Penobscot Foreign LanguageCollaborative

February 25, 2009

The following World Languages educators met on February 25, 2009 at Brewer High School:

Chris Crocker held the annual Spanish Total Immersion at Orono High School on February 27-28. About 80students spent Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon participating in activities in the Spanish language. The immersion enjoyed publicity in local media for its contribution to the language education of those who attended and for the teaching and learning of world languages.

Jane Smith (U Maine), Janice Clain and Brooke Dupuy (Hermon High School) are continuing preparations for the second annual World Languages Day at U Maine. Jane Smith will distribute information to local schools for the program scheduled for April 29. Students in third and fourth levels of French and Spanish will participate in a campus scavenger hunt, dance lessons, impromptu skits, poetry recitation and original rap.

Anita Tassel and Anette Ruppel Rodrigues both spoke of messages from friends and family members in France and Germany expressing support and approval for recent political changes in the United States. The new presidential administration promises to improve the image of the US and relations with European allies.

Anita also shared information on a bill before the Maine legislature that would require knowledge of the Franco-American history as a performance indicator within the Maine Learning Results. Currently the only ethnic group specifically written into the MLR is Native Americans. Anita also brought documentation that French continues to be the first “foreign”language of the UN and international business and diplomacy.

Several schools in the Penobscot region are participating in the Maine Course Pathways Project as pilot schools. Schools are asked to submit course syllabi, with links to the Maine Learning Results, to demonstrate that all students have the opportunity to meet the standards of the MLR.

Janice Clain and Fred Ravan participated in a workshop on January 30 to learn the procedure for creating and submitting syllabi for review by the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC). This is the same agency that reviewed AP curricula. The concern for instructors of World Languages is that MLR links listed on the syllabus template are only those for the 9 to Diploma level. For programs that begin at the high school, the performance indicators achieved in levels one and two often are those for lower grade spans, and these are not provided in the on-line templates.

EPIC is well aware of the issue and, in response to a question from Fred Ravan, the company representatives  problem to Don Reutershan.

It seems that World Languages instructors are “in limbo” again, with no state mandate to meet the goal of competence in a second language, so no incentive for school districts to establish K-8 programs.

Anette Ruppel Rodrigues shared a video activity that she uses in her German classes. Students access a CD of German commercials and answer brief written questions over the content.

Carolyn Horth shared a project that her middle school students prepared using iphoto. They use their own photos and label them with text in French, using guidelines supplied by the teacher. Students are graded according to a rubric prepared by the teacher. Carolyn has also asked students to film animovie on “My Day at School” and a skit in the cafeteria to incorporate foods vocabulary.

Paula Martel Tarr asks students to look at sites which list “dichos”, sayings, and compare those sayingst o similar ones in English. Students then choose their favorite saying in Spanish, post it and explain it to the class.

Leslee Fiveland showed the group the www.hello-world.com   site. This offers possibilities for vocabulary practice, games, songs and cultural information in several languages.

The next meeting of the Penobscot Language Collaborative will be on Wednesday, March 25 at Center Drive School in Orrington. The meeting begins at 3:30. This will be an opportunity to share ideas presented at the FLAME Conference on March12-13.

Penobscot Language Collaborative

March 25, 2009

Minutes

The following language instructors met on March 25, 2009 at Center Drive School, in Orrington:

Carolyn Horth – Center Drive School – French and exploratory Spanish

Jessica Umel – Orono High School – Spanish

Anita Tassel – Bangor Montessori School – French

Leslee Fiveland – Bucksport Middle School - Spanish

Sarah Snell – Hermon High School (intern) – Spanish

Janice Clain – Hermon High School – Spanish and German

Carolyn Horth shared information on a number of upcoming programs that will benefit language instructors.

            Poland High School will host a Blaine Ray workshop on October 8 and 9, offering training on TPRS.

            The Canadian-American Center is offering a summer institute for K-12 professionals, July 5-11, in Burlington, Vermont, and focusing on the Lake Champlain area. The institute will be directed in English, but will provide information that would benefit teachers of world languages, in particular teachers of French. Ray Pelletier is the contact person.

            The University of Maine is also offering a Maine Summer Institute for teachers of French and Spanish, with three courses in French, two in Spanish and one in teaching methods. Jane Smith is the contact person at the University.

            Carolyn also mentioned a summer French immersion program in Trois Pistoles, Quebec. Information is available at www.langues-trois-pistoles.com.

            Anyone who would like conversational practice in Spanish is encouraged to join the group that meets every Friday evening at 7:00 pm at Borders, in Bangor.

            Don Reutershan has recently distributed information regarding the memorandum of understanding with the University of Nantes, in France. Don also sent out an application form to access the program.

            Janice Clain attended the presentation by the State Department of Education at which the recent decisions of the Stakeholders' Group were shared with the public. According to this plan, all high school students will have to show that they have met the MLR standards in the four core subjects, Math, English/Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies, plus one other content area of their choice. They would have to partially meet the standards in the other three content areas. By this plan, all students would have to have at least some exposure to a world language, which is more than the current requirements.

            Anita Tassel shared a copy of the newsletter published by the Maine Alliance for Arts Education. This informational document provides a good example of advocacy by another content area that does not fall under the category of a core subject. Anita advised that world languages instructors also need to be persistent in keeping their subject matter in the public eye. She suggested that FLAME might contact the Arts Educators to combine forces.

            Anita also updated the group on the bill before the legislature which would make Franco-American history part of the social studies requirement within the Maine Learning Results. Legislators have now heard testimony from a number of teachers and Franco American citizens.

            Anita also distributed copies of an article her husband wrote in the Bangor Daily News. He advocated for links between American and French schools via Internet connections.

J           anice Clain spoke of the World Languages Day at the University of Maine on April 29. Jane Smith has sent invitations to schools in the central Penobscot area. She has set a limit of 14 students per school, which would bring the group to approximately 120 students. Activities will include a campus scavenger hunt, Latino and African dance lessons, bag skits, poetry recitation or original rap, a culture bowl and a dessert contest.

            Janice also mentioned that the Portland Museum of Fine Arts currently has an exhibition of impressionist paintings. The museum is very receptive to planning visits for school groups. Teachers who would like more information on how to arrange a field trip should contact Brooke Dupuy (dupuyb@hermon.net).

            Carolyn Horth and Leslee Fiveland spoke of budget cutbacks in the Global Links Program, through the University of Maine. Both teachers have hosted international students who could speak to their students about their own countries. Currently the program is only able to send students to schools close to the university.

            Leslee shared information on Rotary International Youth Exchange, which offers short and long exchanges for students 15 ½ to 18 ½ years old. Further information is available at www.exchangestudent.org.

            Carolyn, Leslee and Jessica Umel shared information they had acquired at the FLAME Conference. Carolyn spoke highly of Ray Pelletier's presentation on the travels of Samuel de Champlain. Ray provided a free map available from the Canadian American Cernter and showing Champlain's travel routes. The reverse of the map also displayed diary entries written by Champlain during his journey.

            Both Carolyn and Leslee praised Gisela Hoercherl-Alden's workshop on “Acquiring Visual Media Literacy.” This session highlighted not just available resources but also strategies for integrating them into lessons and for assessing results.

            Carolyn was able to come back from the conference with one of the National Park System's Ste. Croix trunks. She has this valuable piece of realia until summer. If other teachers in the vicinity would like to borrow the trunk, contact Carolyn at Center Drive School (c.horth@msln.net). Leslee noted that the Hudson Museum at the university also has circulated a trunk with items from Mesoamerica. The Hudson Museum is due to reopen, and offers programs and information for school groups.

            Leslee commented favorably on the conference keynote speaker, John DeMado. He presented techniques for practicing vocabulary and sentence structure using “function-al raps”. Teachers and students put lyrics to the beat of contemporary music, and reinforce lessons through repetition and rhyme schemes.

            Leslee also attended a workshop session the provided information on setting up an open source foreign language lab.

Other quick strategies are:

            short questions written on popsicle sticks and drawn at random and o be answered by students

            visual cues, such as photos or drawings, to elicit speech

            using song texts with blank spaces to keep students listening and focusing on words

            having students make a designated movement, such as thumbs up, when they hear a particular                              word or category of word or grammar construction in a narrative

Janice and Sarah Snell added ideas they heard at an in-service workshop on differentiated instruction. These included:

            exit questions: “List three things you learned today, two things that connected for you and one questionsyou still have.” Leslee uses a similar method and calls it a “learning log”.

            methods for random grouping: assign students to different partners withing the same class by category, for example seasons. On in-class activities, instruct students to work for a while with their “summer partner”, then switch to their “winter partner”, and finally to their “spring partner”.

            pre-testing with a place mat or graffiti board:  Working in groups, students divide a piece of paper in blocks. In each block they write prior knowledge according to teacher instructions. Example: before beginning a geography unit, list in one block South American countries, in another South American capitals, in another land features in South America, and in the last currencies or export products.

            After a geography study, Leslee asks students what they would visit in the country and why.

            After a geography lesson, Sarah asked students to form a living map of South America

            Leslee has students visualize the South American countries by relating their shapes to the shape of the first letter of their names.

            White boards have proved to be a valuable tool in language classes, whether for checking student spelling, sentence structure or for vocabulary practice (pictionary).

            After a study of body parts, read a description of a monster with extraordinary physical features and have students draw. Leslee has students tell her how many of each body part to include. She also has a set of overhead drawings of “una bruja” in which a body part is missing; students have to name the body part.

            Have students create visuals for vocabulary words. These can be kept and recycled.

            Be sure to check the FLAME website (www.umaine.edu/Flame/) for information and updates on programs and language opportunities.

The next gathering of the Penobscot Language Collaborative will be the annual social meeting. The tentative date is May 13, at Kosta's, in Brewer. Janice Clain will send out a reminder just before the date and will make a reservation at the restaurant. All language instructors are invited to join the group, even if they have not been able to attend meetings throughout the year.

Penobscot World Languages Collaborative

November 3, 2009

Fred Ravan, Paula Tarr, Lynda Millar and Janice Clain met on November 3 at Brewer High School. The focus of the meeting was to brainstorm strategies and resources to help advocate for continuing and expanding existing world languages programs. The goal is to prepare a presentation to educate parents and administrators regarding the importance of knowing at least one second language. As language instructors, we know that people who know at least one language beyond their native tongue are more tolerant of people who are unlike themselves, whether in appearance or in philosophy. We also know that our students have a broader understanding of the English language and a more objective understanding of American culture than those who have not studied another language.

Some of the suggestions for supporting the teaching of world languages are listed here, along with the name of the collaborative member who will make contact.

Check with NEASC to see if there are program requirements for maintaining accreditation – Paula Tarr

Chamber of Commerce – for business input – Janice Clain

Military – Fred Ravan

PICA (work with immigrants) – Fred Ravan

Paula Tarr also suggested that we contact former students who can attest to their own post high school experiences and ask them to help make a video testimonial.

Carolyn Horth recommends the video “Speaking in Tongues”. Lynda Millar will check to see if we can get a copy to use to back up our advocacy package.

Marisue Schuilling sent a document, The Benefits of Second Language Learning, that language teachers in Hampden were able to use in their defense of the middle school languages program in their district.

Fred Ravan suggested a community language night, perhaps at the time of Mardi Gras. Inviting community members, parents and administrators to such an event would highlight the utility of knowing how to communicate in a non-English language.

Please send any other suggestions you might have to either Fred Ravan (fravan@breweredu.org) or Janice Clain (clainj@hermon.net).

The next meeting of the Penobscot Languages Collaborative will be December 2, at 3:30 at Brewer High School. Please spread the word and invite new teachers to meet with us. We welcome all input.