FLENJ Advocacy
English Is Not Enough
Here is a link to an article from the Chronicle of Education. It lays out some very good arguments for studying world languages. The language in the article may helpful in the preparation of advocacy materials for your district.
Stand Up For World Languages
Download and send a postcard or send an e-card to Boards of Education, district administrators, parents, and policy makers. Stand up for world languages. Stand up for New Jersey kids. Click here for more postcards from ACTFL.
TIPS FOR TEACHER ADVOCATES
The New Jersey State Board of Education
This board holds monthly meetings at the Department of Education, 100 River View Plaza, Trenton, NJ 08625-0500. Teachers, students, administrators, and parents are encouraged to register to testify in favor of world languages programs.
New Jersey Legislature
Contact state representative and senators to make your voice heard in favor of world languages education.
Ensuring America’s Place in the Global Economy by Building Language Capacity in the Schools.
Former ACTFL President, Rita Oleksak’s Testimony to the US Senate
Building a Program
List of 8 important steps when building a language program. The page is part of the Ñandutí – Foreign Language Learning PreK-8 – Web site. Updated 2006
Promoting a Language Proficiency Society: What You Can Do
A Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) digest, the article gives information on what parents, teachers, school administrators, policy makes, and the business community can do to support world language study in the US. It also provides further resources for language advocacy and a directory of resources for world language programs in general.
Latino Professionals Value their Language Skills By Ana Lomba
Interview in English
Interview in Spanish
Princeton Alliance for Community and Trade Organization (PACTO) is an organization founded by Hispanic professionals, executives, and business men and women living in the Princeton, NJ, area, with the purpose of networking, exploring professional opportunities, and promoting the development of educational and cultural activities for the Latino community. For more information about PACTO, please visit their web page www.pactousa.com, or send an e-mail to members@pactousa.com.
Engaging the World
A powerful video to use with community members, parents, and school officials as you advocate for your world language program.
GENERAL ADVOCACY INFORMATION
A Rationale For Foreign Language Education: A Position Paper of The National Council of State Supervisors of Foreign Languages
This is a position endorses the inclusion of world languages education in the school curriculum for all students. It elaborates on the cognitive, academic, and societal benefits of learning a world language.
Foreign Language Teaching in U.S. Schools: Results of a National Survey. CAL has completed a comprehensive survey of K-12 foreign language programs nationwide, describing how our schools are meeting the need for language instruction to prepare global citizens. Click here to read the Executive Summary.
Order online at the CAL Store
Knowing Other Languages Brings Opportunities
The brochure, from the Modern Language Association (MLSA), is directed primarily to high school students. It is intended for distribution by faculty members, advisers, and career officers in secondary schools. It may be copied without permission. Copies of the brochure are available in quantity at no charge; send requests to flbrochure@mla.org. Be sure to specify the number of brochures you need.
Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research
CALPER, the Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research at Penn State, has compiled a list of websites, articles, and information that help language educators to prepare for advocating world languages programs.
Language Study In the Age of Globalization: The College-Level Experience
The brochure is directed primarily to college students. It argues that knowing other languages enriches students personal lives, expands their range of professional opportunities, and increases their power to act as citizens of the world. The brochure is intended for distribution by faculty members and departments, student advisors, and representatives of programs in international studies and study abroad. It may be copied without permission. Copies of the brochure are available in quantity at no charge; send requests to: languagebrochure@mla.org. Be sure to specify the number of brochures you need.
MLA Language Map
The MLA Language Map is intended for use by students, teachers, and anyone interested in learning about the linguistic and cultural composition of the United States. The MLA Language Map uses data from the 2000 United States census to display the locations and numbers of speakers of thirty languages and three groups of less commonly spoken languages in the United States.
Improving Students’ Capacity in Foreign Languages
A piece on why Americans should study foreign languages by Myriam Met (Consultant to the National Foreign Language Center, University of Maryland, College Park).
INFORMATION ON EARLY LANGUAGE LEARNING FOR PARENTS, TEACHERS, AND POLICY MAKERS
The Correlation between Early Second Language and Native Language Skill Development. Therese Caccavale (2007). Learning Languages, 13(1), pp. 30-32.
NNELL National Network for Early Language Learning Position Statements
A Case for Early Language Learning
Benefits; what we can learn from programs in other countries; a brochure to promote early language learning
Questions, Comments, Ideas to Share
Contact Amada Seawald, FLENJ Executive Board member and NNELL Representative, at the following email address: parentsforlanguages@gmail.com
Make your voice heard.
LANGUAGES IN THE NEWS
Foreign language is key to success
“I would like to blame geographic isolation for the fact that most U.S. citizens that are not of immigrant households do not speak any languages other than English. Fine, you can’t hone your German or your French, we get it – it’s all an ocean away. Regardless, just to the south of us Spanish and not English is what is spoken. According to a report conducted by the Center for Applied Linguistics, Foreign Language Teaching: “What the United States Can Learn from Other Countries,” the U.S. lags in foreign language proficiency because linguistic education is introduced too late, and our teaching force is not properly equipped. These conclusions should not come as a surprise. We can all recollect the nightmare and confusion of foreign language classes, so it’s no wonder why few bother to pursue the languages in which they once held interest. So, what do we lose from avoiding learning a foreign language?”
Click here to read more of the editorial “Foreign language is key to success” by Meina Kaleyah.
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages ACTFL SmartBrief brings you the language education news that really matters. The editors handpick key articles on language education from hundreds of publications covering current news, technology and trends, and regulatory affairs. They do a brief summary of each article and provide links back to the original sources.
CELEBRATING LANGUAGES
A link that houses a variety of ideas for children to share aspects of their language, heritage and culture within their class and the wider school community.
Discover Languages
This site contains ACTFL’s campaign for promoting language study and includes a wide variety of ideas and resources.
RESEARCH STUDIES
This document will identify some of the major correlation studies that highlight how language learners benefit from their experiences.
Three major areas have been identified:
How does language learning support academic achievement?
How does language learning provide cognitive benefits to students?