World Languages in Our Schools

Schools are looking not only to expand offerings in foreign languages, but also in helping students learn more about the cultures of the people who speak these languages. As we become a global community and as technologies bring us closer together, it’s important for students to learn the languages of other cultures and to better understand these cultures. Today’s students can learn languages online, practice speaking/writing skills with native speakers/writers through the Internet, and learn about cultures through global social media, blogs, video conferences, video, and other technology communication tools. Teaching global languages today differs from teaching of the past because a great emphasis is placed on communication and culture—skills which our students will need to make their way in a global economy.

Interactive Languages: Digital Courses

eSchool News offers the white paper, “Bringing World Language Education to Everyone”. You can download the paper free, but you’ll need to sign in/sign up. The paper tells how Weybridge Elementary School in Vermont brought Spanish into its curriculum. Leaders in the school knew that early language learning was key to language learning but were worried about the expense of bringing such programs into their school in addition to the availability of teachers. Weybridge teamed with Middlebury Interactive to provide a language-learning program that could be accessed both at home and at school.

For schools interested in other languages, Middlebury Interactive offers Chinese, German, Latin, and French as well as Spanish. In a Johns Hopkins Center for Research and Reform in Education study of Middlebury Interactive programs, feedback from teachers was “overwhelmingly positive” and the courses were said to be “very successful in promoting cultural awareness and appreciation and growing language proficiency. A free demo is available.

Duolingo for Learning Languages—Free

Duolingo is a free language-learning app for Apple and Android devices. It teaches the basics of Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Italian and can also be used for English language learning for those who are native speakers of these languages. According to the Duolingo site, making this product free is possible because people or companies upload Webpages they want translated into other languages. Those using the program translate the page during their language learning practice. “When the document is fully translated, Duolingo returns it to the original content owner who . . . pays for the translation.” In fact, Duolingo, using its “language incubator”, plans to add more languages by having volunteers develop courses.

The program received PC Magazine Editors’ Choice award for Language Learning and the Wall Street Journal called it the best free language learning app. Lessons are short and are designed to fit each different language. The program gets high marks from those who use it.

Coursera Has 80 New Courses

The best teachers are always learning, be it on their own or through credit courses. One of the most convenient ways to learn what you want when you want at the right price (free) is through Coursera. Maybe you or your students want to jump into songwriting, explore digital signal processing, take on quantum physics, learn about comic books, or discover if plants have senses. You’ll find courses on these topics and more in the new Coursera catalog.  Check it out because you won’t believe how much is there for you and your students—cryptography, nanotechnology, Common Core, Surviving Your Rookie Year of Teaching, genetics, critical thinking, bioelectricity, Latin American Culture, Malicious Software, English Composition . . .

Sophia Learning—32,000 Tutorials

NetTrekker has added Sophia Learning to its list of resource content providers. With access to Sophia, students can access tutorials in subject areas such as mathematics, science, English, fine arts, social studies, and foreign languages. For those interested in college credit while in high school, there are nine self-paced Sophia courses. The Sophia offerings not only helps students get a head-start in their studies, but also gives teachers the flexibility to add courses and enrichment to their classrooms. All of the Sophia high school, college readiness (ACT Prep, Refresher, College Success) and college courses are free.

Foreign Language Dictionaries & More

Foreign Language dictionaries and sites that offer free help with learning languages are abundant online. Most offer more than the meaning of words. One of the Chinese dictionaries, for example, gives you the words you want in Mandarin Chinese, symbols for these words, and sounds that show you how to pronounce the words. At the site Chinese-Tools, you and your students can learn Mandarin Chinese in ten minutes a day and practice your skill with Chinese characters, as well.

Using Digital Dialects—Spanish, your students can practice Spanish vocabulary by playing games. There are games (with audio if needed) and learning exercises for topics such as animals, time, numbers, to be and to have, phrases/greetings, and much more.  Digital Dialects is also available in French, German, Japanese, Italian, and Chinese.

Immersion in Foreign Language for Young Students

We’ve been saying for many years that the way for our children to learn foreign languages is to start them early by immersing them in foreign languages. However, in most preschools and elementary schools, we have not figured out how to do so.  There are budget problems, problems with finding teachers for languages other than French and Spanish, and problems with scheduling. According to Jamaal Abdul-alim in Education Week, the states of Delaware and Utah are moving forward with foreign language immersion. In Delaware, for example, the kindergarten school day is split between “math, science, and literacy in Chinese for half a day and in English for the remainder.” The Utah program begins in Grade 1 with immersion in a language such as Chinese, French, Spanish, or Portuguese followed by “university-level coursework in high school.”  Delaware Governor Markell believes students in the program will pass Advanced Placement in Chinese or Spanish by ninth grade.

There are some excellent online foreign language learning programs for adults and older students.  Those for younger students are difficult to find, especially in languages such as Chinese.   Let us know if you have discovered any excellent foreign language immersion resources for kindergarten, primary, and elementary students.

Can Computer Programs Replace Foreign Language Teachers?

Eagle County Schools in Colorado have replaced their foreign language teachers (of languages other than Spanish) with the computer program Aventa. The online program is said to be a cost-effective way to help students at their individual levels in foreign languages. Students will pay about $150 to use the program each semester. As you can imagine, the move has been controversial. One of the teachers cut said, “It costs $600 a year to pay for Aventa. Multiply that by the number of my students, and that’s my salary.” In this time of budget crunches, does the online program make sense or not?

Splash into Schmoop SAT II Spanish

Shmoop, the company that offers a fast and fun way to flex mental muscles, now offers SAT II Spanish and SAT II Spanish with Listening Test Prep. According to Shmoop, it’s fiesta, not siesta time as the programs helps students “ninja kick” every section of the exam and become a grammar guru as well. If you haven’t experienced any of Shmoop’s unique offerings and your students are planning to take SAT II Spanish, take a look at this test prep option. Chances are—your students will learn from it and enjoy it, too. After all, what other SAT prep lets them build their own Frankenstein and capture King Kong?

Teacher Morale at 20-Year Low

The MetLife Survey of THE AMERICAN TEACHER, completed between October and August of 2011, talked to 1000+ teachers K-12 by telephone, to 100+ parents and guardians of students in Grades 3-12 online, and almost 1000 students in Grades 3-12. According to the Executive Summary of the report, only 44% of teachers are satisfied with their job and many feel that their job is not secure. Twenty-nine percent of the teachers interviewed said, “They are very or fairly likely to leave the profession.” Why? Answers given by those in the survey included problems of school budgets; layoffs; larger classes; lack of salary increases along with higher insurance costs; reductions in programs in art, music, foreign language, and physical education; reductions in health services; lack of up-to-date technology; and pessimism about student achievement. In 2008, the MetLife Survey showed that 62% of teachers were satisfied with their jobs.