Printable Copy: Teaching Foreign Languages K-12 Workshop

A video workshop for K–12 teachers; 8 half-hour video programs, workshop guide, and Web site; graduate credit available

Now on DVD

The Teaching Foreign Languages workshop will help K–12 foreign language teachers improve their practice by making connections between the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning and current research in foreign language education. Workshop components include eight lively half-hour video programs with leading researchers and practicing teachers discussing how the standards play out in day-to-day classroom situations, a workshop guide available online and in print, and interactive activities on the Web.

Become a student yourself as you watch the videos, complete a range of activities designed to stimulate your teaching, and prepare to conduct action research in your own classroom. You will come away with a deeper understanding of the national foreign language standards, and with ideas for implementing effective assessment strategies and working with learners across a range of language and skill levels.

Produced by WGBH Boston in association with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. 2004.

ISBN: 1-57680-750-9

PURCHASE THIS SERIES
DVD

Entire Series and Guide - DVD-R: $125.00

Coordinated Books

Additional Workshop Guides: $39.95

Individual Program Descriptions

Workshop 1. Meaningful Interpretation
This session looks at how the interpretation of texts (including documents, paintings, movies, audio recordings, and more) can go beyond literal comprehension and tap into students' background knowledge while fostering critical-thinking skills.

Workshop 2. Person to Person
Focusing on interpersonal communication, session participants discuss how students use language to make themselves understood and to understand others. The session also explores how different teaching approaches encourage or discourage meaningful student interaction.

Workshop 3. Delivering the Message
Looking at the presentational mode of communication, this session shows how students and teachers consider a variety of audiences as they create and deliver written presentations.

Workshop 4. Subjects Matter
Foreign language teachers promote language learning within the context of other curriculum areas, such as geography, science, and language arts. A look at the research helps teachers address the balance between grammatical form and content in the language classroom.

Workshop 5. Rooted in Culture
This session looks at the ways teachers can investigate cultural products and practices with their students and how this will help the students develop a deeper sense of the cultural perspective.

Workshop 6. Valuing Diversity in Learners
Students come to the language classroom with a range of literacy and language skills, as well as varying cultural backgrounds and experiences. This session looks at how teachers can help students individually progress, as well as use students' unique skills to contribute to the growth of the class as a whole.

Workshop 7. Planning for Assessment
Assessment can be embedded in relevant, meaningful, and authentic performance tasks throughout the year, as well as in culminating activities. The session also addresses the value of ongoing feedback to learners.

Workshop 8. Engaging With Communities
This session looks at how teachers can create opportunities for students to use the target language with native speakers (including in-person, telephone, and email interactions) to enhance language learning and cultural understanding.