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NNELL Summer Institute
July 11-13, 2014
Glastonbury, CT
Save The Date Info
Here!
Registration
opens March 15 |
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NNELL Northeast Regional Workshop
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Summit, NJ
"Early Language Learning: Planting Seeds for
Tomorrow"
Click here for details! |
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Become a NNELL State
Representative!
As a national organization, NNELL
operates through a network of state representatives. You could
help NNELL to continue with its mission by becoming a
representative of your state. As a State Representative you will
serve as an advocate for early language learning, heighten
public awareness of foreign languages in elementary and middle
school education, serve as state representative for NNELL to
your state language association, and ensure that foreign
languages in grades K-8 are recognized as a priority matter in
your state. If you are interested in taking part of NNELL’s
mission, please read the description for this position or
contact NNELL’ National Networking Coordinator, Marcela
Summerville, a msummerville@nnell.org
Download details of this job
here.
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NNELL
Bylaws Revisions Update
The Bylaws Committee is looking forward
to presenting the revised bylaws to the members of NNELL for a
vote in April 2014. A draft of the bylaws was presented and
members were given the opportunity to give feedback at the NNELL
Membership Meeting in November 2013. The bylaws draft was also
available in the Members Only section of the NNELL website for
further exposure and feedback until December 22, 2013. Based on
the feedback from members, and with the Board approval, the
Bylaws Committee met again to complete the final draft to be
approved by NNELL members next month. A request to review the
Bylaws and vote electronically will come in a separate
announcement in early April. Please keep an eye out for this
announcement. If you have any questions about the bylaws please
contact the Bylaws Committee Chair, Nadine Jacobsen-Mclean at
njacobsen@nnell.org
Bylaws Committee 2013-2015
Nadine Jacobsen-McLean (Chair), Dorie Perugini,
Marcela Summerville, Kate Krotzer, Katherine Olson-Studler
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NNELL Member Spotlight
In each eNNELL News, NNELL would like to
highlight the work our members do in their classrooms. We hope
these submissions help inspire the work you do in your own
classrooms! If you would like NNELL to feature a special project
or lesson you have done in your own classroom in a future editon
of eNNELL News, please send your submission to NNELL’s Executive
Secretary, Dorie Perugini, at
dperugini@nnell.org
Vanessa
Shepard
Wellington Elementary in Lexington, KY
Grade level: 3-5
Language: Japanese
Name of project: Year of the Horse Brush Paintings
Objective: Students they were asked to write the character for
the word "horse" with a bamboo brush and ink onto rice paper,
using the correct stroke orderand proper techniques taught in
class. They also wrote their name on Japanese, down the side of
the paper. Students were graded using a rubric and given
feedback on their work.
Brief project description: Students
learn to write the Japanese alphabets and a variety of
characters each year in my world languages classroom. For this
project, they were asked to write the character for the word
"horse" with a bamboo brush and ink onto rice paper, using the
correct stroke order and proper techniques taught in class. They
also wrote their name on Japanese, down the side of the paper.
Students were graded using a rubric, with the best 45 students
(15 from each grade level) having their work displayed at the
Kentucky Horse Park's International Museum of the Horse to
celebrate the Lunar New Year. Students' work will also be
displayed at our annual Kentucky World Language Association
State World Languages Showcase and at in our school's library
for a week, including during Celebrate the Arts night when
parents visit our school to participate in activities related to
the arts.
Prior to coming to a painting center in my classroom to paint
with ink onto rice paper, all students practice their writing
with an amazing magic reusable paper. Students write with water
on brushes onto the paper and the water shows up as black ink
initially, and then disappears within seconds for use over and
over again. This supply was crucial for our project, as was a
teacher art board, made from a similar material, that I used to
demonstrate in front of the class.
Teacher's reflection on project: Students really enjoyed this
unique experience. They are already looking forward to writing
different characters next year. I surveyed the students about
all of the things we have done this year in Japanese class, and
this project has been one of their favorites. We received many
compliments, including a news article written about us with
recognition on our district and school websites. The Kentucky
Horse Park also sent out a PR piece to local media and announced
the exhibit on their website, so it turned into a great advocacy
piece for our program. Parents and other teachers also enjoyed
the work and spoke so favorably of the project.
Admittedly, writing the characters isn't usually students'
favorite part of Japanese class, but an integral one. This
project made writing more fun and our interest in learning the
characters increased. During the annual Celebrate the Arts Night
at our school, students have taught their parents how to use the
brushes and make unique character paintings to take home with
them.
I also sponsor the Japanese club that nearly 80 3rd-5th grade
students participate in weekly, after school. Those students
have even more time to fine-tune their calligraphy skills using
the supplies. In Japan, learning to properly write with a brush
is essential, as this is still the way to address envelopes for
formal events, such as weddings and funerals, similar to how
calligraphy is still used today in the West.
I received a $1000 materials grant in 2012 to purchase some
reusable supplies for this project, including brush rests, ink
trays, and paper weights. Class sets of thick and thin brushes
were donated by a personal friend in Japan. Non-reusable
supplies, such as rice paper and ink were purchased through a
Donorschoose.org project.
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Note of Invitation to Participate in FLES Teachers’ Research Study
I am conducting a dissertation research
study as part of the requirements of George Mason University’s
Ph. D. in Education program. The purpose of the study is to
explore FLES teachers’ attitudes and perceptions about
assessment and assessment practices in the elementary
foreign/world language classroom. I am asking only FLES teachers
to participate in the study.
The study has two phases: phase one; a 15-25 minute online
survey, phase two: a follow-up interview of approximately one
hour (Skype®). Your participation is entirely voluntary in
either phase of the study. The promise of strict confidentiality
is assured in both the collection and reporting of the data. The
research study is approved by the Office of Research Integrity
and Assurance (ORIA) at George Mason University.
To participate in the survey:
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Step 1 – Click on the link to the survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/S8LQDYL
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Step 2 – Follow instructions, clicking “next” at the bottom of
every screen
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Step 3 – Remember to click “done” at the end of the survey when
you are finished
The results from this study have the potential to benefit FLES
teachers and language teachers in general, as well as
educational administrators, policy makers , and other
stakeholders by proposing ways of improving current assessment
practices taking place in L2 elementary classrooms.
Thank you in advance for your time and willingness to share your
assessment beliefs and practices. This study could not be
completed without your help. Should you have any questions about
this study, contact me at 703-867-3074 or via email at
ocorretj@gmail.com.
Sincerely,
Olga I. Corretjer, PhD candidate George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030
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College Scholarships Abound for Bilingual Students; U.S. News
This article provides links for
scholarships that help finance the study of another language.
The California Bilingual Education Association offers $2,000
awards to student members (the annual membership fee is $30) who
are pursuing a degree in bilingual education, with a focus on
any second language. California State University—Northridge
created the
Preparing Asian Bilingual Teachers Project that
bestows up to $7,000 to bilingual education students who are
planning on teaching Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese,
Filipino (Tagalog), or Hmong. Boise State University and Texas
A&M University give a number of bilingual education scholarship
funds. If you are a fluent Spanish-speaker, the Carlos M.
Castañeda Journalism Fellowship provides a one-year scholarship
of around $7,000 to a graduate student in journalism who is
seeking a career writing in Spanish. If you speak Parsi, the
Houtan Scholarship provides $2,500 per semester to graduate
students who are fluent in the language and interested in
Persian culture. Finally, if you are a college student and your
work involves the study of endangered languages (anything from
Chinook to Aragonese), the Endangered Language Fund provides
annual grants for language-related projects. Click on the
article’s Web address for links that provide information about
each scholarship.
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Learning New Language Has Significant Impact on Brain Structure
According to a new joint study, learning a new language alters
brain development. The study was conducted by researchers at the
Montreal
Neurological Institute and Hospital, The Neuro at
McGill University, in collaboration with researchers at Oxford
University. The researchers found that acquiring a second
language after infancy fuels a novel neural growth and links
among neurons similar to the one observed at the time of
acquiring complex motor skills. For the study, the researchers
examined the MRI scans of 66 bilingual men and women as well as
22 monolingual men and women living in Montreal region. Analysis
of the MRI scans revealed that after infancy, the left inferior
frontal cortex turns thicker while the right inferior frontal
cortex thins down.
The pattern of brain development is similar when a new language
is learned from birth. However, learning a second language at
later stages of childhood after acquiring expertise in the first
language modifies the brain structure especially the brain's
inferior frontal cortex. Dr. Denise Klein, researcher in The
Neuro's Cognitive Neuroscience Unit and a lead author of the
study concluded saying, "The later in childhood that the second
language is acquired, the greater are the changes in the
inferior frontal cortex. Our results provide structural evidence
that age of acquisition is crucial in laying down the structure
for language learning."
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The Speech Accent Archive
This site can provide a good linguistic
overview for foreign language learners (middle school and up).
It provides samples of a large number of people from a variety
of places, including variety within those regions-- and how they
sound reproducing the same English piece (about 2 paragraphs).
One can see the piece written in English and then in a Phonetic
transcription. Below that, there is information about the
linguistic generalizations: consonant, vowel, and syllable
structure. One can click on the language, region, or atlas, to
choose the sample one wants to hear. This directs one to the
sample, where one can hear the accent, and then also access the
phonetic inventory.
It is impressive to see the nuances and specificity of each
language and region, and to hear how each language sounds
speaking English. One can also access the web version of
Ethnologue, Languages of the World, which can give more
information about the language and region. I would use this in
my classroom, to talk about phonetics and show the nuances of
phonetics from the various regions of the Spanish-speaking
world. I just wish it would offer the same in the target
language.
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Panchulo
Panchulo is an educational Spanish web
site of Argentina. There are children, self-improvement,
content-area, and basic skills links. The children's sites
include stories, Mafalda, Condorito, interactive games, and
interactive musical instrument instruction. Content area sites
include all the sciences, mathematics instruction, as well as a
full retinue of sites for the social sciences. It contains
resources such as maps, short stories, biographies, and almost
any resource you need for teaching a content-centered class in
Spanish. It is a parent/teacher resource for anyone involved in
the teaching of Spanish to early language learners.
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Planet
GeoThe free part of this
app allows users to practice locating world heritage sites on
six continents. A picture and a brief description are displayed
for each site. Users tap the spot on the map where they believe
the site is located. The app shows the correct answer, scoring
the performance. After five tries the turn ends, but the game
can be played multiple times with a variety of heritage sites to
practice.
The app can use be accessed in English, Spanish, French, German,
Italian, Portuguese, Catalan or Russian.
Additional games are available for $1.99
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