

ele music

ele language arts

ele social studies

ms language arts

ms social studies

hs language arts

hs social studies

Sort also a list of links to rich supplementary sources, including:

online photo albums, photo essays and audio slideshows, movies, (English language) news media

Course patterns - examples of minimal displacement

- Six weeks pull-out class of 30 minutes each on Tuesdays, Thursdays = 6 hours of instruction
- Before school six weeks for 20 minutes on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday = 6 hours of instruction
- Four weeks pull-out class of 30 minutes each on M, W, F = 6 hours of instruction

Consider a head start or PRE-foreign language learning class to develop interest in some of the aspects of languages that people are fascinated by (cf. the pilot program at Ohio State University's NEALRC, head start to Korean)

Conclusions - Key Messages of General, Intercultural Communications

Leaving aside the urgent consideration of identifying trained teachers, suitable material and assurance that efforts will firmly anchor the actual High School Graduation Requirement of 2016 for Foreign Languages (new law in Michigan):

The key messages of an Exploratory Language course includes the following general elements:

- Capture students' imagination with eye-opening facts and expressive examples.

- Engage students' latent knowledge of English words that came from that foreign language, including calques and English words in that language.

- Identify students' existing (stereotype; simplified) knowledge of the country/culture to correct and supplement their experience.

- Ideally personalize their experience by inviting a native speaker or at least sojourner to the target country/culture. Second best is to dwell on a compelling biography, current event or role model who has successfully achieved high functioning in the language/culture: fluency, social proficiency, cultural literacy.

- Incorporate music, art, food and drink to stimulate as many senses as possible.

- Ideally document the peak performance by students at the end so they can witness themselves producing the target phrase or lyrics (use the instant movie clips of Flash-memory point-and-shoot video cameras like http://theflip.com or http://mysmallwonder.com)

- Measure success by degree of student enthusiasm and feeling of empowerment to decode frequently used phrases and frequently seen public signs.

Conclusions - Key Messages Specific to Japanese language, life and people

- Diversity: by region, rural-urban, gender, generation, SES (socio-economic status of education, income, occupation, life-chances).

- De-exoticizing THEM and De-familiarizing US: in other words, supply enough context so that 'weird' things come to make sense; in contrast, what is 'normal' or 'common sense' and 'everyone knows' then takes on more of a distant, objectified and critical frame so it no longer is taken for granted.

- Differences: China, Japan, Korea share core heritage and features, but their inter-relations define each one as distinct.

- Dependence: Japan is intimately tied to world commerce, and above all the petroleum energy sources as well as US, European and Chinese markets.

Additional resources and references

URL to www.jflalc.org >advocacy pamphlet "Japanese in K-5"

why languages foreign languages; and to learn about languages[from senseionline electronic email list]

See also Elizabeth Little's book and blog by a language learning fanatic

Cross-curricular topics: social studies (in Michigan: GLCE for middle school; new World History and Geography 2012 high school graduation requirement), music/art, langauge arts (film and literature in translation).

created 16 October 2007 ...last updated 10 May 2008. Email Mr. G. P. Witteveen at sjmi@ hotmail DotCom