May 22, 2013

Languages in the News

Is It Good for the Kids? Making the Grade in a Global Economy

In this article, Gene Carter, Executive Director of ASCD (formerly known as the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) criticizes that we are not preparing our youth with the skills necessary to compete in a global economy, putting students in the United States at a disadvantage as compared to students in other developed nations. Of relevance to Newsworthy readers is the claim he makes for a more rigorous curriculum which must include an early start to foreign and second language education.

Carter states that our science curriculum is woefully inadequate compared to the science curricula in competing nations. He adds that we are also out of step in a number of other important subjects, including foreign languages. He recognizes that many other countries require foreign language study, beginning in elementary school, and suggests that if we are going to effectively prepare the nation to meet the challenges of the 21st century, graduates from our education system are going to need to be equipped with a strong foundation in science, foreign languages, the arts and social studies, in order to be able to collaborate economically, socially, and politically with peers of different nationalities, races, religions, and linguistic backgrounds.

Click here to read Is It Good for the Kids? Making the Grade in a Global Economy.

Second-Language Learning

In an effort to refocus attention on the value of second language learning, this District Administration article summarizes the varied benefits of second language learning using many research-based references which illustrate the proven positive results. The benefits touch on both cognitive achievement (improved overall academic performance and conceptual learning) and social factors such as increased college and career readiness. The article also highlights current instructional practices that include targeted use of technology and innovative lesson planning to maximize the benefits for young students in particular. A final note in the article compares language-learning programs in the US to those in Europe, showing that the US lags significantly in making language learning a part of 'everyday' education. This is a good article to use for advocacy because nearly all of the research cited is from the last decade.

Click here to read Second-Language Learning.

Tips and Tools

Websites

Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning

This site from the Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning at the University of Texas Austin, offers a variety of resources for the foreign language classroom. There are resources for Arabic, French, Yiddish, German, Hindi, Italian, Malayalam, Spanish, Chinese, Persian, American Sign Language, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Yoruba and Latin.

The MATERIALS tab connects visitors to numerous links for language resources. Of note are Cultural Interviews with executives around the world. Visitors will find both videos and text of the video clips. There are also resources for languages tools and languages methods.

Click here to access the Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning.

Apps for iPads, iPods and iPhones

Paper by FiftyThree
This app is a free and creative way to incorporate writing and speaking easily into the classroom. Students can use Paper to write their own page in a book or create an entire report. Each journal can incorporate pictures, diagrams, and writing using various tools. The amount of journals and pages within those journals is unlimited. The pen and eraser tools are included while other tools require an in-app purchase.

QR Reader for iPad
Create QR codes that once scanned with the QR reader, immediately send students to a website or audio clip. There are many ways to use QR codes in the classroom, whether it is simply to direct students quickly to a website or to lead them through a scavenger hunt using iPads. Try creating free codes and scanning those codes all within the free QR Reader app.

This issue of Newsworthy was compiled by Tammy Dann. Send any comments, questions or information for future issues to her at tdann@nnell.org

Thank you to Heather Hendry, Shanon Shreffler, and Andrea Suarez for providing the links and to Amy Murphy for providing the apps used in this issue.

Thank you to Amy Murphy, Kennedy Schultz, Sally Hood and Veronica Guevara for their work writing summaries.