The FLAG Journal Peer Review

The FLAG Journal Peer Review

Editor Peter B. Swanson, Ph.D. Georgia State University Editor Susan Crooks Kennesaw State University

Foreign Language Association of Georgia

Volume 3 Number 1

Fall 2011

SCOLT/FLAG/SEALLT Conference www.scolt.org

March 22-24, 2012

Call for Papers The Editors of the FLAG Journal are extending an invitation to the language teaching community to submit papers about all aspects of foreign language education across all levels: innovative teaching strategies, learner variables, policy and issues, research, curriculum development, assessment and technology among other topics.

Articles on all languages are welcome and manuscripts must be written in English to accommodate our readership. See the full description near the end of this publication.

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2011 FLAG Officers President Elizabeth Combier North Georgia College & State University, Modern Languages 305B Dunlap Hall Dahlonega, GA 30597 (706) 867-2811 Fax: (706) 864-1485 President Elect Joe Frank Uriz Parsons Elementary School 1615 Old Peachtree Road, Suwanee, GA 30024 (404) 556-3653 Fax (678) 957-3055 Vice-President for Advocacy Denise Overfield University of West Georgia, Foreign Languages & Literatures, Maple Street, Carrollton, GA 30118 (678) 839-6515 Fax: (678) 839-5931 Vice-President for Language Contests Rhonda Wells DeKalb County School System Instruction, Bldg. B, 3770 N. Decatur Rd. Decatur, GA 30032 678-676-0227 Immediate Past President David Jahner Foreign Language Director Gwinnett County Public Schools, Instructional Support Center 437 Old Peachtree Rd. Suwanee, GA 30024 (678) 301-7027 Fax: (770) 277-4470

Corresponding Secretary Pat McCoy Wesleyan School 5405 Spalding Drive, Norcross, GA 30092 (770) 448-7640 x4438 Treasurer / Administrator Mary Ellen Foye P.O. Box 734, Griffin, GA 30224 (c) (770) 468-3396 Members-At-Large FLES (ESFL) Sandra Cleveland Sharon Elementary School Middle School Jamie Patterson Fulton County Schools High School Joy Lynn Tynes Cobb County Schools Post Secondary Amye Sukapdjo Gainesville College

Archivist Jane Hursey Public Relations Joe Frank Uriz Parsons Elementary School 1615 Old Peachtree Road, Suwanee, GA 30024 (404) 556-3653 Fax (678) 957-3055 Conference Brandi Meeks Starr's Mill High School 193 Panther Path, Fayetteville, GA 30215 (770) 486-2710 Fax: (770) 486-2716 Electronic Media Horst Kurz Georgia Southern University, Foreign Languages GA DOE Liaison Jon Valentine Program Specialist for Foreign Languages & International Education GA Department of Education

Directors FLAG Journal Editors Peter Swanson Georgia State University, Modern & Classical Languages, P.O. Box 3970 Atlanta, GA 30302-3970 (404) 413-6595 pswanson@gsu.edu Susan Crooks Kennesaw State University Dept. of F.L. 1000 Chastain Rd. MD 1804 Kennesaw, GA 30144-5591 770-971-9504 scrooks@kennesaw.edu

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FLAG Journal Peer Review Contents FLAG Officers ……………………………………………………………....3 Table of Contents ……………………………………………………………4 Call for Manuscripts….………………………………………………………5 Editors’ Message …………………………………………………………….6 David Jahner To Receive the Florence Steiner Award ………………………9 Founder and President of InterPrep to Receive Anthony Papalia Award …...11 Knighthood for Greg Barfield ……………………………………………….13 Legendary Latin Professor Retires …………………………………………..15 In Memoriam: Lillie Belle Hamilton ….……………………………………..16 I Heart Quizlet; My Best Web 2.0 Friend By Joanne Thomas ……………. ..17 Language Learning and Virtual Worlds: Using Second Life in the Foreign Language Class by Aurora Castillo ………………………………………... .22 Taking French outside the classroom’s walls through writing: A model for integrating the creative writing of children’s books in the foreign language classroom by Lucie Viakinnou-Brinson………....………………. ..32 Facebook for Foreign Languages: Part of the Net Generation Curriculum

by Joe Terantino and Karen Graf …………………………………………….44 North Forsyth High School Shifts toward Innovations and Technologies: World Language Department Journey by Olga Glymph …………………….50 Making the World Your Classroom by Ryan N. Boylan …………………….57 An iPad App Review: Tap Spanish in the Web by Ransom Gladwin ……….65 Catching up or leading the way: American education in the age of globalization by Amye R. Sukapdjo ………………………………………....66 FLAG Journal Submission Guidelines and Requirements…………………..72

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Checklist for Manuscript Submission……………………………………….. 73onor FLAG Membership Form …………………………………………………….74 FLAG Awards Information…………………………………………………...75

Call for Manuscripts The FLAG Journal Peer Review is an annual refereed publication serving classroom instructors, researchers, language education majors, and administrators concerned with the teaching of foreign/second language at all levels of instruction in Georgia.

The editors and editorial board welcome research and revieworiented articles in the area of: foreign language education and technology, foreign language advocacy, culture, diversity, ESOL, film, FLES, multicultural instruction, national certification, program articulation, travel, international programs and initiatives, and even availability of career positions in Georgia’s schools, colleges, and universities. We encourage you to submit previously unpublished articles for publication in our journal that feature pedagogical concerns and insights, strategies, and successes in the language classroom, as well as methodologies, teacher preparation, and National Board Certification.

A double-blind review process will be followed. Manuscripts are distributed by the editors to no less than two reviewers with expertise in the areas addressed in each manuscript. Reviewers’ written comments and a recommendation on acceptance are returned to the editor, who will communicate the comments and decision on acceptance to the author(s).

Please follow the manuscript guidelines (following page) and send your submission to: Ms. Susan Crooks, FLAG Journal Editor, scrooks@kennesaw.edu

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Editors’ Message Three years ago FLAG published its first edition of the FLAG Peer-Review Journal.

Since that moment, we have been pleased with the interest expressed by Georgia’s foreign language community.

In this issue, we are happy to showcase more articles and book reviews that ever.

We hope you enjoy this third peerreviewed issue of the FLAG Journal, and we encourage you to submit an article of interest to us for the next publication. We will host a session on publishing in the Journal at the 2012 SCOLT/FLAG/SEALLT Conference.

See the Call for Papers for more details. If you have any questions/comments about the journal, please feel free to contact the editors.

The FLAG Journal Peer-Review Editorial Review Board

Our sincere gratitude to the following individuals who have agreed to serve as reviewers of manuscripts submitted for publication in this edition. We cannot fulfill our mission without you!

David Alley Georgia Southern University

Denise Overfield University of West Georgia

Rhonda Wells DeKalb Co. Schools

William Griffin Kennesaw State University

Carol Semonsky Georgia State University

Melissa Young Georgia State University

David Jahner Gwinnett Co. Schools

Jon Valentine Ga Dept of Education

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The Department of Foreign Languages at Kennesaw State University is proud to announce the opening of the application season for our new Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree in Foreign Languages. The MAT in Foreign Languages is a program leading to P-12 initial teacher certification in either Chinese or Spanish. For students enrolled in the Chinese track, students will have the opportunity to study abroad in Shanghai.

This program offers students a common core in Professional Education as well as graduate study in either Chinese or Spanish, preparing professional teachers and leaders with advanced knowledge, skills, and dispositions to become effective facilitators of learning.

The MAT program is scheduled to begin during Summer Semester 2012.

The application deadline is March 1, 2012, so please take a look at our website, http://www.kennesaw.edu/foreignlanguage/mat/index.htm, for our admission requirements.

The Department of Modern and Classical Languages at Georgia State University offers instruction in 12 world languages and innovative programs of study. The mission of the Department is to give students the opportunity to develop appropriate proficiencies in the modern and classical languages, to acquaint students with the literary and cultural productions of other countries, and to provide them the opportunity to acquire critical skills through literary and cultural analysis as they prepare for careers in teaching and research, business, translation and interpretation and other areas. As a core element in the University’s mission of internationalization, the Department promotes international involvement by both faculty and students through programs such as our Language & International Business programs, International Economics & Modern Languages programs, study abroad/ student exchange programs, undergraduate foreign language clubs, and conferences with international speakers/scholars. Current study abroad programs include Spain, Mexico, Argentina, and Germany to name a few.

Georgia State University also offers a program in Teacher Certification in Spanish, French, German, Latin, and some less commonly taught languages such as Japanese and Chinese. (http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwmcl/) 7

Georgia Southern University offers B.A. degrees in Modern Languages with concentrations in French, German, and Spanish. In addition, Georgia Southern offers coursework in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Latin and Yoruba.

Georgia Southern offers students a variety of study abroad opportunities in France, Spain, Mexico, and Costa Rica. Programs vary from four to six weeks in the summer to semester-long programs during the academic year.

A number of scholarships are available.

Georgia Southern offers an M. A. degree in Spanish. Total number of hours required for the M.A. degree is 30 hours. Courses include History of the Language, Phonetics, Survey of 16th and 17th century drama in Spain, Colonial Spanish American Literature, Contemporary Spanish American Culture and Civilization and Second Language Acquisition. A number of Teaching Assistantships are available for M.A. students.

Georgia Southern University also offers the Master of Arts in Teaching Spanish. The program is designed to prepare graduate students who have attained an advanced proficiency in Spanish with the necessary training to be effective foreign language teachers at the elementary, middle and high school level. The coursework covers general principles of education, educational research, second language acquisition, foreign language curriculum and methods, and graduate level Spanish. In addition a student in the MAT program works with different mentor teachers at the university, secondary, middle school and elementary levels culminating in a full-time internship. Location is not a barrier to your begin student in the MAT in Spanish program at Georgia Southern University: 100% of the coursework can be taken in an online and study abroad format.

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David Jahner To Receive the Florence Steiner Award from ACTFL

by Joe Frank Uriz, Ed.S. Congratulations to Herr David Jahner, who will be awarded the Florence Steiner Award from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages at the annual convention this November in Colorado.

The Florence Steiner Award honors the memory of a teacher, department chair, professional speaker, and ACTFL President-Elect who was widely known and appreciated for her professional knowledge, her ability to communicate with teachers, and her wit. Working from her position as Foreign Language Department Chair in the Glenbrook, Illinois, public schools, she inspired a generation of foreign language teachers and challenged them to improve their teaching through better communication of the goals and outcomes of second language education with the public, administrators, colleagues, and students.

Herr Jahner received his bachelor’s degree in German and History from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, his Master of Arts in History from the University of Iowa, his Master of Education degree in Second Languages and Cultures from the University of Minnesota, and his educational leadership certification from the University of Georgia.

Herr Jahner has had an outstanding career with Gwinnett County Schools that spans 20 years. In 1992, he began teaching German at Brookwood High School in Snellville, Georgia, where he remained for seven years, serving as department chair for two of those years. He then became World Language Director for Gwinnett County Schools in 1999 and has been there ever since. He is an asset to World Languages in Gwinnett.

Mr. Dale Robbins, Associate Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Support for Gwinnett County Schools, congratulated David on this fine honor recognizing his excellence in leadership for K-12 Foreign Language Education, and stated, “I can think of no one with greater integrity, humility and compassion who relates so well 9

with colleagues on all levels. We all value your passion for excellence as illustrated through service and support of others. I have always been impressed with David's energy, enthusiasm and sense of humor. His excitement for foreign language seems infectious as it energizes others who address the needs of learners through an appropriate balance of rigor and cultural relevance. I have always been proud to serve alongside someone of David's caliber. He has taught me much about instructional leadership through his competence, confidence, caring and commitment. We are proud of you and add our voice to the chorus of praise from your professional association.”

Herr David Jahner is a member of the National Association of District Supervisors of Foreign Languages (NADSFL), American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT), Foreign Language Association of Georgia (FLAG), American Association of Teachers of German (AATG), Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE), Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), and the National Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL). He has worked in a variety roles and served on committees with the Georgia Department of Education (GADOE). Herr Jahner has been invited to many presentations for districts and states to be a consultant, keynote speaker, session presenter, and webinar presenter.

He has served in various leadership roles with FLAG. Among the many are: President, President-Elect, Second Vice President of Spoken Language Contests, and Director of Way and Means, and he is currently serving as Past President. He served as Vice President, President, and Past President for NADSFL. He has worked endlessly with AATG and has been Director of the State German Convention. In addition, he has been named the new SCOLT Executive Director following the 2012 SCOLT conference.

Elizabeth Combier, from North Georgia College and State University and the current President for FLAG states, “We are proud to celebrate this honor bestowed on David as recognition of his professional talents in the field of world languages.

He has indeed served as both inspiration and model to teachers and administrators around our state. Please join me in congratulating him when you see him at our annual conference!”

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Founder and President of InterPrep to Receive Anthony Papalia Award Greg Duncan, founder and President of InterPrep and longtime foreign language educator has been selected to receive the Anthony Papalia Award at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Convention in November!

Congratulations Greg!

The Anthony Papalia Award honors a teacher, educator, and author who significantly influenced the lives of countless students and practicing teachers. His tenure at the State University of New York, Buffalo, service to the State of New York through work with the New York State Education Department, and involvement in the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers (NYSAFLT) were characterized by selfless dedication to improving the quality of teachers and teaching.

The ACTFL Anthony Papalia Award for Excellence in Teacher Education was established by ACTFL in 1987 to recognize a foreign language educator who has demonstrated excellence in the preparation and continuing education of teachers for the profession. It is supported by the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers.

David Jahner, Foreign Language Director for Gwinnett County Schools, commented “I've known Greg since the end of my first year teaching when the German teachers around the state had a farewell gathering for Horst Bussiek, German Language Consultant. From that initial meeting, Greg's magnetic personality shone through.

Over the course of the past two decades we have had the chance to work on several projects and initiatives, and I have learned so much from him. With the ACTFL Papalia award, he is getting some well deserved recognition for doing what he does best: working with teachers to improve their practice. He is a role model, mentor and most importantly, a colleague and friend.”

He has been a foreign language educator for more than 35 years, is an independent consultant who serves K-12 schools, teacher preparation institutions and other educationally focused entities throughout the United States and abroad. His work with schools includes professional development of teachers, curriculum and assessment design, and program evaluation, and he serves the professional organization community as a frequent invited speaker at state, regional, national and international language conferences.

He received his Bachelors of Arts in Spanish from Georgia State University, Master’s in Education (Spanish) and administrator’s certificate from the University of Georgia. He also completed his academic studies at the University of Salamanca, the University of Madrid, and Kennesaw State University. In addition, Mr. Duncan 11

served in the Georgia Air National Guard, Dobbins Air Force Base, Georgia, and achieved rank of Staff Sergeant.

He has authored and collaborated in the authorship of numerous publications in the field of foreign language education, and he has led the development of Emmy Award-winning distance learning programming in Spanish and Japanese. He has held positions of teacher, high school administrator and state supervisor (Georgia) of foreign languages and international education prior to his work as a consultant.

During his career he has been awarded the ACTFL/National Textbook Company Award for Building Community Interest in Foreign Language Education, the Friendship Award from the Federal Republic of Germany, the Founders Award from the Southern Conference on Language Teaching, and he is the 2011 recipient of the Nelson H. Brooks Award for Outstanding Leadership to the Profession, bestowed by the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

He has also won many teaching awards, “Teacher of the Year” from Wheeler High School, Marietta, GA, “Teacher of the Year” for the 7th District, Foreign Language Association of Georgia, “Teacher of the­­ Year” from the Cobb County (GA) Schools, and “Teacher of the Year” from the Georgia Chapter, American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.

He is a member of American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP), National Council of State Supervisors For Languages (NCSSFL), National Association of District Supervisors of Foreign Languages (NADSFL), National Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL), Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL) Advisory Council, Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT) Sponsor, Southwest Conference on Language Teaching (SWCOLT), and the Foreign Language Association of Georgia (FLAG).

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Knighthood for Greg Barfield Congratulations to Dr. Greg Barfield, who is soon to receive the honorary title, Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques, following his selection by France’s Ministry of Education. Dr. Barfield will be dubbed a knight and presented with a medallion, during a visit by the consul general this fall.

The French Government awards this academic honor to those who make distinguished contributions to academic endeavors and to the expansion of French culture throughout the world. The honor is one of the world’s oldest orders of knighthood still in existence and consists of three grades: Chevalier (knight), Officier (officer) and Commandeur (commander).

Dr. Gregory Ewing, District Administrator for Cobb County Schools, states, "This marvelous distinction could not be awarded to a more dedicated, sincere, honest, talented, and true French language enthusiast than our very own Dr. Barfield. After 28 years of service, teaching, leadership, and scholarship he continues to work tirelessly for foreign language programs, students and teachers. The Cobb County School District is most proud of our own Dr. Gregory Barfield."

Dr. Barfield received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia, his Master of Education degree from the University of West Georgia, the Doctorate of Education in language education and French from the University of Georgia, and his educational leadership certification from Kennesaw University.

Dr. Barfield has had an outstanding career with Cobb County Schools (1983-2004).

He started out as a French and Social Studies teacher and department chair, and later taught as an adjunct professor at Kennesaw University (French, Second Language Acquisition, and Foreign Language Methods in grades 9-12) from 1992 - 2002. He also served as World Languages Director for Fulton County Schools from 2004 to 2008; currently he serves as student advisor at the International Welcome Center and Foreign Language Coordinator de facto for the Cobb County schools.

He has served in various leadership roles with the Foreign Language Association of Georgia. Among the many are: President, President Elect, Past President, Second Vice President of Spoken Language Contests, Secretary, and Secondary Member at large. He is currently the association’s Affiliate Liaison. He also served as President for the American Association of French Teachers of Georgia.

Congratulating Dr. Barfield, Jon Valentine, Program Specialist for Languages and International Education, at the Georgia Department of Education states: “The 13

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Georgia Department of Education and Nancy-Metz of France, would simply not have happened if Greg hadn't been there every step of the way.” The Georgia Department of Education had been working for years to develop this (MOU) with Nancy-Metz, France, in order to provide meaningful learning opportunities for students and lasting connections between schools in France and Georgia. Under the leadership of Susan Crooks and Elizabeth Webb, the development of this MOU expanded to include a focus on career and technical education—specifically in the field of hospitality and tourism.

Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, the development of the MOU stalled. Dr. Barfield, recognized the vital framework that an MOU with Nancy-Metz, France, could provide for development of programs to support the over 45,000 students studying French in Georgia. He connected representatives from the Georgia Department of Education and the French consulate, Atlanta, to reinvigorate the preparation of the agreement. He was available every step of the way and during the pilot phase of the agreement, he provided insight into how technology could lower costs associated with teacher-student communication. During the vital negotiation period leading up to the signing, the versatile Dr. Barfield, served as translator.

As a direct result of this outstanding educator’s work, the MOU was signed in time to coincide with the 25th anniversary celebration between Georgia Tech and Nancy.

Georgia principals, teachers, and students attended the final signing ceremony.

As the pilot of the MOU moves into its second year, it is clear that its framework will provide connections and opportunities for students to demonstrate real and meaningful proficiency in the French language. We are sincerely grateful to Dr. Barfield for his time, energy, and dedication; and to Cobb County Schools for allowing him the opportunity to participate in this important initiative. Mr. Valentine states, “Dr. Barfield’s ongoing support has resulted in real, meaningful connections between teachers, students, and administrators in Georgia and France.

Congratulations and thanks to Dr. Barfield on receiving this award of which he is so eminently worthy.”

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Legendary Latin Professor Retires After serving as head of one of the largest Classics programs in America, Dr. Richard A. LaFleur retired this past spring. Richard A. LaFleur received the B.A. and M.A. in Latin from the University of Virginia and the Ph.D. in Classical Studies from Duke. He has taught since 1972 at the University of Georgia and has held the chair of Franklin Professor of Classics since 1998.

Dr. LaFleur’s publications in Latin language, literature, and pedagogy are too numerous to list completely, but the list includes the books The Teaching of Latin in American Schools: A Profession in Crisis, Latin Poetry for the Beginning Student, Love and Transformation: An Ovid Reader, Latin for the 21st Century: From Concept to Classroom, A Song of War: Readings from Vergil's Aeneid (with Alexander G. McKay), and the revised editions of Wheelock's Latin, Wheelock's Latin Reader, and Workbook for Wheelock's Latin. Professor LaFleur served as editor of The Classical Outlook for nearly 25 years and is a past President of the American Classical League. Additionally, he is a recipient of over a million dollars in grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and other agencies.

In addition to receiving external funding, Dr. LaFleur has also received numerous state, regional, and national awards for teaching and professional service, including the American Philological Association's award for Excellence in the Teaching of Classics, FLAG’s Foreign Language Professor of the Year, and SCOLT’s PostSecondary Teacher of Excellence. The Georgia Junior Classical League has also established a Teacher Development scholarship in his honor, of which he is particularly proud.

When called on by the Georgia Department of Education, Dr. LaFleur was always willing to give his time and input, whether it involved interviewing students for the Governor’s Honors Program or developing Latin curriculum or standards for Georgia K-12 students and teachers. Many of Georgia’s outstanding Latin teachers studied under and were inspired by Dr. LaFleur. Always supportive of FLAG and SCOLT, Dr. LaFleur embodied the spirit of articulation. He will be missed at the University of Georgia as well as in high schools across the state.

Dr. LaFleur has three children and five grandchildren, and lives with his wife, Alice, on the banks of Lake Oglethorpe, near Athens, Georgia. Hopefully he will indulge his love of travel in retirement.

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In Memoriam Lillie Belle Hamilton (1919-2011) Lillie Belle was born at the time when Congress had just passed the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote...the culmination of the women's suffrage movement.

Lillie upheld the principles of the movement through her own involvement in the political scene as a voter as soon as age permitted and later as a poll worker. She even attended both a Democratic as well as a Republican Convention and was pleased to have heard both Claire Luce Booth and Herbert Hoover speak. This was also a time when Edmund Walsh of Georgetown University had been appointed by the War Department to a board of five educators who designed the studies for the Students' Army Training Corps. His experience led to his conviction that education in the United States did not provide adequate studies in diplomacy, international relations, and foreign languages. Again, Lillie took his findings to heart in her own pursuit of languages, Spanish and Latin, and served a two-year stint at a Woman's Teacher Training College in Tripoli, Libya.

She was very proud of the letter (partly in Latin) from Adlai Stevenson, written when he was the U.S. Representative to the United Nations, regarding his opinion of the value of foreign language study. A graduate of Agnes Scott with a master's degree from Middlebury, Lillie shared her language skills and love of learning with countless students over her teaching career-from elementary school, junior high, to high school in the Fulton County School system-retiring in 1981 from College Park High School, the same year she was inducted into the Georgia Teacher Hall of Fame. She had previously been selected as the Foreign Language Association of Georgia (FLAG) Latin Teacher of the Year in 1968 and the FLAG Spanish Teacher of the Year in 1973. As a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, Beta Nu Chapter for key women educators, she held various offices and spearheaded many projects. She headed up a delegation that help found a sister organization in Great Britain and received the Delta Kappa Gamma State Achievement Award in 1996. She was a firm believer in professional participation and served also as a president of the National Spanish Honor Society, Co-Chair of the Georgia Junior Classical League, Contest Chair for the National Junior Classical League (participating in 32 NJCL national conventions), and was one of the original founders and a past president of the Foreign Language Association of Georgia from whom she received the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her outstanding service and contributions to foreign language education in Georgia. For a woman who never drove a car, she visited over 116 countries endeavoring to bring back and share cultural and historical insights with her students inspiring many to follow in her footsteps as teachers. She is survived by her two daughters, Cynthia and Hillary Hamilton. *** Published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on October 16, 2011 Thank you to Lynne McClendon for this information about a great Georgia educator.

For more about Mrs. Lillie Belle Hamilton see : http://www.ajc.com/news/lillie-belle-

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I Heart Quizlet; My Best Web 2.0 Friend

By Joanne Thomas The title of this article may have two things that you don’t recognize; Quizlet and Web 2.0 (pronounced web two point oh), yet you are intrigued by the “Best Friend” part. Quizlet.com is a free educational 2.0 website. A 2.0 website is any website that offers the user the ability to participate, by creating, downloading, editing, and/or commenting on information in the site. A web 2.0 allows the visitor to contribute personally to the site, as a collaborative user. YouTube is a web 2.0 site because a user may download a video, see someone else’s downloaded video and/or comment on another video someone else made. It’s as simple as that!

So why is Quizlet.com my “best web 2.0 friend” and how did it happen? Well, it all started in April of 2008 when I happened to come across Quizlet on the Internet. I had developed a methodology using flashcards and Quizlet looked like it would work well with my vocabulary. I only used the “test” mode from time to time and I became bored with it, so I abandoned it for several months.

I came back to it one day (September of 2009) and noticed Quizlet was starting to experiment with uploading images from Flickr. I was so excited at this idea of adding image-French vs English-French. I made my first set with images (below) to play with the new feature, but I wanted the ability to add my own images.

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What better way to practice vocabulary recognition! I had been waiting patiently and e-mailing Quizlet to allow image and audio upload capability and finally a prototype and the beginning of something HUGE for educators, especially language educators. By the end of September 2009, Quizlet had done what I desperately wanted for so long: the ability to download my own images from my computer.

I started coming up with all these ideas of how I could use this new feature in my classroom. I started with 2 features that Quizlet had all along, called “Familiarize” and “Learn”. In “Familiarize” I can show one side of the card or both sides (see previous image). I can introduce the vocabulary with both sides showing and then have the image showing and do a Q & A in the classroom. In “Learn” the students see an image or the English and type in the French.

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There is not better way to teach spelling than this. The students LEARN from their mistakes and their spelling is stellar! In addition, the students can continue to practice these sets at home for homework! I came up with something called “Online Proof” (a screen shot of the title and score) that the students can e-mail me, show me on their desktop or “drop” in my “dropbox” as proof of their homework.

Once the vocabulary is introduced, the more advanced activities can happen

(Scatter, Space Race, Voice Race, Public Learn, Panel, 2-Minute Triple Bump, Palette, Online Proof . . .). This article would be too long and you have too much to do today, so I won’t explain to you what they all are, but I hope I peaked your interest.

After coming up with activity after activity to do with the Quizlet sets I commented on my passion for Quizlet to Quizlet.com on their “Add a testimonial” page.

The team at Quizlet.com liked my comments and suggestions so much, that I got an e-mail that turned into a video-conference with Andrew Sutherland (the founder), that turned into Quizlet flying me to San Francisco as a teacher consultant! I was beside myself in excitement. If you go on the teacher page of Quizlet.com (http:// quizlet.com/teachers/) , you’ll see my video, called “The Best of Quizlet”, where 19

you can see some of the activities I mentioned above. I continue to work with the Quizlet.com team. During the summer I wanted to push audio capabilities the hardest, as well as suggest features that were lacking. The Quizlet team has come up with amazing little features that make my teaching life better and better (and will make yours better too).

Along with several new, little (yet super thoughtful) features, Quizlet now has “Speak” capabilities in English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Spanish with more languages coming soon (waiting for French . . .). There is a little speaker icon at the top left of each set that toggles the exciting new text-to-speech audio feature. Now you can hear your flashcard content spoken to you, thanks to an advanced multilingual text-to-speech software! This is the first phase of audio integration on Quizlet. The magnitude of images plus audio capabilities, along with the activities that go along with it may not click with you yet, but this is revolutionary in language teaching in the 21st century classroom! Let me emphasize that again; Revolutionary in the 21st century classroom!

Since I have become a member, I have created 268 sets. Now, does that mean YOU have to create a few hundred sets yourself? No, you can start with a few (baby steps). You may also use the “search” feature on Quizlet and look for ones already made (there are 5 million!). You can “export” any set to your account, make it your own, edit it, take things off, put things on, add images, change language . . . Don’t be afraid of words like “export”, “edit”, “upload”, “download”. You must embrace these words and their power when dealing with a web 2.0.

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I have a wiki tutorial website called (wait for it) http://i-heartquizlet.wikispaces.com/. It has what you need so Quizlet.com can be your “Best Web 2.0 Friend”. Also, come to my session called I Heart Quizlet at the conference to find out even more information.

Like I said, there are about 5 million user-created sets . Quizlet.com is the largest interactive flashcard site in the world, as well as the largest independent study site in the US. Who needs to pay hundreds for Rosetta Stone when Quizlet.com is free? If you don’t have a Quizlet.com account, I recommend registering for one. If you already have an account, I hope you are now inspired to use it in a way you never imagined. Welcome to the 21st century of language learning and teaching!

Joanne Thomas teaches middle school French at Holy innocents' Episcopal School in Atlanta, GA. She is known in the Global Language Educator’s world as Madame Thomas and her teaching methodology is known as Ah bon? or ¿De verdad?. She has published a teacher’s guide and student workbook for middle school French and will soon have these products available in Spanish.

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Language Learning and Virtual Worlds: Using Second Life in the Foreign Language Class

By Aurora Castillo Ed.D. Georgia College and State University One of the greatest challenges instructors have in the foreign language classroom is how to expose students to the real language spoken by native speakers. Hence, it is difficult for instructors to bring authentic experiences that are communicative and meaningful and that help language learners to practice their language skills. Lately, instructors have been using real or authentic material and activities in foreign languages with successful results (Brandl, 2002; Gu, 2002; Kasper, 2000; Osuna & Meskill, 1998; Tudini, 2003).

Consequently, foreign language professor have been looking for new authentic and meaningful activities that bring the real language into the classroom. Technology has offered this opportunity and so each day instructors see the implementation of new technological applications in teaching and learning. Consequently, it is normal to see novel technologies such as Skype, Facebook, or MySpace in the classroom.

Virtual worlds, one of them being Second Life, are equally booming in the classroom environment (Horizon Report, 2007; Stoerger, 2008). This technology is offering new ideas, and opportunities promoting real synchronous and asynchronous communication, collaboration, culture learning, and language practice among others.

In this article, the author addresses the implementation of Second Life in the foreign language classroom. The instructor of the course studied the research body to correctly incorporate Second Life in her classroom. She designed an activity that she has applied to her Intermediate Grammar course for almost two years. Each semester, she has improved the activity based on students’ comments and experiences. Some of those comments are included in this article with the main goal of demonstrating positive and negative aspects that could influence the assignment and students’ learning. In the following sections, the author will address the definition of virtual worlds, specifically Second Life, the role of Second Life in foreign languages, real tasks in foreign languages, the task applied in the course, students’ reflections, and instructor recommendations and future projects.

Virtual Worlds and Second Life Virtual worlds are online environments where participants are able to see, hear and touch elements around them (Stoerger, 2008). In these artificial worlds, any participant can behave naturally and any imaginable environment can be created resembling the real world (Bricken, 1990). One of the most famous and known virtual worlds is Second Life. Second Life (SL) is an open online virtual world built and designed by the community of participants or residents who are exposed to a virtual world full of people, entertainment, businesses, educational experiences and opportunities (http://www.secondlife.com).

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SL is a massive multi-user online virtual environment (MUVE) that allows its participants to interact through avatars or synthetic characters (Molka-Danielsen & Deutschmann, 2009). An avatar is a digital persona that participants can create and customize resembling the real life participant or an alternate identity (www.secondlife.com). Participants in SL are able to communicate individually or participate in a group community. They can socialize in a 3D virtual world using synchronous or asynchronous communication via text or voice chat, public broadcast or one-to-one private chat. Avatars are designed with many capabilities (e.g., walk, fly, run, and teleport) that give them the possibility of interacting with their surroundings and with other avatars.

Many educational institutions have established an educational presence in SL by renting or purchasing a virtual space called land, island or sim (Horizon Report, 2007; Stoerger, 2008). In this virtual space, educational institutions have created a replica of their own institution focusing on three different goals. The first group has focused on marketing purposes with the main goal of attracting prospective students.

The second group has concentrated on educational purposes creating hybrid or pure online teaching. The last group is doing active research discovering new methods, theories or practices for their field of research (Molka-Danielsen & Deutschmann, 2009).

The Role of SL in Foreign Languages SL offers a great opportunity of experiencing authentic communication and tasks when interacting in this environment. For this reason, it is important to define what real-life tasks are before concentrating on the role of SL in foreign languages. Van Merrienboer and Krischner (2001) explained that a real-life task is a learning experience where students use their mental activity to build new knowledge. The emphasis is on solving real-life problems, and the authentic context is composed with a large quantity of information in which correct answers do not exist. Focusing on language learning, Brandll (2008) says “performing real-world tasks necessitates the use of real language to accomplish these tasks� (p. 8).

Nunan (1999) mentioned two types of real tasks, pedagogical and real-world tasks.

Pedagogical tasks act as a bridge between the classroom and the real world with the goal of preparing students for real-language usage. Real-world tasks emphasize the skills that learners need to have so they can function in the real world. As explained

by Deblois (2002), John Dewey was the first educator who proposed involving learners in authentic problems that were similar to the real world. Dewey thought that student learning was influenced by experiences, and for that reason instructors should encourage the connection between experience and students’ own thinking.

In relation to the role that SL plays in foreign languages and how it can address authenticity in its tasks, Deutschmann and Panichi (2009) clearly explained that SL has a specific quality that allows students to perform actions, hence it increases the opportunity of authenticity in each task. For instance, students experience a real act of communication when asking for directions in SL. The sim or island is recreated with such reality that the act of communication becomes authentic. Similarly, 23

students are exposed to the real culture and information when they travel or teleport to an island and have the opportunity of manipulating items or artifacts of that culture or talking to real people in that culture. For these reasons, the researchers stated that one of the greatest benefits of using SL in language educations is the real communication students experienced.

Real-Tasks in SL In an effort to expose students to real tasks and language, and to connect language and technology in an appealing and interesting format, the instructor implemented the use of SL in her Intermediate Spanish Grammar course. The experimentation with this technological piece started in the spring 2008 with the main goal of verifying the capabilities and possibilities at the educational level, and the benefits and drawbacks offered by SL in foreign languages.

The instructor had two main questions in mind when designing the activity. The first one was how to expose students to the authentic language spoken by native speakers through a real, engaging and informal conversation, and second, how to encourage students to use their oral and writing skills outside of the classroom format. With these two goals in mind, the instructor focused on what the literature and research body say about the correct implementation of SL in foreign language acquisition.

Consequently, the instructor found out what Deutschmann and Panichi (2009) suggest for the appropriate activity design when using SL in the foreign language classroom.

The mentioned authors explained that SL can be used for teaching and learning activities similar to the ones performed in the classroom. Some of those activities are individual, pair or group work, tasks that focus on one specific skill, lectures and formal readings, power point presentations, and many others (for further explanation see Deutschmann & Panichi, 2009). However, the researchers go into a more extensive explanation classifying the tasks according to the dimension of SL most benefited: the social-communicative, the creative-cultural and the physical.

Each dimension can be divided into several categories, and tasks can offer a combination of dimensions. The first dimension, the social/communicative/ cognition emphasize on developing students oral/aural competence and proficiency level. This means that the tasks focus on making students practice their language skills in a meaningful communicative setting (e.g. ask students to have a conversation in pairs or in groups where the topic is their major or specialization).

The second dimension, the affective/creative focuses on exploring students’ identity through their avatar. The avatar allows students to present themselves in many different ways, physical or cultural terms, that are not possible in the real classroom.

Students developing this type of tasks are exposed to both language practice and the growth of cultural or artistic awareness (e.g. students dress their avatar representing the Spanish culture and discuss this representation and culture with other members of their group).

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The last dimension, spatial/physical dimension concentrates on moving students in SL and the use of it as a source of information. This task allows reaching a greater level of learning experience with language practice that traditionally cannot be possible in a classroom or e-learning environment (e.g. students visit different cultural locations such as a Spanish art museum). For further explanation and more detailed tasks examples on each of the three dimensions, the author recommends reading Deutschmann and Panichi (2009).

The activity: A spatial/physical dimension tasks in SL As it was mentioned before, the instructor focused on two main goals. First, to expose students to the authentic language spoken by native speakers through a real, engaging and informal conversation, and second, to encourage students to use their oral and writing skills outside of the classroom environment. For this reason and based on what Deutschmann and Panichi (2009) suggest for the appropriate design and application of SL in the foreign language class, the instructor selected some tasks that focus on spatial/physical dimension. The first task was touring SL and finding specific places selected by the instructor, and subsequent tasks were interviewing residents of SL (see Deutschmann & Panichi, 2009 for more tasks on this dimension).

The activity was divided in two different components. The first one was the SL interaction, and the second was the writing component. In the same way, the SL component was divided in two steps; the first one was the training session and the second, students’ interactions or tasks. The instructor organized a training session with a SL specialist from the WEB (Web Enabled Resources) department who described the 3D environment, indicated how to open the account, create an avatar, and all the capabilities the avatar has such as walk, fly, jump, teleport, and etc. The instructor was present during the training session giving feedback and assisting with any questions or technical problems.

After the initial training session, the instructor organized a second session that she taught in order to start the first task, touring SL and finding specific places. During this session, students had to teleport to the college island (Bobcat den) in order to practice all of the basic movements, learn to communicate (text or oral chat), and tour SL. Then, students practiced teleporting to islands previously selected by the instructor. In these islands, students had to tour around observing the environment and residents. The instructor’s avatar was present on these islands helping students to break the ice when starting a conversation with native speakers.

For the subsequent tasks, students had to interview residents of SL. They had to independently develop the tasks in SL during their own time. For each one of the interviews or tasks, students had to follow the guidelines previously designed by the instructor that were posted in the online class blackboard.

Following, students had to complete the second component of the task, the writing part. The aim of this second component was twofold: First, to verify students’ completion of the first task in SL and, second, to promote students’ writing skills in 25

the target language. The instructor created an assignment section in the online class blackboard where students had to post their entries. Each entry had a number, a guideline, and a due date. The guideline explained step by step the assignment; places to visit, topics to address in each task, questions to ask, and the minimum writing required for each entry (see Appendix).

In an effort to follow up students’ reactions to the assignments and experiences in SL, and to supervise any concern or problems students could encounter when interacting with native speakers or navigating the 3D environment, the instructor included some questions in each one of the writing tasks related to students’ personal thoughts (i.e., Do you think SL is a fun and interesting place, or is difficult and boring?, Did you like the interview? Why?). If a student expressed any concern or difficulty, the instructor set up a meeting with the student to find out about the concern, to guide the student or to overcome any overwhelming situation.

Even though students were instructed during the training session on how to behave and react to any mature or uncomfortable situation, the instructor kept supervising and reminding them about the eclectic population that visits SL. Although some authors have mentioned the implications of using SL in teaching and learning (Collins, Bently, & Conto, 2008; Dervin, 2008; EDUCAUSE Briefs, 2008; Kelton, 2008; Pardo Ballester, 2011; Stoerger, 2008), very few students experienced any mature or uncomfortable situation, and when it happened, the concern was immediately addressed.

Student Reflection Many students shared their personal reflections when using SL in foreign language learning. They mentioned several aspects that the instructor summarized in three different categories: technical, learning, and motivational aspects. For the technical aspects, the most recurrent observation was the technical requirements to download SL in their personal computers. Students’ computers must meet some technical requirements such as cable or DSL internet connection, 1 GB or more of computer memory, a good graphic card and many other requirements (see http:// secondlife.com for system requirements). Consequently, many students had to visit the language lab in order to complete their assignment. Another observation was students complaining of not being technology savvy. That is why, some of them had problems understanding the 3D environment and their first navigation in SL was difficult to perform. On the contrary, students who already had some experience with video games such as play station, Xbox, or Wii found it easy to navigate.

In relation to the learning aspects, students mentioned many positive experiences.

Several concentrated on the opportunity to practice their language skills: One student said “some of the positive aspects I like about it, it is that you get to practice your Spanish skills especially in writing.” Another mentioned that “it helped me practice my grammar we learned in class.” One more student declared “I was very careful about my grammar or tried to be very careful about it so that enabled me to practice it more and I think I learned through that.”

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Some students focused on the opportunity to communicate in the target language with native speakers. For instance, one student said, “I think it helps me more because I already know Spanish and so whenever I talk to people I can have a conversation with them and understand them and keep the conversation going and they teach me words that I don’t know.” Another student mentioned that “one positive aspect would be just being able to talk to native speakers but also be able to see what is written.”

One more important aspect students mentioned was the experience of learning about other cultures. One student summarized the culture learning as follows: I like just being able to see the culture through the characters because it (SL) is so designed, so detailed, that details are made by the person (avatar) you make up, it is so vivid and you can be whoever you want, and so the culture comes out and that it’s designed in the buildings, so I learned a lot about the culture through it.

When it comes to the motivational aspect, several students agreed that it was fun, entertaining and a different method to learn and practice their language skills. A student said that “it is a good way to learn Spanish because it is not boring. You got to talk to people that are real and you do learn a lot.” Another student commented that “SL is fun and an interactive way to learn and to practice. It is fun and I enjoyed the time I spent in SL.” Students mentioned some other positive aspects and difficulties they found in SL that are important to mention. On the difficult side, some students point out the differences between the language they have learned in the classroom and the language spoken by native speakers (i.e., “I don’t remember the words but I have learned expressions that they say in different countries and I didn’t understand them until they explained them.” or “I didn’t understand what they were saying.…it was written weird…”). One more difficulty that students experienced was finding residents in some places who were willing to talk to them (i.e., “It is kind of difficult to me to find people at the beginning of SL and people who were willing to talk in depth about the different things that we were asked to ask about their culture and stuff.” or “It is kind of hard to talk to people because they don’t really want to answer questions. They are like playing…”).

On the positive side many students talked about the similarities they found between their culture and the target culture (i.e., “I don’t know, it shows, like, they are a lot like us” or “I asked him (a SL resident) things they do for fun or what teenagers your age, college students your age, do for fun. I just found out it is just similar to us.”), and receiving corrective feedback from native speakers (i.e., “I experienced people talking to me and helping me out.” or “…also sometimes the native speaker would correct you when you say something they don’t understand. They can help you figure out why it is not correct and so…”).

It is important to clarify that the reflections presented in this article are from the first part of the second year of the project. They are taken from students’ entries and instructor interviews with the students. A more complete qualitative and quantitative 27

analysis is being done by the author and it will be published later.

Instructor Recommendations The instructor of the course evaluated the project at the end of the year. Based on students’ comments and her personal experience, the instructor focused her recommendations on three main points. First, it is important to train students at the beginning of the semester and to give explicit instructions about the new environment they will experience. For this reason, it is necessary to give enough time to students to learn how to use SL, and how to create their own avatar. Some students concentrate on their avatar appearance, spending too much time changing their look; hair, clothes, and etc. At the same time, it is important to work closer with those students who are not technology savvy or who do not have any previous experience with computer games. At the beginning, those students could feel overwhelmed and frustrated because of their lack of experience with technology.

Second, students’ guidelines should be clear, detailed, and easy to follow. At first, students are overwhelmed with the new environment and the tasks seem to be more difficult than they really are. If students have clear and detailed guidelines, they can easily follow each one of the steps, and the assignment will be less difficult and overwhelming. Equally, as soon as they read the guidelines they will know what it is expected from them in each one of the tasks. Consequently, the instructor will spend less time responding students’ email about the assignment or working extra time with students in the language lab.

Third, as it was mentioned before, SL is an open environment and students can experience some mature behavior and areas. For this reason, it is extremely important that the instructor reminds students about the different possibilities and experiences they could encounter in SL. The instructor has to keep constant supervision of students’ comments or postings and address any possible situation that could represent an overwhelming circumstance for the student. Pardo Ballester (2011) stated: It is vital to always remind students that SL is not “real life” and it is important to keep a sense of humor and an open mind, to explore this virtual world for what it is, and to make the best of it (p. 59).

Although, the instructor of this project did not ask students to sign a waiver to avoid possible problems, the instructor suggests including one for future projects (see Pardo Ballester, 2011 for an example of a waiver).

Future Projects SL offers many authentic and meaningful opportunities for foreign language teaching and learning. As explained by Deutschmann and Panichi (2009), a great array of activities can be performed in SL and most of those activities are difficult to develop in the real world and in the traditional foreign language classroom.

Instructors can assign simple chat activities, field trips and discussions (Kuriscak & 28

Luke, 2009), or more creative and problem-based activities (Pardo Ballester, 2011; Stoerger, 2008).

Virtual worlds, especially SL, are still in the developmental stage and it is possible to explore new applications of the 3D environment in foreign language teaching and learning. More real and task-based activities can be designed addressing culture, or linguistic development with specific areas such as literature, or history. But if instructors have the desire and drive to take risks and give a more futuristic approach to foreign language teaching and learning, they could experiment going across the curriculum and integrating SL, foreign languages and other learning areas such as business, art, or nursing.

Furthermore, there is a great community of users and educators who are interested in collaborating, sharing and creating new projects in SL. Likewise, many educators around the world are eager to learn and to interact with one another with the main goal of bringing cultures together and offering new experiences to their language learners. For these reasons, it is important to encourage language educators to think about the possibility of implementing SL in their courses, and to develop new activities that could increase its application in foreign languages.

Conclusions The main goal of this article was to show a new technological application, SL, in the foreign language classroom. This instructional approach offers the opportunity to experience more authentic and meaningful activities that promote the use of students’ language skills in a real setting. Many authors (Deutschmann & Panichi, 2009; Kuriscak & Luke, 2009; Molka-Danielsen & Deutschmann, 2009; Pardo Ballester, 2011) have been studying virtual worlds, especially SL, and they have designed and classified activities according to different approaches. Those activities have guided the author of this article in the design of the authentic task in her Intermediate Grammar course. At the same time, the mentioned activities and authors can guide more instructors who are interested on using SL in their classroom in how to correctly apply this new technology.

There are many aspects to consider before applying this new technology in the course curriculum. For this reason, it was important to address the positive and negative aspects of using SL. The author has summarized those aspects from comments made by students in their entries of their experiences in the 3D environment. These comments are not conclusive and it is necessary to do extensive research on SL and foreign languages in order to have more definite conclusions.

From an educational point of view, SL is still in an early stage of application and research, and many researchers are studying the implications of using such technology in education. Many of them have found different results that make it difficult to completely reject or embrace the application of SL. Hence, it is necessary to continue studying this technology to have a better understanding of it.

References Brandl, K. (2008). Communicative language teaching in action. Putting principles to work.

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Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. ______ (2002, September). Integrating internet-based reading materials into the foreign language curriculum: From teacher-to-student-centered approaches. Language Learning & Technology, 6(3), 87-107. Available from, http://llt.msu.edu/vol6num3/pdf/brandl.pdf Bricken, M. (1990). Virtual worlds: No interface to design (Technical Report R-90-2). Seattle, Washington: University of Washington, HIT Lab. Technical report available online at http://www.hitl.washington.edu/publications/r-90-2/ Collins, S., Bently, K., & Conto, A.D., (2008, October 17). Virtual worlds in education.

EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI). Available from, http://www.educause.edu/Resources/VirtualWorldsinEducation/163285 Deblois, R. (2002). John Dewey in a new century: Constructing meaning from real experience.

Independent School, 61(4), 72-78.

Dervin, F. (2008, March). Second Life and language. Language Magazine, 7(7), 28-29.

Deutschmann, M., & Panichi, L. (2009). Instructional design, teacher practice and learner autonomy. In Molka-Danielsen, J., & Deutschmann, M. (Eds.). Learning and teaching in the virtual world of Second life (pp.27-44). Trondheim: Tapir Academic Press.

EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) Briefs, (2008, June 11). 7 Things you should know about Second Life. Available from, http://www.educause.edu/ ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutSecon/163004 Gu, P. (2002, August). Web-based project learning and EFL learners: A Chinese example.

Teaching English with Technology: A Journal for Teachers of English, 2(4). Available from, http://www.iatefl.org.pl/call/callnl.htm Horizon Report, (2007). The Horizon Report: 2007 Edition. A collaboration between The New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), and EDUCAUSE Program. Available from, http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2007_Horizon_Report.pdf.

Kasper, L. F. (2000, September). New technologies, new literacies: Focus discipline research and ESL learning communities. Language Learning & Technology, 4(2), 105-128. Available from, http://llt.msu.edu/vol4num2/kasper/default.html Kelton, A. J. (2008). Virtual worlds? “Outlook good” [Electronic version]. EDUCAUSE Review, 43(5).

Kuriscak, L.M., & Luke, C. L. (2009). Language learner attitudes toward virtual worlds: An investigation of Second Life. In Lomicka, L., & Lord, G. (Eds.), The next generation: Social networking and online collaboration in foreign language learning (pp.173-198). San Marcos: Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (CALICO).

Linden Research, Inc. (n.d.). Second Life. Available from, http://www.secondlife.com Nunan, D. (1999). Second language teaching and learning. Boston: Heinle and Heinle.

Osuna, M. M., & Meskill, C. (1998, January). Using the world wide web to integrate Spanish language and culture: A pilot study. Language Learning & Technology, 1(2), 71-92.

Available from, http://llt.msu.edu/vol1num2/pdf/article4.pdf Pardo Ballester, C. (2011, January). Second languages and Second Life: Collaborative learning activities. The Language Educator, 6(1), 56-59.

Tudini, V. (2003, February). Using native speakers in chat. Language Learning & Technology, 7(3), 141-159. Available from, http://llt.msu.edu/vol7num3/tudini/default.html Van Merrienboer, J. J. G., & Kirschner, P. A. (2001). Three worlds of instructional design: State of the art and future directions. Instructional Science, 29(4-5), 429-441.

Appendix PASO UNO La siguiente información es para hacer el cuarto reporte de tu diario semanal.

You will need the following Information to prepare your journal.

1. Debes visitar mínimo uno de los siguientes lugares de SL por un periodo de tiempo determinado para poder encontrar la información necesaria.

1.You should visit al least one of the following places in Second Life for some period of time in order to collect the required Information.

- Barcelona Virtual - Barcelona del Oeste - México Monterrey

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- COLOMBIAMOR - (You can visit any other place you like or find where you can interview someone in Spanish) 2. Después de escoger, el lugar debes viajar allá y debes entrevistar una o dos personas (preferiblemente dos para tener más información en el diario).

2.After selecting the island or islands, you should teleport to that island and you should interview one or two residents. (It is better to interview two in order to collect more information for your journal).

-En la entrevista debes buscar la siguiente información: During the interview you should ask the following Information: -¿De dónde es? (Ask for some personal information without being intrusive).

Where is that person from?

- ¿Cuántas regiones hay en su país? (Ask from which region is him/her).

How many regions are in your country?

- ¿Qué diferencias hay en el lenguaje/idioma entre las personas de las diferentes regiones de su país? En cuanto a acento o pronunciación.

What differences exist in the languaje among people of those different regions? Focus on accent and pronounciation of words.

- ¿Qué diferencias hay en el uso de palabras en las regiones de su país? (you can give examples of how people say things in the south different from the people in the north e.g. soda, pop, etc.).

What differences are there in the wording usage in those regions?

-¿Qué diferencias hay entre las diferentes regiones de su país (las personas, comida, música, etc)? (ask all the information you think could help you to have a better picture of the regions and the country).

What differences are there among regions (people, food, music, etc.)

-Pregúntale que palabras nuevas te puede enseñar que puedas usar en tu clase de gramática, conversación o para tu comunicación con hablantes nativos.

Ask him/her if he/she can teach you new words to use in your gramar or conversation class or to use with native speakers.

Incluye la siguiente información adicional en tu diario: Include the following additional Information: -¿Qué opinión tienes sobre las personas que entre vistaste?

What opinión do you have about the people that you interviewed?

-¿Aprendiste algo nuevo en esta experiencia? ¿Qué aprendiste?

Did you learn something new in this experience? What did you learn?

-¿Te gustó la entrevista? Por qué?

Did you like the interview? Why? -¿Qué diferencia encuentras entre esta entrevista y las anteriores?

What differences did you find between this interview compared to the others?

PASO DOS Después de visitar el lugar en SL debes hacer lo siguiente: After visiting the island in second Life you should do the following: 1. Escribir un reporte en tu Diario Semanal en GeorgiaView Vista usando un mínimo de 300 palabras.

Incluye toda la información que obtuviste de las personas que entrevistaste.

1.Write a journal in you Weekly journal in GeorgiaViw Vista using at least 300 words. Include all the relevant information you collected rom the people you interviewed.

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Taking French outside the classroom’s walls through writing: A model for integrating the creative writing of children’s books in the foreign language classroom.

By Lucie Viakinnou-Brinson, Ph.D. Kennesaw State University FL writing tends to be considered by FL learners and practitioners alike as the most difficult, time consuming, burdensome and frustrating task (Homstad & Thornson, 1996). As a result, there is a tendency to postpone any significant study of writing until students enroll in advanced conversation and composition courses (Braüer, 2000, p. 10). Until students reach advanced levels of FL study, the emphasis is placed on developing spoken skills. Once in advanced classes, the writing is centered on developing or reinforcing several writing modes of discourse including, the descriptive, the narrative, the expository and the argumentative. Consequently most research in FL (Scott 1992; Scott; 1996) are theoretical studies on how students’ writing can be enhanced in these modes and not so much on motivating them to write creatively.

I argue in this article that writing projects intended for real audiences outside the confines of the classrooms motivate students to write creatively. The following children’s book project implemented in elementary and advanced French classes tapped into students’ motivation as well as their desire for civic and global engagement.

Project Goals, Participants, Setting and Procedures Project goals The main goal of the project was to motivate students to use their creativity, knowledge of the French language and Francophone culture awareness to write.

Hence, a children’s book project was assigned to students; originally intended for international Francophone audiences, the books were also to be used locally. At the local level, students’ books were to be utilized in elementary schools to increase cultural awareness of sub-Saharan Francophone countries and to promote the learning of the French language. At the international level, the books were to be used by children in underserved areas of the Francophone country of Benin, West Africa, where access to children’s books and supplementary reading materials is very limited.

Participants and setting Participants consisted of elementary and advanced level students at a Southern State University. All participants were non-native French speakers who were enrolled separately in either a 15 weeks first or third year French course.

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Classes met twice a week for 1 hr 15 min and were taught in French except for project writing instructions that were provided in English for elementary level students. Elementary level French students learned French via the video-based instructional program Espaces (Mitschke, Tano & Thiers-Thiam, 2007) and selected movies, while advanced students learned French and Francophone literature via Anthologie de la littérature : Du romantisme à aujourd’hui (Monique Lapointe, 2008), Une si longue lettre (Mariama Bâ, 1979) and selected texts and movies.

Procedures The project was integrated in each course syllabus.The writing component of the project represented 10% of elementary level students’ grades and 15% of advanced students’ grades. Although the project was “graded” at various stages, students received full credit following adequate completion of the project that is, producing polished story (content) along with engaging illustrations. The local service learning component of the project was voluntary. However, students received extra credits for their participation in service learning. International Review Board (IRB) approval was sought and obtained prior to conducting the project.

Resources that facilitated local and international service Following an explanation of the project, two students leveraged their relationship with teachers in an elementary school to facilitate implementation of the local service learning events. Because students could not physically travel to conduct learn and serve in Africa, the Seeds of Knowledge, Inc (SOW) (see Appendix A for website address) was selected to facilitate the “virtual” international service learning component of the project. The choice of the organization was based on its goals of supporting literacy and elementary education in underserved Francophone areas and on the researcher’s involvement in the organization. Without those attributes, it would have been difficult, though not impossible, to conduct the virtual international component of the service learning.

Funding and purpose Following successful piloting in previous semesters and given the global scope of the project, the researcher was able to obtain a Global Learning Undergraduate Scholarship grant (GLUS) through the University’s Center for Excellence in Teaching (CETL). The grant covered materials, supplies and online book “publication” costs. With funding students were able to choose between two options to create their book. Option one consisted of using materials from the University’s Teacher Resource and Activity Center (TRAC) to create laminated copies of illustrated books while option two consisted of using online services to generate hard copy books. The Walgreens, Inc. was selected as the online “publisher” by students for its competitive prices and easy upload (see Appendix A for website address).

Preparing for the writing project 33

Motivating students for the writing project Students’ involvement in local service learning and the thought of becoming “authors” of “real” hard copy books in French was motivating. However, what seems to be a greater motivator for students to go “above” and “beyond” the writing task was the knowledge that their books were to be read by real audiences of Francophone children. To further students’ connection with their international Francophone audience the instructor projected pictures of children in underserved schools in Benin. Seeing the faces of the children in their modest learning environment created a sense of collective empathy and reinforced the purposefulness and urgency of the writing task.

Presentations by former students who wrote books in previous semesters additional sources of motivation. They visited French classes and shared with incumbent students their writing and book publication experience. They stressed the challenges of writing “error free” books for Francophone audiences but also the “fun” aspects of the project including illustrating and seeing their books in print. They brought in multiple drafts and final copies of books as evidence of progress made; in addition, they discussed feelings of pride, accomplishment and of making a difference in the lives of less privileged children while strengthening their own linguistic skills and expanding their awareness of sub-Saharan Francophone culture. All these factors served as stimuli for students’ motivation to fully embrace and engage in the writing project.

Emphasizing writing, process writing, awareness and revision At the beginning of the semester and prior to conducting the project, the instructor took time to discuss in English writing and process writing. Students received copies of book chapters from Omaggio-Hadley (1993, pp.319-321) and Williams (2005, pp.76-86) focusing on FL writing. The instructor discussed the non-linear and recursive approaches to writing as well as process writing tenets as articulated by Flower and Hayes (1981) and Susser (1994). Students were informed that they will engage in pre-writing, draft writing, peer-editing, revising and editing exercises.

Susser’s (1994) awareness and intervention concept was also discussed. To better illustrate the two points, the instructor distributed and explained the use and completion of error track and awareness forms (Appendix B) she designed to increase students attentiveness in writing, prompt them to reflect on their own error patterns and empower them to take the necessary steps to improve their writing.

The process of revision was also discussed with students. To aid students with the revision process, students were made aware that at least one mandatory-one-on-one writing conference was to be scheduled with the instructor prior to “publication.”

Students were also informed that only revised, polished versions of books would be “published.”

Emphasizing creativity 34

The Instructor emphasized that books were to be creative. To ensure consistent understanding of the term creativity, students were notified that their books were to reflect creativity characteristics as defined by Moslemi’s including originality, idea production, language use, and uniqueness of style. (1) Originality implied “the use of imaginative, new or unusual ideas or a common idea used in a new and imaginative fashion” (Moslemi, 1975, pp.158-159). (2) Idea production meant that students’ stories were to reflect “quality, quantity, fluency or diversity of ideas or precise detailed elaboration or description of one person, experience, object or idea” (pp. 158-159). (3) Language usage entailed the “use of imagery, lively description…fresh or colorful word combinations” (p.159). (4) Uniqueness of style called for students’ display of “unique individuality, [their] particular preferences, tastes or beliefs … use of humor or wit [and] a unique blend of emotions, moods or personal philosophy” (p.159). The instructor also stressed that creativity was to be expressed not only in story content but also in book illustration.

Implementing the project Teaching culture Because books written by students were originally intended for French speaking audiences of Francophone Africa, participating students were expected to be familiar with elements of Francophone West African culture. Hence, the instructor developed mini thematic cultural units to teach sub-Saharan culture. These cultural units included but were not limited to the geography of Francophone countries in Africa, African children names and meaning, greetings, rural versus urban settings, clothing, markets, food, favorite children sports and family relationships (Appendix C for sample lesson).

Both lecture and hands-on- technique suggested by Omaggio Hadley (1993) were used in elementary and advanced classes. For instance, for the clothing and food units the hands-on approach technique was utilized; food was brought to class for students to taste and recipes were explained in French; for the clothing unit, West African clothing consisting of the traditional boubous, bombas, agbadas were brought to class for students to wear and describe.

In addition, to get a sense of African culture in action both lecturing and hands-on approach techniques were enhanced with visuals; students watched sections of the movie Keita: The heritage of the griot (Dani Kouaté, 1995) that portrayed family relationship, home and school environments of an African child, Youtube videos of Le dimanche à Bamako by Malian duo Mariam and Amadou and online documentaries of the French television network, TV5 Channel Regarder l’Afrique Autrement. Viewings were followed by discussions focused on cultural differences and similarities. Students were also asked to select, based on viewings, cultural elements they might incorporate in their children story.

Teaching story elements Elementary level students did not receive formal lessons on story elements prior to writing their picture books. However, the instructor discussed elements of good 35

description and provided models of previously written picture books. Advanced students on the other hand, received formal instruction on parts of fiction including writing about characters, setting, conflict and conflict resolution. Guidelines on writing good introduction, conclusion and mini biographies were also made available to all students.

Writing, revising and publishing Pre-writing activities Instruction on book format was presented to all students prior to engaging in writing task. Each book was to have (1) a title page, (2) a dedication page, (3) story content and illustration and (4) a mini biography of the author. Students wrote their minibiographies in class.

Students at the elementary level were paired to write their picture books. Hence, they brainstormed on possible topics and sought advice on cultural appropriateness of topic from their instructor. They also generated a list of French vocabulary to be included in their picture books. Since descriptive sentences were to coincide with illustrations, the writing of book content was completed outside of class.

Advanced level students on the other hand were to write their books individually.

Their children stories were to contain recognizable elements of sub-Saharan African culture either taught in class and/or individually researched. Hence, students’ prewriting activity consisted of selecting at least two recognizable elements of SubSaharan African culture to be incorporated in their stories. Reasons of their choices were provided both in writing and orally. As elementary level students, advanced students also completed their writing outside of class. In addition, they were asked to return their stories’ first drafts with highlighted introduction, setting, main character (s), conflict, conflict resolution and conclusion.

Scoring, writing, revision and publication Scoring. Although students received full credit at completion of project, drafts of their story (content only) were “graded” at various stages to reinforce the importance of revision, attention to form and content, but also to alert students of problem areas in their writing. Form was graded on 30 points, content on 40 points and illustration (which was completed at a later stage) was graded on 30 points.

Week one: First draft and scoring Students exchanged first drafts of story content and biographies and conducted peer editing of each other’s work (see Appendix D for peer editing forms). First drafts were “graded” for content and form. Unclear sentences and inaccurate use of language were circled and students were to self correct their mistakes using corresponding codes indicated on error tracking forms. Students brought revised copy of their first draft to the scheduled one-on-one writing conference with their instructor.

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Week two: Second draft and writing conference Week two was devoted to writing conferences. During these meetings, students’ second drafts were read aloud by the instructor. Students brought in an extra copy to follow along as their story was being read. Cued by the instructor’s voice intonation and/or questions, students clarified unclear sentences and/or engaged in meaning negotiation. Students who struggled to express complex ideas in French were encouraged to simplify their input while maintaining the complexity of their thought. Second drafts were not “graded.”

Week three: Third and fourth drafts Students submitted content of their third draft to the instructor. Third drafts were “graded” on accuracy and content. By week three, most elementary level students submitted “error free” drafts as well as illustrations. Advanced students on the other hand, were given a day or two following correction of third draft to polish up their story. The instructor provided additional assistance to students who needed it and a fourth draft along with potential accompanying illustration was submitted prior to “publication.”

Week four: Book “publication” Students who chose to publish their books via the TRAC center spent the fourth week completing their illustration and “publishing” their book. Those who chose online publication spent their time uploading illustrations and text to Walgreen photo center site.

Week five: Reading session Completed illustrated final copies of books were brought to class by students and a spontaneous reading session occurred during which students read each other’s books and offered each other compliments on their individual achievement. Students’ Chef d’oeuvre consisted of a compilation of creative and colorful picture books on a variety of topics ranging from numbers, animals, colors to more complex story books that incorporated African cultural beliefs such as respect for the elderly, reincarnation, naming ceremonies, extended family, resilience and collaborative work (link to students books will be provided at reviewers’ request).

Students who volunteered for the local service learning used their books to teach French to local third graders and to expose them to sub-Saharan Francophone culture. For completion of the international service learning component of the project, a Seeds of Knowledge representative took students’ books to West Africa; the books were read (and continue to be read) by the children during organized reading hour sessions organized by local Seeds of knowledge representatives and their instructors (See Appendix A reading hour tab on Seeds of knowledge site).

Students’ reflection on project 37

Following completion of the project students were asked to provide their thoughts and reflection via an open-ended questionnaire (Appendix E). Perhaps it is a synopsis of the voices of students themselves that best captures how meaningful the writing project was in motivating them to learn, write, expand their knowledge about writing, apply newly acquired cultural concepts, and increase their commitment to serve.

Elementary level students It feels good knowing that I have helped in the development and learning of African children.… I learned how to better form sentences and incorporate vocabulary.

It feels good knowing our project will be used to help children in the USA and across the world.

It is nice to know that this project will not just end in some waste bin.

It feels amazing to spread awareness of francophone country here in my country and also to know our book will bring a smile to a kid in another country.

Advanced level students I am really excited and somewhat honored that my book will be sent with others to Africa…I’ve spent a lot of time volunteering and helping others and I find this just as rewarding. Ever since I was little, I have always aspired to go to Africa and help others.

This project was far the best of all. Ironically it is the project that made me want to cry the most…. My book was like a child to me. I couldn’t dedicate anything other than the best of me for it and I believe that it shows.

The fact that I have written a book in another language never ceases to amaze me. I love that I have the opportunity to share a little bit of my creative side and discover parts of the creative side I never knew I had. I am so excited that other people will get to benefit from my work and I hope they enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed making it.

Discussion Recurring themes of excitement to have helped make a difference, being motivated to write, learning about writing and African culture, and pride in creating and participating in a meaningful writing exercise are evident in students’ reflection.

They felt the project was gratifying and described their writing experience with words such as “fun,” “meaningful,” “challenging,” “rewarding,” “purposeful,” “motivating,” “educational,” “valuable,” and “priceless.”

It appears that the presence of a real audience in this project “moved the writing assignment beyond an academic game between the student and the instructor and [gave] it a real-world context and significance” (Homstad and Thorson, in Bräuer, 38

2000, p. 12). The project seems to have pushed students to care more about their writing, give their best, improve and tap into or develop their creative side.

Asked whether they would participate again in a similar project if given another opportunity to do so, the vast majority of student responded positively. Almost unanimously students state they would “rather write books that serve others than write essays that end up in waste bins at the end of the semester”.

The writing project did more than push students to write, improve, learn, serve and “feel good” about their accomplishment. It also intersects the five C’s of the National Standards in Foreign Language Education (1999, 1996): Communities, Comparisons, Connections, Culture, and Communication.

Community The community standard stresses the importance of “extending learning experiences from the world language classroom to the home and multilingual and multicultural community emphasizes living in a global society.” A common theme that emanated from students’ responses was the meaningfulness of the writing project in extending their learning experiences outside of the classroom. Students felt that they were not writing “just for a grade” but rather, they were writing to connect with real communities of French speakers and learners. One student summarized the general consensus when stating: “Community service gives you a wonderful feeling that is impossible to achieve elsewhere.”

Comparisons As they extended their FL learning experience outside of the classroom students were inevitably engaged in comparing, contrasting and analyzing taught or researched cultural information on sub-Saharan Francophone Africa. For instance elementary students who wrote picture books on fruits were aware that they had to select fruits that African children could identify with including mangoes, papayas, guava, etc… Were they not involved in research and cross-cultural comparisons they would not have made those deliberate choices.

Connection The project also gave students the opportunity to connect their writing to other disciplines and/or personal interests. For example, for a student who dedicated her book to her daughter, it was equally important that the main character be a little girl that reflected her personal beliefs of collaborative work and goodness. For other students writing children’s book allowed them to connect with what they already knew or aspired to become. One student wrote: “I study creative writing and appreciated it [the project]”. Another stated: “I have always wanted to be a writer and writing a book in French gave me even more motivation.”

Culture 39

As previously mentioned researching and understanding aspects of the sub-Saharan African culture played a substantial role in the project. Following completion of their books, several students commented on their cultural exposure. One student wrote: “I learned various African names and the meanings associated with the names. I also learned where in Africa Benin is located.” Another wrote, “…In the end it [the project] helped to improve my French and increase my knowledge of Western African culture.”

Communication The project afforded students to use their knowledge of the French language to communicate both orally and in writing. Pre-writing, peer-editing, one-on-one conferences with instructor, reading of peers’ books, gave students the opportunity to engage in interpersonal and presentational modes of communication. For instance, elementary students who participated in learn and serve credited the local service learning for increasing their spoken confidence as they read their stories to third graders. Advanced students on the other hand credited the one-on-onesessions for strengthening their writing skills; informally they acknowledged that the sessions forced them to step back and look at their writing critically, correct surface errors they could not “see” until their stories were read aloud by the instructor. All in all as one student later wrote, “It [the project] made me feel that I was really doing something good with the French I have learned this year.”

Conclusion We teach to expand our students’ horizons, transform their minds and prepare them to embrace a wealth of experiences with confidence. Through the different stages involved in the creative writing of children books project students’ motivation and diligence in generating their best writing and completing the task well was evident.

Through writing students were successful in projecting part of themselves into the lives of local and international children with confidence. They wrote stories that resonated with real audiences both at home and overseas. They build lasting bridges of knowledge outside the confines of their classroom and across continents with creative products. The writing project demonstrates that writing can be a rewarding and enjoyable experience especially for today’s generation of students who rather learn by doing (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005) engage in projects where tangible results serve as “proof” of their learning and accomplishment. It is hoped that the results of this project will encourage FL practitioners to begin to reflect on what they do in the classroom to motivate and improve students’ writing and prompt them to begin assigning purposeful writing projects that connect their learners to the real world.

References Bâ, M. Une si longue lettre (1979). Dakar, Sénégal : Les Nouvelles éditions africaines Braüer, G. (2000). Writing across languages. Stamford, CT: Ablex Publishing.

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Flower, L., & Hayes, J.R. (1981). A cognitive process theory of writing. College Composition and Communication, 32, 365-387.

Homstad, T., Thornson, H. (1996). Using writing-to-learn activities in the foreign language classroom. Available from, http://writing.umn.edu/docs/ publications/Homstad_Thorson96.pdf.

Lapointe, M. (2008). Anthologie de la littérature : Du romantisme à aujourd’hui.

Québec: Editions du renouveau pédagogique.

Mitschke, C., Tano, C., Thiers-Thiam, V., (2007). Espaces. Boston, MA: Vista Hig her Learning.

Moslemi, M. (1975). The grading of creative writing. Research in the Teaching of English, 158-159.

National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project. (1999). Standards for foreign language learning in the 21st century. Lawrence, KS: Allen Press.

Oblinger, D.G. & Oblinger, J. L (2005). Educating the net generation. Available from, www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen Omaggio Hadley, A. (1993). Teaching language in context. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.

Scott, V. M. (1992). Write from the start. A task-oriented developmental writing program for foreign language students. In Terry (Ed.), Dimensions: Lan guage 91 Making a World of Difference (pp.1-15). Valdosta, GA: Southern Conference on Language Teaching.

Scott, V. M. (1996). Rethinking foreign language writing. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.

Susser, B. (1994). Process approaches in ESL/EFL writing instruction. Journal of Second Language Writing, 3, 31-47.

Williams, J. (2005). Teaching writing in second and foreign language classrooms.

Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.

Appendix A Resources that facilitated project The Seeds of Knowledge Website: www.seedsof knowledge.org.

The Walgreen Website: (http://photo.walgreens.com/walgreens/photolibrary

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Appendix B Codes, Error tracking and Awareness Forms Read the code category below; this will be used to correct papers. Complete form A and B for each assignment. Attach forms to your final drafts.

1. Form A: Record your performance on Form A (error tracking sheet) by counting and entering the number of errors you’ve made in each pertaining category (after first draft) 2. Form B: Complete form B (awareness/improvement sheet) by answering all questions. Forms A& B are to be submitted with each writing assignments. This methodological process will allow you to monitor your progress.

3. Form C: For book writing project use form C. To see the forms, contact the author (lviakinn@kennesaw.edu).

Form B. Awareness form Please answer the following questions.

After completing the error tracking sheet, do you see any patterns of errors?

Yes No If yes, what are they?

Is the error tracking sheet helping you become more aware of your mistakes?

Yes No Briefly explain What else is making you become more aware of your mistakes? (comment on class activities and what you do personally outside of class ) Briefly explain.

Do you follow advice on revision worksheet and/or from articles about writing and revision?

Yes No Which one(s) seem to work best for you?

Briefly explain.

Discuss your content and form improvement from draft to draft and from one assignment to the other.

Appendix C Sample of culture lesson 42

La nourriture (Lesson plan for elementary and advanced levels) Pré-visionnement Quel genre de nourriture on mange aux Etats-Unis? (What type of food do you eat in the US? Please make a list).

Quels nourritutre pensez-vous qu’on mangerait en Afrique de l’Ouest au Bénin ou au Sénégal par exemple? (What type of food do you think one would eat in West Africa, for instance in Benin or Senegal? Please make a list).

Visionnement de la PowerPoint (See attached Powerpoint/ Sample only) Post-visionnement Qu’est ce qui vous a surpris ou choqué ou intrigué ?

Le marché au Sénégal avec Moussou Pré-visionnement Existe-t-il des marchés en plein air aux Etats-Unis? (Do open markets exist in the United States ?)

Que vend-on d’habitude dans ces marchés ? (What does one typically sell in those markets ?)

Imaginez un marché en Afrique de l’Ouest. Décrivez-le en vos propres termes. (Imagine a market in Africa. Describe it in your own way) Visionnement (http://independances.tv5monde.com/#/trip/SEN/1197/) Post visionnement Qu’est-ce que vous avez-vu ? (What did you see ?)

Qu’est-ce qui vous a intrigué, surpris, choqué ? (What shocked, surprised or intrigued you ?)

Y-a-t-il des similarités ou des différences entre ce que vous avez-vu et imaginé sur les marchés en Afrique? entre un marché en plein air aux Etats-Unis et au Sénégal ? Discutez. (What type of similarities or differences between what you saw and what you perceived about markets in Africa? between an open market in the United States and a market in Senegal?)

Qu’est-ce que vous avez appris de la guide Moussou ? (What did you learn from Moussou the guide ?)

Quels éléments culturels pourriez-vous utiliser pour votre conte ?

(What cultural elements could you incorporate in your story ?)

Appendix D Peer editing form Your name: The name of the writer: The title of the composition: Begin your analysis with general comments about the composition strong points and any areas of improvement. Remember to keep your language positive.

A. General Content Analysis 43

Facebook for Foreign Languages: Part of the Net Generation Curriculum

By Joe Terantino, Ph.D. and Karen Graf Kennesaw State University In the past few years there has been an explosion in the availability and widespread use of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Consider that Facebook currently has more than 500 million active users worldwide (Battishill, 2011; Facebook press room, 2011). Not quite as extensively as in the general population, but still an emerging pattern in foreign language educational trends, Facebook has also been adopted by some for teaching purposes (Blattner & Fiori, 2009; Mills, 2009; Roberts, 2009). It is this potential for learning and teaching with Facebook that leads to the present article, which aims to review the idea of utilizing Facebook for foreign language education.

Feeding off of the popularity and social nature of Facebook this article describes how it could be integrated into foreign language courses to encourage target language production. For this purpose there is a description of Facebook and statistics related to its use, a profile of what we feel should be the net generation curriculum, and an explanation of how using Facebook could take advantage of the students’ inherent social nature. These broader descriptions are followed by two examples of specific Facebook projects implemented at Kennesaw State University in 2010. Last, there is a discussion of the concerns and benefits encountered during the aforementioned projects.

Facebook Social media sites, such as Facebook, provide a means of communication that is highly accessible to users across the globe. In addition, they allow users to participate in a collaborative form of knowledge construction, because they provide tools for creating and sharing information with others. In particular, Facebook is a social networking website that allows people to connect with other users through the exchange of profiles, conversation, photos, and videos. As mentioned previously, at the beginning of 2011 Facebook recorded over 500 million active users and the average user reported connecting with 130 friends. Moreover, almost half of the fastest growing demographic of teens and young adults reported that they check Facebook as soon as they wake up in the morning (Battishill, 2011). While a considerable portion of those in the United States use Facebook to connect socially, in fact 70% of the total users reside in other countries around the world utilizing this social networking tool in more than 70 languages (Battishill, 2011; Facebook Press Room, 2011).

The Net Generation Curriculum Net generation students are connected, digital, and highly social. The Internet and social media sites such as Facebook play a critical role in the lives of these students 44

(Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010). Having said this, it is essential that educators design the net generation curriculum with these characteristics in mind.

Thus, it is our opinion that this curriculum should be derived from social and student -centered views of learning such as Sociocultural Theory (Vygotsky, 1978) or social constructivism (Bruner, 1966; 1973), which are better suited to tap into the collaborative nature of the students.

Included in this idea of the net generation curriculum are the pervasive social media sites and web 2.0 tools, which allow students to actively participate in the creation and widespread exchange of information. Facebook, in particular, provides students a digital environment in which they can connect with other students. In addition, the Facebook platform offers the potential to access real world resources that enable a more diversified participation in the processes of knowledge construction and rehearsal. Last, we feel that including social media in the net generation curriculum is essential considering the expanding global use of such tools.

Educational Uses of Facebook for Language Learning As students become increasingly connected through social networking sites such as Facebook, it is important for language educators to explore how these can be utilized specifically in the foreign language classroom. Facebook provides a target language friendly interface created for and used by native speakers in a format familiar to students. As users connect, they are able to share internet links and multimedia such as photos or videos with ease. This could allow the instructor to facilitate discussion among students of target language and culturally relevant material. As well, students can choose to follow a certain celebrity, athletic team, restaurant, event, city, or group from the target language country which enables users to receive updates and interviews, read comments, and participate in discussions in the foreign language.

Utilized as a communicative tool in the foreign language classroom, Facebook can also serve to promote collaboration through target language discussions, status updates, comments, and questions. Students can discuss or describe a photograph or video or can facilitate an activity in which they describe in the foreign language a certain place, person, activity, etc. and other students try to guess what it is.

Instructors can also create hypothetical events in the target language country and design a discussion around the students’ anticipation before, experiences during, and thoughts after attending the event. These types of collaborations can promote a sense of connection and community between the students allowing for a richer and more engaging learning experience. In this manner Facebook allows for multidimensional conversation, both among students and between students and the instructor.

Example Facebook Activities In this section we will describe our specific Facebook-based activities, which were implemented at Kennesaw State University in the fall of 2010. The two activities include a simple, autobiographical profile writing assignment for a beginning Spanish course (SPN 1001) and a more sophisticated series of culture and photo45

based writing assignments for an intermediate Spanish course (SPN 2001).

Beginning Spanish Facebook Activity The Facebook activity implemented with the beginning Spanish course was simple in nature and easy to complete. The students were asked to enter basic information about themselves in Spanish, including a written description of themselves, their university, and their family. For this purpose, Facebook was a good fit, because much of the basic information included in the Facebook profile is related to material that was previously covered in the course: “la escuela”, “la universidad”, “el empleador”, and “la información básica”. Once the students had completed their profiles, they were asked to “friend” the instructor and the other students in the class and to begin posting target language messages on each other’s pages.

The subsequent results of this initial written assignment were both fascinating and encouraging. First, the students were able to successfully complete their writings in Facebook as they would have done in a more traditional writing assignment. There was a significant difference in the apparent level of excitement on behalf of the students when they began working in Facebook. Second, beyond the formal, graded writing assignment completed in Facebook, the students were also asked at various times throughout the semester to post informal assignments. On one occasion the students were asked to write about their favorite athletes without referring to the person by name. Then, other students read these posts and attempted to identify the individual based on the descriptions given. Last, and perhaps the most significant occurrence, there was a plethora of extracurricular writing that took place in the target language. Much like in normal, daily Facebook activity, the students frequently visited other students’ pages, reviewed their updates, and posted target language messages about a variety of topics. All of this extracurricular target language writing was done voluntarily, not at the request of the instructor.

Intermediate Spanish Facebook Activity The Facebook activity utilized in the intermediate Spanish course was presented to the students as an opportunity to write and discuss about a hypothetical semester study abroad program in Mexico City. The purpose of connecting on a social media site such as Facebook was to meet and engage in conversation with other students who would be studying in the same program and living in the same dorms. The instructor became the hypothetical study abroad coordinator in Mexico which allowed for facilitation of cultural events and excursions and discussion on Facebook of students’ experiences studying in another country and acquiring a foreign language. Students completed a basic profile in Spanish describing where they were from and their education, family and interests. After connecting with all the other students in the class as well as the instructor, students began to engage in target language conversation, asking questions, giving opinions, debating topics, and sharing experiences as if they were really studying in a foreign country. For the main writing assignment, students created virtual photo albums in which they were asked to provide a series of pictures and describe, in Spanish, their first week in Mexico City. In addition to writing about their own experiences, students were also 46

asked to comment on their classmates’ experiences and photographs that were posted. Finally, students were required to update their status at least twice a week and engage in target language discussion with their fellow classmates.

The initial intent of the instructor in using Facebook was to promote interpersonal communication among students in the target language through discussion questions, status updates, and description of photos, videos, and events. However, an unexpected result of this activity was the cultural competence gained by the students as demonstrated in their ability to seek out culturally appropriate descriptions and engage in meaningful discussions about certain habits and practices of the target language culture. As students were situated in a certain target language city and assigned a specific role, to carry out the specific tasks of the assignment they needed to understand the culturally appropriate practices of a university student living in Mexico City. For example, students posted photos or discussed certain cultural practices such as greeting fellow classmates with a kiss on the cheek, they mapped a specific bus route to arrive at the university, and they participated in a protest against raises in student tuition. As well, students were invited by the instructor to attend hypothetical cultural excursions in the specific city and were asked to write about their experiences, facilitating the need to understand the cultural importance of the sites visited and the events attended. This awareness of the target language culture as well as the sense of community and collaboration promoted through discussions, messages, and comments in the foreign language, provided students with a multi-dimensional language and cultural experience based in the Facebook environment.

Considerations Based on our experiences with implementing Facebook in foreign language courses, we determined there are several things to consider for future endeavors. First, it is important to protect the rights to privacy of the students and instructors. For this purpose, it is recommended to only allow the students and the instructor access to the Facebook pages. Furthermore, with regards to privacy, both students and instructors are encouraged not to reveal information that could be too personal or deemed inappropriate in the educational setting. As a rule of thumb we suggest that instructors filter this information in the same manner as you would in a face-to-face class.

Second, it is important to establish clear expectations for the Facebook assignments including step-by-step procedures for creating a new account and completing the required components of the assignment, and outlining what is appropriate student behavior in the Facebook environment. For example, one should define appropriate student behaviors in the online, Facebook environment including guidelines for posting texts, pictures, and videos to be shared with the instructor and other classmates. This type of approach is meant as a reminder to the students that participating in an online environment for educational purposes comes with expectations similar to traditional class meetings.

Third, one should consider how to treat error correction with Facebook. For the 47

purposes of our Facebook-based activities we made a conscious decision not to correct errors as they occurred. We feared that constant error correction might negatively influence the amount of target language produced by the students. We felt it was more important to encourage natural and free flowing interpersonal communication. Perhaps, private messages could be sent for extreme cases or repeated mistakes. Also, it may be appropriate to offer target language vocabulary where students have reverted to L1 in their posts. On the other hand, for the formal writing assignments completed in Facebook we did provide written feedback and we assigned grades using a rubric designed for foreign language writing. This feedback was intended to target the strengths and shortcomings of the students’ writing while encouraging further learning and development.

Conclusion Based on our experiences with integrating Facebook in foreign language courses there are several perceived benefits. First, using Facebook seems to have a significant impact on language learning. It allows students to engage with peers in a familiar format and for an academic purpose. More importantly for foreign language courses, it provides opportunities for informal conversations in the target language.

In addition, the Facebook platform allows for access to authentic materials and the sharing of culturally relevant photos, videos, and music. These features appear to promote social and active language learning.

Second, the nature of the student-to-student and student-to-instructor interactions is more multi-dimensional than traditional writing assignments. For example, in many cases the traditional writing assignment is accompanied by one-time feedback and assessment from the instructor. In the Facebook environment feedback can be delivered more dynamically. It can be more easily given and can be done so immediately. In addition, this type of more informal feedback often comes from both the instructor and other students, which further promotes the sense of collaboration that accompanies the social media environment.

Third, on a more personal note, collectively in our teaching experience at various levels of education we have never encountered such genuine excitement on behalf of the students to participate in an activity using the target language. We could not have predicted the shear amount of linguistic production from the students especially that which emerged outside of the formal writing assignments. The students seemed to enjoy lurking, checking, reading, and writing completely in Spanish. Even students who were typically reserved and non-participatory in class quickly emerged as highly productive students in this environment.

In closing, it is our hope that by sharing our experiences with utilizing Facebook we may further the discussion of integrating social media in foreign language education.

We feel that the successes we experienced may be easily replicated with other languages and educational settings.

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References Battishill, R. (2011). Obsessed with Facebook: Statistics & facts for 2011. The Blog.

Available from, http://thinkmarketing.org/2011/01/obsessed-with-facebook -statistics-facts-for-2011/ Blattner, G., Fiori, M. (2009). Facebook in the language classroom: Promises and possibilities. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Dis tance Learning, 6(1).

Bruner, J. (1966). Toward a theory of instruction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univer sity Press.

Bruner, J. (1973). Going beyond the information given. New York: Norton.

Facebook Press Room, (2011). Available from, http://www.facebook.com/press/ info.php?statistics Lenhart, A., Purcell, K., Smith, A., & Zickuhr, K. (2010). Social media and young adults. Available from, http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/SocialMedia-and-Young-Adults.aspx Mills, N. (2009). Facebook and the use of social networking tools to enhance lan guage learner engagement. Available from, http://works.bepress.com/ nicole_mills/29/ Roberts, W. (2009). Facebook interactions and writing skills of Spanish language students. Unpublished master’s thesis. Available from, http:// digitalhori zonsonline.org/ Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental proc esses. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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North Forsyth High School Shifts toward Innovations and Technologies: World Language Department Journey

By Olga Glymph North Forsyth High School North Forsyth High School is located in Cumming, Georgia. The World Language Department consists of 10 teachers and represents Spanish, French, German, and Russian languages. The work of the department focuses on the school mission that states that it is an open, non-traditional learning community where learning is visible, individualized, student-oriented, integrated, ongoing, and nationally recognized.

During the school year of 2009-2010, the department introduced Marketplace Spanish for Georgia State Court Interpreters and Translators. The idea for the course originated from the work of Mr. Robert Lopez with the Spanish Club. This teacher and the students quickly assessed the community need for Spanish Interpreters and Translators. To answer the demand, Mr. Robert Lopez developed the course that takes place over a two year period. The entire Spanish team works to identify knowledgeable and talented students who would eventually join this rigorous course. Prerequisites and teacher recommendation are required to be placed in Marketplace Spanish. During the first year, students learn the ethics and basics of court interpreting and translating. They study in detail comprehensive vocabulary units and drill all modes of interpreting and translating. In the second year of the course, students are placed in local businesses and organizations to practice their interpreting and translating skills. Throughout the two-year period, students prepare to take the necessary examinations in order to be certified by the Georgia Commission on interpreters (COI). Mr. Robert Lopez strongly believes in giving back to the community. He organized many trips to the local court and initiated networking with the local businesses.

Another initiative that the department implemented is Military Russian. The course was developed by the author of this article. 2010-2011 is the first year of the Russian program at North Forsyth High School. It is only the second school in Georgia that offers Russian. Currently 58 students are pursuing the studies of this Slavic language and culture. 10 of them are also ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) students. North Forsyth is the only high school in Forsyth County that offers the ROTC program. In addition to learning Russian 1 curriculum that focuses on such units as introduction, school and friends, family and home, food, shopping, geography, sports, leisure, ROTC students also focus on military vocabulary and drill listening and reading skills through the numerous language labs. These students received personal netbooks for the use in the course from the school at the beginning of the school year.

Competent military with strong language skills is always in great demand. Russian is one of the critical need languages so vital for the country national defense. There 50

is a growing potential for doing business in modern Russia. Georgia needs to develop more partnerships with other countries that would stimulate more economic growth locally. There is a significant presence of the Russian community in the metro Atlanta. Further, there are numerous families who adopted from the former Soviet Union and would like for their children to preserve the heritage language. As the needs of our world and society change, we must recognize and provide courses that would adequately prepare our students. In response, the department has developed and implemented Military Russian and Marketplace Spanish for Georgia Court Interpreters and Translators.

Now let us examine the previously conducted research on instructional technologies in world language instruction as well as share our experiences of their practical implementation.

Instructional Technologies: A Review of the Research Byrne (2007), Sun (2010), Taylor et al. (2005), Ducate & Lomicka (2008) conducted studies to identify positive impact of new instructional technologies on student motivation to learn. However, very few studies focus on the relationship of instructional technology integration and student academic achievement. Even less studies focus specifically on integration of new technologies in foreign language teaching and learning. Today instructional technology is bound to bring more ways for students to practice their reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills in a foreign language and to open up possibilities for more interaction and engagement than the traditional teaching aids. Of course, no instructional technology by itself may replace or substitute direct teacher instruction.

As new technologies rapidly change and appear on the education market, it is imperative to analyze and evaluate their effectiveness for student learning and achievement. A big part of current technologies are designed for communicative tasks. Students studying foreign languages need more opportunities to actively produce language and more chances to use it as a tool of communication inside and outside of the classroom. Furthermore, world language teachers are encouraged to utilize instructional technologies to support their teaching. It is embedded in Georgia Performance Standards for languages. Thus, it sounds like a perfect match. Let us examine the previous research findings and theoretical foundations.

The theoretical framework for teaching with instructional technologies embraces social constructivism of Piaget and Vygotsky who were proponents of active learning approach where students learn best by doing and collaborating in their social groups. Awodele et al. (2009) stated that social software tools support a social constructivist approach to e-learning by providing students with personal tools and engaging them in social networks. Gunawardena et al. (2009) included social networking as an important part of theoretical framework for building online learning communities. Angeli (2008) stated that the framework of distributed cognition serves as an analytic framework for explaining human aspects of cognition related to design or problem-solving tasks with computers. The distributed cognition framework can be used to examine the role and contribution of each constituent part 51

(the teacher, the learners, the tools, and the artifacts) in the learning process which in its turn will aid to understand better factors that may obstruct the successful integration of technology in the classroom. Frye et al. (2010) pointed out that national standards push for the design of technology-enhanced experiences with the focus on the content.

Warschauer (1997) identified advantages that the text-based nature of the language produced through computer-mediated communication (CMC) offers. He stated that the written performance is available for detained revision and accuracy development. This makes it unique when compared to other communication media.

Warschauer continued that computer-mediated communication is an effective pedagogical tool as it encourages collaborative learning in the language classroom.

He added that online communication increases the chances for interaction with other people because there are no time or place constraints. Warschauer further suggested that CMC creates the opportunity for a group to construct knowledge together, thus linking reflection and interaction. However, Walther, Anderson, and Park (1994) pointed out that certain online communication tools lose rich face-to-face communication. We must also add that CMC hinders the development of grammatical and lexical accuracy if an assignment is not form-focused.

Renzulli and Reis (2007) reported their research findings stating that technology provides true differentiation, matching unlimited resources to individual needs. The authors also outlined that technology produces higher engagement, which results in greater learning. Painter (2009), Blair and Godsall (2006) found that authentic, technology-based assessments allow students of all abilities to show their progress throughout the year no matter their beginning level of competency as these assessments give time for personal reflection and growth. Borau et al. (2009) affirmed that Twitter as a form of micro-blogging is suitable to train communicative and cultural competence anytime, anywhere, without face-to-face interaction. In a broader scope, this work contributes to the research on using Web 2.0 tools for learning. This is also referred to as e-learning. The researchers reported that students used Twitter frequently and spend between one to 10 minutes to create short Twitter updates and between five to 30 minutes on reading other students’ updates. About 70% of students stated that they find it easier to communicate in a foreign language after using Twitter.

Pop (2009) outlined that integrated reading/writing/speaking/listening Web 2.0 activities provide adult students the opportunity to experience real-world communication and authentic interactions, to expand language learning use and exposure, and to enhance correctness and involvement while promoting studentcentered autonomous learning. Castleberry and Evers (2010) recommended the usage of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach to ensure that all students can learn a foreign language successfully. They stated that the three principles of UDL are to support learning by providing multiple, flexible methods of presentation, expression and apprenticeship, and options for engagement. Technology provides the assistive support for students with diverse needs. The researchers suggested blogging because it allows students to be metacognitively aware of their learning process. They also noted that oral directions, lectures can be recorded via podcasts 52

so students and their parents can have access to them at any time.

Saeed et al. (2009) used the learning style survey which helped them analyze the dominant learning style, correlations between all styles, and frequency distribution.

They stated that correlations within all learning styles demonstrated strong relationships between verbal and reflective as well as intuitive and global learners.

In their study students preferred both asynchronous and synchronous communication. The researchers summoned that today’s learners are willing to stretch their learning styles to match a variety of teaching methods as well as use new technologies for communication and study. The authors also characterized intuitive learners as students who prefer discovering possibilities and relationships and are ready to test new things. They prefer blogs over Blackboard and email.

Saeed et al. (2009) agreed that web-based virtual learning environment was good for learners of all types as no significant differences were found in their grade achievement.

Pop (2009) stressed that new technology-based learning in foreign language education is slow and faced with resistance by many teachers due to lack of awareness, more comfort with text environment, limited computer literacy, and often thought that technology by itself does not ensure educational success. Slaouti and Barton (2007) explored the experiences of new qualified foreign language teachers who used information and communications technologies as a tool to support foreign language learning. They found that foreign language departments need to develop a sense of shared purpose not only through discussing how they see technologies as a tool for foreign language teaching but also through systematic planning. Educational leaders are influential as they provide encouragement and necessary support for teachers to integrate technologies into instruction successfully.

This support can be also offered through a rigorous professional development.

MacArthur (2009) recommended critical and proactive evaluation of new communication technologies. He viewed multimedia in writing, writing online, networking online to be the important skills in the nearest future. However, he noted that much more research is needed in the area of new instructional technologies and literacies.

Instructional technologies implemented at North Forsyth High School Let us examine how world language teachers utilize instructional technologies in their classrooms at North Forsyth High School. In her Spanish 3 classes Ms. Erinne Aponte uses podcasts http://spanishpod.com/ for each unit, focusing on a particular aspect of culture, which may include artists, music, city/place information, food, festivals, traditions, and culture-specific idioms. MLIII.INT1 states that students will be able to comprehend spoken and written language on newly acquired and familiar topics presented through a variety of media in the target language, including authentic materials. Here are the steps on how you can use podcasts in your own classroom. First, search the Internet for free and appropriate authentic sources. Download, save, edit or crop what is not useful or appropriate for your lesson. Ms. Aponte recommends careful editing of all downloaded materials. For example, avoid references to alcohol and smoking or idioms that have double 53

meanings. Next, listen several times to the podcast to determine the most important objectives for that particular piece. The same piece may be appropriate for more than one level but you must determine the student readiness. On the second listenthrough, identify how many times students at various levels may need to hear the excerpt in order to successfully complete the objectives. On the third listen-through, develop questions appropriate for the level of study. Level 3 students listen the first time for overall meaning. For further evaluation and assessment purposes, the teacher poses focus questions: What is the passage about? Can you identify overarching themes and/or details? What questions did the passage bring to mind? The second and third listening are accompanied by a set of questions, usually close or multiple choice format, depending on the degree of difficulty in the podcast. You may expand upon the listening activity by reading a transcript of what students heard for further clarification or for students who are more proficient in reading than in listening. It is suggested to assign a paragraph for students to write what they have learned about the target culture based on the listening activity.

In her French 2 class, the author of this article implemented texting assignment as part of a technology unit. According to MLII.IP1, students are expected to be able to ask questions and provide responses about plans and events, express feelings and emotions as well as use level-appropriate idiomatic expressions in the target language. The teacher researched and compiled a list of appropriate, most commonly used French texting abbreviations. First, students were offered several conversations for practice. Second, students composed their own text messages using the suggested scenarios. To analyze the effectiveness of this technology, the instructor utilized www.polleverywhere.com. It is possible to create a free account for use with 30 members. This website allows you to have a multiple choice poll where you define a list of possible answers. Data will be analyzed within seconds and displayed via graphs.

MLIII.P1 states that the students should be able to present information orally and in writing using familiar and newly-acquired vocabulary, phrases, and patterns in increasingly complex sentences and strings of sentences. MLIII.P2 continues that the students should be able to present student-created as well as culturally authentic stories, poems, and/or skits in the target language. French 3, French 4 and AP French students demonstrate the mastery of these two standards through digital storytelling on http://storybird.com. Having written the stories, students present them to the class audience. They are expected to revise and resubmit based on teacher and peer-feedback.

Per MLI.CCC1 students should be able to use information acquired in the study of the target language and information acquired in other subject areas to reinforce one another. The students are expected to demonstrate knowledge of geographical locations and identify major countries, cities, and geographical features of the places where the target language is spoken. With the tool such as Google Earth, teachers and students are given an ample opportunity for virtual visits and visuals. What an exciting opportunity to visit countries, cities, places mentioned in the books that you study! In addition to Google Earth, students in all French and Russian classes have been actively using Google Docs for collaborative work.

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In German class during the review unit students created voki avatars using the website Voki (www.voki.com) to demonstrate the mastery of the following GPS: MLI.IP1.A, B, F; MLI.IP2C; and MLI.P1B. Ms. Sylvia Everson instructed her students to complete a 40-60 second monologue about themselves as well as their likes and preferences. On the first day students went into the computer lab to familiarize themselves with the logging in procedure and demonstration on how to make an avatar. They created their first avatars, customizing appearance, clothing, backgrounds, etc. On the second day students edited their avatars and recorded the required monologue. They found out that speaking in their own voices worked much better than typing the information in. The program has the ability to understand German and pronounce the typed information in German. However, the program voice does not sound as natural as students’ own voices. Finally, students named, saved, and published their avatars for future access. Ms. Everson used a rubric that focused on pronunciation and proper use of the vocabulary for assessment purposes.

We hope that you found this article useful and will implement available technologies in your own classroom. Nowadays, the whole world is on our smart phones, I-Pads, or other electronic devices. Why not use it for the benefits of student learning and engagement in world language classroom?

References Angeli, C. (2008). Distributed cognition: A framework for understanding the role of computers in classroom teaching and learning. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 34(3), 250-273.

Awodele, O., Idowu, S., Anjorin, O., Adedire, A., & Akpore, V. (2009). University enhancement system using a social networking approach: Extending elearning. Issues in Informing Science & Information Technology, 269-283.

Blair, R. & Godsall, L. (2006). One school’s experience in implementing eportfolios: Lessons learned. Distance Learning, 3(3), 15- 24.

Borau, K., Ullrich, C., Feng, J., & Shen, R. (2009). Microblogging for language learning: Using Twitter to train communicative and cultural competence.

Retrieved from http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1616127 Byrne, R. (2009). The effect of Web 2.0 on teaching and learning. Teacher Librarian, 37(2), 50-53.

Castleberry, G., & Evers, R. B. (2010). Incorporate technology into the modern language classroom. Intervention in School & Clinic, 45(3), 201-205. doi:10.1177/1053451209349535 Ducate, L., & Lomicka, L. (2008). Adventures in the blogosphere: From blog readers to blog writers. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 21(1), 9-28. doi:10.1080/09588220701865474 Frye, E. M., Trathen, W., & Koppenhaver, D. A. (2010). Internet workshop and blog publishing: Meeting student (and teacher) learning needs to achieve best practice in the twenty-first-century social studies classroom. Social Studies, 101(2), 46-53. doi:10.1080/00377990903284070 Gunawardena, C., Hermans, M., Sanchez, D., Richmond, C., Bohley, M., & Tuttle, R. (2009). A theoretical framework for building online communities of 55

practice with social networking tools. Educational Media International, 46 (1), 3-16. doi:10.1080/09523980802588626 MacArthur, C. A. (2009). Reflections on research on writing and technology for struggling writers. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice (Blackwell Publishing Limited), 24(2), 93-103. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5826.2009.00283.x Painter, D. D. (2009). Providing differentiated learning experiences through multigenre projects. Intervention in School and Clinic, 44(5), 288-93. DOI: 10.1177/1053451208330900 Pop, A. (2009). Quality standard and the new technologies (NT) in higher education foreign language instruction. Annals of DAAAM & Proceedings, 17211722.

Renzulli, J., & Reis, S. (2007). A technology based program that matches enrichment resources with student strengths. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 2(3), 57-64.

Saeed, N., Yun, Y., & Sinnappan, S. (2009). Emerging web technologies in higher education: A case of incorporating blogs, podcasts and social bookmarks in a web programming course based on students' learning styles and technology preferences. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 12 (4), 98-109. Available from, http:// web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/ehost/detail? hid=122&sid=0d9fa29d-10e8-4232-8757- f879f9df01d8% 40sessionmgr104&vid=8&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY2 9wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=44785101 Slaouti, D., & Barton, A. (2007). Opportunities for practice and development: New qualified teachers and the use of information and communications technologies in teaching foreign languages in English secondary school contexts. Journal of In-service Education, 33(4), 405-424.

Sun, Y. (2010). Extensive writing in foreign-language classrooms: A blogging approach. Innovations in Education & Teaching International, 47(3), 327339. doi:10.1080/14703297.2010.498184 Taylor, A., Lazarus, E., & Cole, R. (2005). Putting languages on the (drop down) menu: Innovative writing frames in modern foreign language teaching.

Educational Review, 57(4), 435-455. doi:10.1080/00131910500278322 Walther, J., Anderson, J., & Park, D. (1994). Interpersonal effects in computermediated interaction: A metaanalysis of social and antisocial communication. Communication Research, 21, 460-487.

Warschauer, M. (1997). Computer-mediated collaborative learning: Theory and practice. The Modern Language Journal, 81, 470-481.

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Making the World Your Classroom Ryan N. Boylan, M.A. Gainesville State College Culture is oftentimes not treated as an important or essential element of foreign language teaching and learning. In fact it has been presented as a separate component, subordinate to the teaching of the language itself (Scarino, 2010) and often found on the periphery of foreign language instruction (Furstenberg, 2010).

Knowledge about foreign language teaching and learning has increased dramatically since the introduction of the internet and in the last 10-15 years foreign language teaching has shifted away from the communicative approach and towards the paradigm of intercultural (communicative) competence (Pergum, 2008).

Intercultural competence refers to the ability to effectively and competently communicate ideas about not just other cultures, but one’s own culture as well, and compare and contrast the two. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, published a report called Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century, which focuses on the five C’s of foreign language, FL education: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities. In this paper, I will discuss each of the Five C’s, focusing on Culture, and discuss how to create meaningful cultural experiences on any budget. Finally, I discuss how to ensure that students have benefitted from and expanded on their cultural competence. In addition, I discuss whether or not the experience served its primary purpose, to offer students an out-of-class cultural experience that they may not experience inside the traditional classroom.

Many educators might struggle with even attempting to organize and coordinate a cultural experience when it is so time consuming and difficult to set up. In order to address that, each of the Five C’s must be analyzed in order to understand the necessity of these experiences. Any and all cultural experiences can and do address some, if not all, of these elements. So, if all of the Five Cs of foreign language education can be addressed with one event, the experience should become a reality.

It can be a profitable situation for everyone involved in that it can give the students access to the kind of education they need and deserve and it can help boost the level of any language program.

Review of the Literature The notion of culture has been discussed and defined repeatedly with variation so it is necessary to operationalize culture and how it is termed in the literature. First, there seem to be some common elements of culture that are shared in these definitions. For example, Triandis (2007) states that there are many ways to define culture, “but almost all researchers see certain aspects as characteristics of culture.

First, culture emerges in adaptive interactions between humans and environments.

Second, culture consists of shared elements. Third, culture is transmitted across time periods and generations (p. 64).

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Fiske (2002) defines culture as “a socially transmitted or socially constructed constellation consisting of such things as practices, competencies, ideas, schemas, symbols, values, norms, institutions, goals, constitutive rules, artifacts, and modifications of the physical environment” (p. 85). Fiske introduces the notion of competency, which is is a combination of cultural knowledge and cultural awareness. Cultural knowledge is what is taught in the classroom. That is, the focus is on what a group of people eat or wear, for example. Cultural awareness, on the other hand, is the ability to critically reflect on differences between cultures, specifically between the native culture (C1), and the target culture (C2). (Johnson & Nelson, 2010). Cultural awareness encourages students to reflect on and compare and contrast the target language and culture with their own native language and culture (Knutson, 2006).

Culture itself has been seen as static – a set of skills and knowledge. However, recently there has been a shift toward conceptualizing culture as more of a process, a way of perceiving, understanding and interpreting the world (Robinson-Stuart & Nocon, 1996). Yajuan (2009) refers to the former as formal culture or the basic elements of a civilization: its geography, history, literature, art, music, politics, economy, education, philosophy, law, religion, and science and technological advances. He refers to the latter as deep culture, which includes the more complex aspects of a civilization such as the patterns of behavior, thoughts, beliefs, values and social customs. Arens (201) underscores these two views of culture pointing towards the importance of culture as a process.

Understanding a C2 requires knowledge of acts embodied in groups and negotiated through their mechanisms of imposing points of view, marking identities, and the like, and it requires an awareness of the patterns of sociocultural interaction using elements and items of such knowledge. (p. 323) The teaching of culture as a process and not just static information poses a further problem, that of the uncomfortable teacher. Foreign language teachers may be afraid to teach culture because they do not know where to begin. Moreover, they may not have strategies to teach culture. Instead, they may choose to either teach only what is introduced by the textbook or refrain completely from teaching culture (Tsou, 2005). Another problem that exists in teaching culture is the lack of time that teachers have to teach culture: “We have a hard enough time covering what we are supposed to – the language structure. There’s just no time left to teach culture, too”(Seeyle 1974). To this end, Seeyle has noted that there are several ways in which to bring together the study of language and culture. These include making language instruction interdisciplinary, training the instructor through immersion in the target culture abroad and creating both in-class and outside instruction.

Tang (2008) asks what components of culture need to be emphasized in classroom instruction. This is a valid question as most cultural passages in textbooks meant to introduce students to different cultures are limited to a picture and a brief explanation or description of the picture. This format does not effectively expose students to other cultures and evoke a scholarly discussion on culture. It confirms the notion of culture as a static entity, not a process. Foreign language teachers must be cognizant of the fact that it is not easy to teach culture, let alone culture as a 58

process. As Tang notes, the teaching of culture and its importance are paramount in foreign language instruction, but that this is very challenging as well because teachers must be proficient in the target culture or cultures and they need materials which are sufficient enough to teach the corresponding cultural connections.

Seeyle (1993) puts forth six skills that are needed, in both teachers and students, to effectively teach and learn about the target culture. First, there is a need for cultural curiosity and empathy towards its members. Second, there must be some recognition of the role expectations and other variables affect the way people speak and behave.

Third, there needs to be a realization that effective communication requires discovering the cultural condition images that are evoked when people think, act, and react to the world around them. Fourth, situational variables and conversations shape behavior in important ways and consequently recognizing these ways. Fifth, people act as they do in the target culture in order to satisfy physical and psychological needs. Finally, Seeyle finds that teachers and students need to develop the ability to evaluate the strength of generalizations about the target culture and to organize information about the target culture from the resources available.

Moran (2001) echoes such a notion, but chooses to condense the skills into four parts of the cultural experience: knowing about, knowing how, knowing why and knowing oneself.

This last element of knowing oneself seems to be main reason behind the teaching and learning of cultures. Hall (1959) and Knutson (2006) concurred stating that the real reason behind the teaching and learning of culture is not just to understand other cultures, but more importantly to understand our own. Damen (1987) elaborates on this idea stating that Cross-cultural awareness involves uncovering and understanding one’s own culturally conditioned behavior and thinking, as well as patterns of others. Thus, the process involves not only perceiving the similarities and differences in other cultures but also recognizing the givens of the native culture (p.141).

Stepping Outside the Classroom It will not be argued that being culturally literate is important. Nor will it be argued that having the proper materials is important. As a matter of fact, both of these assertions are true and sadly many foreign language programs are lacking both.

What these refer to, however, is related to in-class cultural learning. Seeyle (1993) gives three ways to teach culture in the classroom: cultural assimilators, culture capsules and culture clusters. There is only so much that can be done in the classroom as this short list shows. Even with today’s technology, which gives more options to the teacher in creating the cultural curriculum for their classroom, as stated above time constraints make it hard to effectively teach culture.

I suggest that the key may not lie simply within the textbook or even the classroom, but rather outside of the classroom, beyond the four walls restricting students and educators alike from exploring the world as it was meant to be explored. In essence, educators need not settle for trying to bring the world into their classroom, for that is 59

impossible, but rather they should take the risk of bringing their classroom out into the world, of actually making the world their classroom. The world itself is the best classroom, for it and the experiences it affords everyone can take cultural education to a level that even the most culturally competent teacher and the best textbook cannot.

Kinginger (2008) posits that study abroad is the most common alternative to in-class teaching of culture. It is often seen as a reward for intense and dedicated language studies, the first time when these studies become truly relevant in everyday life.

Kearney (2010) challenges this notion stating that it can be dangerous and even counter-productive. Also, she finds that in-class cultural instruction is problematic as well.

It is akin to throwing students into the deep end of a pool wearing goggles cast in opaque plastic. Students do indeed find themselves surrounded by water, but they often cannot orient themselves or navigate their new environment because they can refer only to what the pool looked like before they were thrown into it. On the other hand, much of classroom-based FL instruction is akin to announcing to students that the pool is closed for the season (p. 333).

Where Kearney suggests than in-class cultural immersion is a remedy to this conundrum, I posit a meeting place of these two ideas, out of class, in-town experiences. These can be beneficial for student learning if approached mindfully.

To continue with Kearney’s pool metaphor, I see these particular cultural experiences as a way of allowing students to wade into the pool and get used to their surroundings a little at a time. In a way, what is done in the classroom is an introduction to culture with students learning about the basics, getting an idea and starting to see connections discussed in class.

The out of class, in-town cultural experiences allow students to start learning and experiencing on their own, with some help from the educator. It could fit into Krashen’s (1982) idea of i+1, his Input Hypothesis, where the teacher provides cultural comprehensible input gained in class with that of an experience that adds an extra element to this knowledge. Therefore, with these cultural experiences, students get much more than what is offered in class, but are not over stimulated by culture as they might be going directly into a study abroad program, as Kearney suggests.

Research Questions In a novel approach to enhancing cultural understanding and competency, I sought to answer the following research questions: 1. What is the interest of students in taking part in cultural experiences outside of the classroom?

2. Are cultural experiences outside of the classroom worthwhile?

3. Did the students feel the cultural outing was cost-prohibitive?

4. What did students like most/least about the outing?

5. In what other types of cultural experiences would students be willing to participate?

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Method Rationale The in-classroom cultural experience is severely lacking, being limited to what is presented in the textbooks. I suggest that it is not only better, but essential to take this experience outside the classroom and into the surrounding community. In addition, while it may seem that such endeavors are too expensive or time consuming for students or that their interest may not be peaked by such an opportunity, I argue that the opposite is true and the data show this. Students are willing to experience culture outside of the classroom.

Sample During the 2010-2011 academic year, students enrolled in Spanish 1001-2002 level classes at a rural liberal arts college in the southern part of the United States were asked to participate in this research. The participants (N = 32), included men and women between 18-35 years of age (M = 25), both traditional and non-traditional students from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The sample demographics were similar to the college’s student demographics. Of the participants’ responses, six interesting cases were analyzed for the purpose of this study.

Research Instrument After the cultural experience, students filled out a survey (Appendix A). This instrument was designed with several goals in mind. First, students were asked to rank their opinions of elements related to the experience. Next, they were asked for input about what they liked and disliked about the experience. Finally, they were asked their opinions about future cultural event possibilities, whether or not they would attend, and whether or not they would attend as part of a group or individually.

Context The visit to a local museum was set up for a Saturday in the fall at 11:00am. The researcher collected the ticket money($5) from the participants and purchased the tickets online in advance of the date of the event. The participants met the researcher at the museum at 10:30am the day of the event to get their tickets. They entered the museum as a group to see the exhibit of masterworks by a prominent Spanish painter, Salvador DalĂ­. The tour took almost three hours to complete based on whether the students used the audio tour and/or how much they read about each piece of artwork as they viewed them. Students were to take their own pace and leave as they finished the tour.

Findings The results from the survey analysis were quite revealing. To answer the first research question about the interest of the students in taking part in cultural experiences outside of the classroom, the data indicated that, in each of the six cases, the students overwhelmingly rated the trip as worthwhile and that they would recommend it to other students.

The data, taken of the actual experience, also supported the supposition that these 61

experiences would be beneficial. Two participants reported on the importance of this experience being offered through the school for them. The first respondent said, “I’m just thankful for the opportunity to go, because I wouldn’t have been able to any other way.” The second indicated the same sentiments almost verbatim, “If it was not for the college, I would not have been able to go to the museum.” Therefore, it may be interpreted that these types of experiences might be untenable for students if the school does not offer them. That is, the school oftentimes provides the only way for students to have these types of experiences.

To answer the question about whether or not the outing would be cost prohibitive, one respondent noted that “I enjoyed being able to attend the museum for such a low price.” In addition, the data speak to this question. The interest level itself indicates that students were willing and financially able to go. The number of actual participants who paid for the outing also indicates a financial ability to go.

To answer the next research question about what students liked most and least about the outing, the data show that the actual paintings were the best part. On respondent wrote, “I liked everything about the trip. I learned a lot about Dalí and his work. I liked reading the captions and learning about the symbolism.” The data also showed, as half of the cases analyzed indicated, that there was one element that could have been better – the tour itself. That is, there was concern with the number of people and the lack of a guided tour which impeded the students’ ability to view and enjoy all of the paintings the same. One student summed up this issue in the following way: “I don’t feel like we went to the [museum] as a college group. It was more of an independent thing.” Another student said the following: “There were too many people in the exhibit; you couldn’t really admire the pictures.” Such thought suggest that the cultural outing would be best when done as a group so that the explanations of the paintings can be clearer and so that, all students can have time to see and study all of the paintings.

To answer the final research question about student interest in other outings, a number of possibilities for future experiences were given to the students to indicate whether they would go individually or as a college group or both. Of the cases analyzed, five out of six responded that that they would go to a dance or music concert individually or with a college group. However, only two of six said they would go to another art exhibition either by themselves or as a college group. When asked what kind of experiences they would want to see offered through the college, they said that “general stuff like shows, dances, events coming through for a limited time,” and “I think opera or theater or even festivals would be nice.”

Discussion The data collected strongly indicate that students are very much interested in taking part in these cultural experiences. This is exemplified by the number of participants and the wide range of different classes in which they were enrolled. The interest itself was even higher with more students expressing a desire to go (N=91) than were actually able to go. As for the second question, none of the respondents indicated any displeasure with the experience. The opposite was found . As 62

demonstrated by student responses, the students were grateful and thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this experience. In addition, of the cases examined, all but one student expressed interest in taking part in another cultural experience. As far as how the experiences could be improved in the future, students would be given a tour of the museum, either by a faculty member or by a museum guide to help better explain the art and its importance. In addition, it might be helpful to set up a carpooling list to help with parking and associated costs.

In some cases, schools may not particularly close to larger metropolitan areas. There are ways to have similar types of experiences in these cases. If an outing is not possible, bring the venue to your classroom. That is to say, one can visit museums such as the Prado Museum in Madrid virtually and take a virtual tour through the collection on display. Infusing this into a class lecture or series of lectures or making it a completely separate activity in a large auditorium to maximize the number of participants would be a good idea. That will work for the visual arts, but then there is the question about what to do about performing arts. The answer is the same – bring the performance to you. Ask around and see of anybody knows someone who can dance the salsa, merengue or tango and who would be willing to teach it one day and invite them to your school. Invite local musicians to come play authentic music to your class. You Tube is another great way to bring a concert to class. In short, the possibilities are endless and the sky is the limit!

Limitations This study is not without limitations. Findings from this study should be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size. While the study was open to an entire college, the study was limited to one rural college in the southeast United States. In addition, the size of the pool of cases studied is even smaller. Therefore, this study should be seen as a start to what could become larger, more wide-spread research within the same college and within multiple schools in multiple regions in the United States as well. I call for more research on the teaching of culture outside the classroom in an effort to make more meaningful connections to language learning.

References Arens, K. (2010). The field of culture: The standards as a model for teaching cul ture. The Modern Language Journal, 94, 321-324.

Damen, L. (1987). Culture learning: The fifth dimension in the language classroom.

Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Fiske, A. P. (2002). Using individualism and collectivism to compare cultures – A critique of the validity and measurement of the constructs: Comment on Oyserman et al. (2002). Psychological Bulletin, 128, 78-88.

Hall, E.T. (1959). The silent language. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

Johnson, S. M. and Nelson, B.M. (2010). Above and beyond the syllabus: transformation in an adult, foreign language classroom. Language Awareness, 19(1), 35-50.

Kearney, E. (2010). Cultural immersion in the foreign language classroom: Some narrative possibilities. The Modern Language Journal, 94, 332-336.

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Kinginger, C. (2008). Language learning in study abroad: Case studies of Americans in France. Modern Language Journal, 92(,1), 1-14.

Knutson, E.M. (2006). Cross-cultural awareness for second/foreign language learners. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 62(4), 591-610.

Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Ox ford: Pergamon.

Moran, P. (2001). Teaching culture: Perspectives in practice. Boston: Heinle and Heinle.

Pergum, M. (2008). Film, culture and identity: Critical intercultural literacies for the language classroom. Language and Intercultural Communication, 8 (2), 136-154.

Robinson-Stuart, G. and Nocon, H. (1996). Second culture acquisition: Ethnography in the foreign language Classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 80(4), 431-449.

Scarino, A. (2010). Assessing intercultural capability in learning languages: A Re newed understanding of language, culture, learning, and the nature of as sessment. The Modern Language Journal, 94, 324-329.

Seeyle, H. N. (1974). Teaching culture: Strategies for foreign language education.

Skokie, IL: National Textbook Company.

Seeyle, H. N. (1993). Teaching culture: Strategies for intercultural communication (3rd ed). Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook Company.

Tang, Y. (2008). Beyond behavior: Goals of cultural learning in the second lan guage classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 90(1), 86-99.

Triandis, H.C. (2007). Culture and psychology: A history of the study of their rela tionships. In S. Katayama and D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology (pp. 59-76). New York: Guilford Press.

Tsou, W. (2005). The Effects of cultural instruction on foreign language learning.

Regional Language Centre Journal, 36(1), 39-57.

Yajuan, Y. (2009). On the cultures in foreign language teaching and tearning. Cana dian Social Science, 5(2), 74-78 Appendix A DalĂ­ Trip Follow-Up Survey

Rate the following 1-5 (1 = Worst, 5 = Best).

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

The field trip was worthwhile. _____ I would recommend this type of trip to a friend/classmate. _____ The information given before the trip was helpful. _____ The timeline for turning in forms and money was acceptable. _____ The slideshow (sent by email) was good. ____

Short Answer 1. What did you like most about the trip?

2. What did you like least?

3. What, if anything, could be done in the future to improve the trip?

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An iPad App Review: Tap Spanish in the Web

By Ransom Gladwin, PhD Valdosta State University There are several strengths of the Apple iPad, but one function stands out: the tablet is great for Internet browsing. With instant power-up, seamless scrolling, and pinchto-zoom, the iPad makes online reading a fun experience and, by extension, presents itself as a tool for the Spanish language learner. There are several dozen Spanish dictionaries or direct translators available for the iPad, but most function like an electronic dictionary, a technology that has been available for decades. Into this void I recommend Tap Spanish in the web, an app that allows one to look up words quickly – while still reading. Not found on the App Store Top Charts (Apple’s tracking system for popular apps), Tap Spanish in the web currently costs $2.99 in iTunes.

The strength of Tap Spanish in the web is that it lets one translate words without leaving the browser: no fumbling with minimizing and maximizing screens, and no time lost looking up words. The app functions as a twenty-first century always-on glossary. Operation is straightforward: open the app and search the web from within it. As you read, tap a word and the word appears at the bottom of the screen in Spanish and then in English. Tap Spanish also shows the entire sentence and a translation (albeit a fairly primitive one similar to Yahoo’s Babel Fish or Google Translator). One could buy the $29 Collins Pro dictionary for the iPad and get more depth, but the merit of Tap Spanish in the web lies in its elegant simplicity and inbrowser functionality. Tap Spanish in the web is a Japanese app by Flammy Design; its sister app, Tap English in the web (for ESL), is the #2 Paid Education app in Japan.

Shortcomings of Tap Spanish in the web include that one does not have the option to search e-books, pdfs, or embedded visuals, only the Web. Also, the built-in browser is best used only when specifically using the app, as it is limited in speed and function when compared to fully developed browsers such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Explorer, and Apple Safari.

In summary, Tap Spanish in the web is highly recommended, and it’s available for the iPad 1, iPad2, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Also, the app comes with a respectable set of fourteen favorites (high-quality, often updated, Spanish language sites) bookmarked and arranged by category. Tap Spanish in the web has proven to be a three dollar gem that enhances the Spanish language surfing experience.

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Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization.

A Book Review

By Amye R. Sukapdjo, Ph.D. Gainesville State College Yong Zhou, a distinguished professor at Michigan State University, concludes that American education is at a crossroads. Born and raised in China, yet bringing up his children in the United States, Zhou’s unique perspective is based on first-hand experiences at opposite ends of the globe as both a student and as a parent. He points out that these two different countries have valued divergent approaches to education – the knowledge-centered, more collective Eastern approach and the child -centered, more individual-oriented Western approach (p. 189) – and yet each finds itself making educational reforms to be more like the other.

The author is concerned that if the U.S. leans too much toward the standardization of knowledge, then it will potentially lose out on what makes American education so wonderful: creativity, flexibility, and individualization. So, why would Americans forego those learning environments where creative, divergent, and critical thinking is nurtured only to replace it with fact-focused, test-oriented classrooms? This is the question he poses to the reader.

Zhou proposes that focusing on educating our students to become globally minded and globally (inter)active citizens should be our goal. This will be achieved, in part, by highlighting international and foreign language education, which fosters a global perspective and global attitudes.

Chapter one reviews recent education reform in the United States, which were intended to close achievement gaps 1) among subgroups of the U.S. population, and 2) between the U.S. and foreign countries. Zhou discusses NCLB (No Child Left Behind) Legislation and how the standards and accountability movement has impacted K-12 classrooms, primarily through a focus on teaching-to-the-test approach in only those areas being tested (reading and math), and cites several reports that imply that American education is “broken” (p. 12). Zhou suggests that “the solution is not more math, science, and reading; more testing; and more accountability as prescribed by NCLB. In fact, NCLB could lead America into deeper crisis” (p. 18). Zhou suggests instead that what is needed is a new paradigm shift in the way we think about education, how we teach it, and how it is delivered.

In chapter two, he traces the history behind the myths, the fears, the politics and the business of accountability to the 1950s. He states, “the American public…seems to have accepted the notion that test scores are accurate measures of the quality of their schools…It is misleading, but immensely popular” (p. 33). Chapter three showcases 66

the strengths of American education, which values the individual, nurtures a “cando” attitude, and encourages local control of schooling. It is noted herein that those Asian countries having education systems where a strong history of high-stakes testing and sweeping, national standards exist (China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore) are eager to abandon those very systems. “We thus face a choice of what we want: a diversity of talents, of individuals who are passionate, curious, selfconfident, and risk taking; or a nation of excellent test takers, outstanding performers on math and reading tests” (p. 59).

In chapter four, Zhou explains how China is not a threat to America precisely because of the kind of education system it has been using – one where memorization and regurgitation are valued, one where “creativity and the risk-taking spirit” (p. 85) are absent. While Chinese students are often portrayed as being robotic, the history of their education system is enlightening and the reader has a better sense of why these students are such good test takers.

Chapters five and six discuss the challenges that globalization and technology present to the field of education. Some of these challenges include how to adequately prepare students for working and living in an ever shrinking, interconnected world (in both real-life and virtual settings). He notes that the education sector has yet to fully recognize the transformation that technology has brought to the world in which our students work, live, and interact.

Chapter seven considers 21st century skills, including the increased value of translators and interpreters whose expertise in bridging language and cultural gaps will be highly regarded. Because it is uncertain which set(s) of knowledge and skills will be most needed in the future, Zhou posits that a respect for diversity and for individuals is worthwhile.

Chapter eight will be of greatest interest to foreign language educators as global competency and cross-cultural competency are defined. Throughout this chapter, the importance of international and foreign language studies is underscored. Digital competency is also defined and is presented as an integral component of globalization. The final chapter recapitulates the author’s conclusion that American education is at a crossroads. He reminds the reader that teaching global competencies means placing international and foreign language education on par with math, science and reading. Moreover, he encourages the education community to embrace those qualities that make the American education experience so great.

Critique While chapters five and six seemed the most tenuously related parts of the book, they do open the reader’s eyes to the virtual world that exists on an entirely different level than most might imagine. The digital world is for many a reality, and educators cannot deny that most of their students are highly active participants in this online world.

Zhou’s personal experiences and anecdotes lend validity to much of his argument.

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Yet in chapter nine, there is a hint of self-promotion as he positions a project (developed by the Research & Development center he directs, which is sponsored by a Hong Kong-based foundation) as the optimal blend of Eastern and Western pedagogical philosophies.

Conclusion This book is recommended to foreign language educators, policymakers, administrators, and curriculum supervisors as they consider the way the American education system will prepare its globally oriented citizens for their future. It offers great support for considering international and language studies as being core elements to any student’s education in the 21st century.

Foreign Language Teacher Resources The editors recommend the following websites for language teachers: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Center for Applied Linguistics (www.cal.org) Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (www.carla.umn.edu) FL Teach (www.cortland.edu/flteach) National Capital Language Resource Center (www.nclrc.org)

To learn more about language teaching, the editors also recommend the following journals. Ask librarian for assistance if difficulties arise locating the journals.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Foreign Language Annals NECTFL Review (http://www2.dickenson.edu/prorg/nectfl/review.html) SCOLT Dimension (www.scolt.org) CSCTFL Report (http://www.csctfl.org/)

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Abstract This interview-based study examines a bilingual child’s speech to determine if there has been any negative effect on the child’s learned English caused by learning a second language (Spanish). For this purpose the child’s speech was compared to that expected of adult speech of a native speaker, and then analyzed with regards to morphology, syntax, and phonology. The results indicate that the child’s English language does approximate that of adult speech, and there were no apparent negative effects on the child’s English caused by interference from learning a second language. The study ends with a discussion of practical implications for parents and educators and ideas for future research.

Between the years 2000 and 2006 the growth in Hispanic population of the United States was 24.3%, and in 2006 documented Hispanics accounted for roughly 44.3 million inhabitants of the country’s population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). As a result of such growth there are an increasing number of children of immigrant parents in the United States. Subsequently, an important issue for these children is their linguistic development, both in English and in Spanish.

The primary objective of this study was to observe the speech of an individual child to determine to what extent learning Spanish simultaneously has affected the development of the child’s English language. To accomplish this, the researcher compares the child’s spoken English with that expected of adult speech of a native speaker. To accomplish these objectives the researcher implemented a qualitative research design by utilizing an interview session. In this session the child tells the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

In the remainder of this study I review several studies related to bilingualism. Then I present the context of the current research project and the methodology implemented in the study. The findings section contains a review of the child’s speech, including a discussion of morphology, syntax, and phonology. Last, I present several practical implications and ideas for conducting future research.

Literature Review Research on the impact of bilingualism has been a popular theme since the 1960s.

Many of the initial research findings indicated that learning a second language as a child caused added interference (Hakuta, 1986). However, Peal and Lambert (1962), found distinct cognitive advantages from being bilingual. After this pivotal research, there has been a gradual move towards an approach which identifies specific areas of concern and advantage for bilinguals.

For example, more recently a number of studies conducted with bilingual children have found that younger children develop two distinct phonological systems (Goldstein & Fabiano, 2007; Vihman, 2002). That is to say that as younger children begin to learn multiple languages simultaneously, they form separate language systems for handling the new information. Based on these findings several researchers have attempted to investigate the speech patterns of bilingual children.

Gildersleeve-Neumann, Kester, Davis, and Peña (2008) investigated SpanishEnglish bilinguals to determine if there was a difference in the amount of errors produced in English according to the amount of exposure in the two languages.

They found that equal exposure to both languages caused the children to produce 70

SPI

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FLAG Journal Submission Guidelines and Requirements Manuscripts must: 1. Appeal to the instructional, administrative, or research interests of foreign/second language educators at P-16 levels of instruction.

2. Be substantive and present new ideas or new applications of information related to current trends and teaching in the language field.

3. Be well written, clearly organized, and carefully proofread.

4. Include a complete reference list at the end.

5. Use the most recent APA [American Psychological Association] Guidelines, and not those of the Modern Language Association (MLA) or the Chicago Manual of Style. Please use the latest edition (5th ed., 2001) of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association as your guide.

6. Be no longer than 12-15 double-spaced pages in 12 pt. Times New Roman typeface, with 1 inch margins, black text on white paper. This does not mean that a slightly longer article is out of the question.

7. Do not submit a diskette with article you are submitting. Instead, submit your article electronically to pswanson@gsu.edu or scrooks@kennesaw.edu. Please follow these guidelines carefully to expedite the review and publishing process: a. Use a PC-compatible word-processing program, preferably Microsoft Word 2000 or a later version. b. Do not use the rich text format. c. Use a font size of 12 points and use only one font throughout — we require Times New Roman. d. Use italics and boldface type when necessary, but do not use underlining.

8. Be submitted with no authors' names indicated on the manuscript (for review purposes).

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10. Include an abstract of no more than 150 words.

11. Include a short biographical paragraph (this will appear at the bottom of the first page of the article). Please include this paragraph on a separate page at the end of your article. This paragraph should include the following information (no longer than 4-5 lines) 12. Include any figures and tables in APA format. Photographs, graphics, figures and tables must contribute to article content. Please be absolutely certain that all materials are complete with caption/credit information. Figures and Tables must be appropriately labeled in the article.

13. Not have been published previously nor be currently under review for publication elsewhere.

Manuscripts submitted to FLAG Journal cannot be returned, so authors should keep a copy for themselves. Submissions will be acknowledged within one month of receipt. The editor of FLAG Journal reserves the right to make editorial changes in any manuscript accepted for publication to enhance clarity or style. The author will be consulted only if the editing has been substantial, though the author will be able to review the article prior to publication.

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Checklist for Manuscript Submissions 1. Please remember to use the “spell check” and “grammar check” on your computer before you submit your manuscript.

consulted, but rather of the list of works you actually use in your article. Before you submit your manuscript, please check to make certain that each reference in the 2. Remember that with the APA article has a matching citation in the guidelines, notes (footnotes or Reference section. Then be sure that endnotes) are discouraged — such all information is considered to be either items in the References section have important enough to be included in been cited within the article itself. the article itself or not significant Please double check all Internet enough to be placed anywhere. If addresses before you submit the notes are necessary, however, they manuscript. should be endnotes.

9. Please makes certain that the 3. Please double-space everything in components you submit are in the your manuscript. following order: a. First page — with the article 4. The required font throughout is title, names and titles of authors, Times New Roman 12. their preferred mailing ad dresses, home and office phone 5. There should be only one space numbers, FAX numbers, E-mail after each period, according to APA addresses, and an indication as format. to which of the joint authors will serve as the primary contact per 6. All numbers above “nine” must son [also, times in the summer appear as Arabic numerals [“nine when regular and E-mail students” vs. “10 teachers”]. addresses may be inactive]; b. First page of the manuscript — 7. Please do not set up tabs at the should have the title of the arti beginning of the article (i.e., cle and the abstract. automatically); rather you should use c. The text of the article, Notes, the tab key on your computer each References, Appendices — in time you begin a new this order paragraph, which is to be indented e. The short, biographical para only 1/4 inch. graph (no more than 4-5 lines).

8. Remember that according to APA guidelines, the References section does not consist of a list of works 73

FLAG Membership Form FLAG dues are due by September 1 of each year and should be sent to FLAG Treasurer, Mary Ellen Foye, P.O. Box 734, Griffin, GA 30224 (eyofme@aol.com). [

[ [ [

[

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$15.00 - Student/Retired Membership (“student” means full-time, undergraduate student only; “retired” means retired and NOT teaching). Benefits: Subscription to The FLAG Journal, “Fall Features”, FLAG Conference at member rates, participation at the FLAG Contests. ] $25.00 – Regular Membership Benefits: Subscription to The FLAG Journal, “Fall Features”, FLAG Conference at member rates, participation at the FLAG Contests ] $40.00 Joint Spouses’ Membership Benefits: Subscription to The FLAG Journal, “Fall Features”, FLAG Conference at member rates, participation at the FLAG Contests ] $50.00 Patron Membership Available to individuals. Benefits: Subscription to The FLAG Journal, “Fall Features”, FLAG Conference at member rates, participation at the FLAG Contests. Name will be listed on the FLAG web page, in The FLAG Journal, and in the conference program. ] $50.00 Institutional Membership Available to institutions only. Subscription to The FLAG Journal, “Fall Features”. Name will be listed on the FLAG web page, in The FLAG Jour nal, and in the conference program.

Did a colleague urge you to join FLAG? If so, please let us know who it was (name, school, email), so that we can thank him or her for supporting our membership drive. Thank you for your support!

Please print clearly.

Name:__________________________________________________________ School:_________________________________________________________ County: ________________Level of Instruction: _______________________ School Address: _______________________________________________ ___

School Phone: _________________________ School FAX: ____________ Language taught: ______________________________________________ Home address: ________________________________________________ Home Phone: ______________________________ Email address: ______________________________________________________ 74

FLAG Awards Information Teaching Awards





Teaching Award Recognizes teachers who effectively strive to use various strategies, techniques, and materials to enhance the students' interest in, acquisition of, and proficiency in a second language. Two divisions will be recognized: P-12 and Post-Secondary.

Teacher of Promise Award Recognizes teachers in their first, second, or third year of teaching who show the promise to be an outstanding teacher and leader in foreign language education. Two divisions will be recognized: P-12 and Post-Secondary.

Leadership & Support Awards

  

Administrative Support of Foreign Languages Recognizes a Georgia Dean, Superintendent, Principal, or other administrator who has evidenced strong and overt support for foreign languages.

Fostering Partnerships With Foreign Languages Recognizes teachers who have sought to involve the community / business / colleges in foreign language activities, which may occur on or away from campus.

Leadership Award Recognizes those who have taken an active role in promoting foreign language education through professional and/or academic endeavors. Two divisions will be recognized: P-12 and PostSecondary.

On occasion and at the discretion of its board, FLAG may present additional ad hoc and/or one-time awards as warranted (e.g. for noteworthy, special accomplishments etc.). See webpage for more information <<http:// www.flageorgia.org/awards.htm>> Awards will be presented at the annual conference. Winners are requested to attend the luncheon where they will receive the actual award.

To make a nomination (and/or complete an application), see FLAG website.

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