September 15, 2013

Languages in the News

Letters about the U.S. Department of Education’s International Strategy and the Office of Postsecondary Education’s Title VI and Fulbright–Hays programs

The Presidents of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), the American Council on Education (ACE), the Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) co-wrote a letter to Arne Duncan, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), in response to a document recently created by the DOE called Succeeding Globally Through International Education and Engagement 2012-2016 International Strategy report. Although the presidents welcomed the DOE’s focus on international education, they articulated that they were surprised and disappointed that “a report that details the next four years of the Department’s international education strategy makes scant mention of its largest and most successful international education programs, Title VI/Fulbright Hays.” The Title VI/Fulbright Hays programs support instruction in less-commonly taught languages, conduct research related to national security; and provide global learning experiences for American students. The presidents contended that our nation’s global competency relies on deep knowledge and expertise in foreign language and cultures. Further, the presidents underlined the critical role that the National Resource Centers and Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships play in providing opportunities to study abroad and foreign languages. The presidents conclude their letter with a request to further discuss the Department’s international education strategy and how Title VI/Fulbright Hays programs serve as a way to achieve the Department’s goal.

David A. Bergeron, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education in the U.S. Department of Education, responded to the letter from the Presidents of the five associations with a letter that emphasized the DOE’s commitment to international education. Bergeron stated that “promoting global competencies” is a key component of international education and the goal for every student. He also declared that proficiency in foreign languages and cultures are essential for “national defense, intelligence, homeland security, and law enforcement.” Bergeron declared that the DOE has a variety of programs, in addition to the Title VI and Fulbright-Hays programs, that promote global competency, and he attached a list of those programs with brief descriptions of them and the amount of funding they receive to his letter. Please click on this link to read about these programs.

Click here to read Letters about the U.S. Department of Education’s International Strategy and the Office of Postsecondary Education’s Title VI and Fulbright–Hays programs.

Tips and Tools

Websites

The Jasmine Flower Song

The Jasmine Flower Song (mo li hua) was a popular folk song in China over one hundred years ago. It is a famous folk song that has many different versions. It traditionally originates in the southern China provinces.

Click here to access The Jasmine Flower Song.

LiveBinders

This site is a helpful tool for those that seek a way to combine files for a personal portfolio, a classroom portfolio or a website to post information for students and families. Visitors can use it for free, but a fee of $100 per year is charged for those wishing to take advantage of the many links to documents, photos and videos.

This tool is similar to capabilities of Google Drive/Sites, where one can put multiple documents, photos, videos and calendars for a wide variety of audiences. The short video tutorial gives users an overview of the capabilities of this tool.

Click here to access LiveBinders.

Apps for iPads, iPods and iPhones

Learn Spanish for Toddlers – Bilingual Child Bubbles Word Game

This free app is designed for toddlers can be used for elementary age children also. Tap the correct bubbles to practice a faster recall with no penalties for wrong answers. Two vocabulary packs are included consisting of numbers 1-10 and animals. Eight other vocabulary packs are available for a small price. This app uses the written and spoken language as well as graphics.

Click here to see the app in iTunes.

Fun Spanish Language Learning Games for Kids aged 3-10

The colors pack in this app is free and consists of six games to practice vocabulary. If purchasing the other two vocabulary packs (animals and numbers 1-10), the types of games change to add variety and include five games each. The words spoken are always in the target language; however the names of each game can be displayed in one of nine different languages under settings.

Click here to see the English app in iTunes.
Click here to see the Spanish app in iTunes.
Click here to see the Chinese app in iTunes.

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, Zhihong Li, 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 Zhihong Li for their work writing summaries.