Advocacy in Action
Lead with Languages
By Karen Fowdy
This month we have great news to share!
On March 3, ACTFL launched its national language proficiency awareness and advocacy campaign and website, Lead with Languages. This multi-year campaign aims to build awareness about the increased demand for language skills and supports the growth of learners who are competent in other languages and cultures. Check out its website, follow @LeadWLanguages on Twitter or send out your own #leadwithlanguages tweets, or download a badge and put it in your email signature, LinkedIn, or wherever you see fit. Read more.
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Americans are Falling Behind in Foreign-Language Learning
SOURCE: EdWeek Update
A critical shortage of qualified foreign language teachers in the United States could leave the nation at a competitive disadvantage in an increasingly global, multilingual society, according to a new American Academy of Sciences report. In what is billed as the first national study of foreign-language learning in nearly three decades, the Commission on Language Learning—a group of education, research, business, and government leaders—recommends a five-step approach to providing access to languages other than English for people of all ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Education Week's Learning the Language Blog
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UN Lessons Helping Students Study the World
SOURCE: ACTFLSmartBrief
A large white envelope with "Embajada de Colombia" on the Washington, D.C., return address arrived at Humboldt Park School in Milwaukee last month, and Jacobson Young couldn't wait to open it. A week earlier, Jacobson, 9, and his fourth-grade research partners at Humboldt Park sent a letter to the Embassy of Colombia, introducing themselves and explaining their class project on the country. The next week they received a response with additional resources on Colombia's history and culture. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Washington Students Learn Languages as "Bilingual Buddies"
SOURCE: ACTFL SmartBrief
Students at a culturally diverse Washington state elementary school are learning Spanish and English. Besides learning in both languages, students serve as "bilingual buddies," in which one student who speaks mostly Spanish and the other who speaks mostly English can help each other with assignments and build proficiency in the second language. KING-TV (Seattle)
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Four Lessons on World Language Instruction from the Netherlands
SOURCE: EdWeek Update
In spring 2016, I had the opportunity of a lifetime and spent 5 months in the Netherlands as a recipient of the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching. The veteran foreign language teacher in me was particularly interested in exploring the Dutch reputation for being excellent with languages. That reputation, paired with the European Union's focus on increasing bilingualism and multilingualism, inspired my project. (UPDATE: Despite increasing anti-global, pro-nationalist rhetoric and sentiment around Europe and the rest of the world, the EU's commitment to multilingualism has not changed as of this writing and is not the focus of my research.) My time in the Netherlands afforded me the space to research best practices in language instruction and observe the implementation of those practices in the classroom. Education Week's Global Learning Blog
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