| NCLRC Arabic K-12 Bulletin - January 6, 2014 Ahlan ya colleagues, Welcome to the Arabic K-12 Bulletin, a biweekly resource for elementary, middle, a 
| | Ahlan ya colleagues, Welcome to the Arabic K-12 Bulletin, a biweekly resource for elementary, middle, and high school Arabic teachers, administrators, and researchers. Happy New Year! January is a month of deadlines for study abroad programs and conference proposals; see the appropriate sections of the Bulletin to make note of particular deadlines. As always, if you would like to reach us please send a message to arabick12@gmail.com. Lucy Thiboutot, Editor |
▪ The Arabic K-12 Teachers Network consists of more than 1,000 educators, administrators, and researchers interested in the Arabic K-12 field in the U.S. It is a free membership provided by the National Capital Language Resource Center's Arabic K-12 Project.
▪ Recent issues of the Bulletin are archived here: http://bit.ly/10KRZi3 .
▪ All members are welcome to submit posts in English or Arabic and may do so by e-mailing their content to arabick12@gmail.com specifying their content for the listserv.
▪ This listserv is focused on elementary, middle, and high school Arabic teaching. Job openings at the university level can be found on the AATA's website .
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1. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
2. NEW RESOURCES FOR YOUR STUDENTS AND CLASSROOM
3. GRANT OPPORTUNITIES AND JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS
4. NADA'S WEBSITES: "VoiceThreads"
5. BELAL'S ACTIVITIES: "Poison Trap"
6. MEOC BOOK RECOMMENDATION: "A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return"
7. CURRENT RESEARCH: "Rethinking Assessment in Light of What Improves Learning"
8. FOCUS ON LEARNING: "Update 2013: Hellgate senior learns language and more in Morocco'"
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Workshops and Webinars ACTFL is proud to announce a new series of interactive webinars designed especially for language educators at all levels. Taught by a faculty of leading experts, the webinars deliver new insights and proven techniques that you can use right away in your classroom. The webinars began last month and continue this January, and they can be viewed live at time of recording or anytime thereafter. To learn more about the webinars and register: http://bit.ly/1de22jp Due to the popularity of the fall course, Aldeen Foundation and Qatar Foundational International are offering a second online professional development program for Arabic educators called Interactive Arabic Classroom starting today January 6 to February 17, 2014. The course allows you to spend about 90 minutes per week listening to lectures and watching instructors model the best teaching practices, and also interact with experienced teachers during live classes online. The cost is $75 per teacher or $300 per school (up to 6 teachers). Space is limited to 40 teachers, and registration runs from December 16-30 or until the course is full. Register online at http://bit.ly/199Uluv and email Mrs. Thouraya Boubetra with any questions at aldeenarabiconlineeducation@aldeenfoundation.org Professional Conferences The 2014 International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence: "Preparing and Supporting K–16 Language Teachers to Teach for Intercultural Competence in and beyond the Classroom" will take place January 23-26, 2014, in Tucson, AZ. The conference aims to bring researchers and practitioners across languages, levels, and settings to discuss and share research, theory, and best practices; to foster meaningful professional dialogue; and to enhance teacher effectiveness in teaching for intercultural competence in and beyond the classroom in order to support all students' development of intercultural competence. The conference is attended by faculty, administrators and students at post-secondary institutions, as well as K-12 teachers and individuals from a wide range of other non-traditional educational contexts who are interested in language teaching/learning and cultural competence. For more information, view the conference website: http://bit.ly/IeH6B9 The Second International Conference on Heritage/Community Languages will take place March 7-8, 2014 at Covel Commons at UCLA. Early registration runs through February 7, 2014: $180 for registrants other than graduate students; $100 for graduate students. Contact: Gerda Lobo gerdalobo@gmail.com or Claire Chik
chik@international.ucla.edu Call For Proposals and Papers The 2014 ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) will be held November 21, 2013 through November 23, 2014. The theme for the 2014 Convention is Reaching Global Competence. The submission deadline for proposals is Wednesday, January 15, 2014. All proposals for consideration must be submitted online and will not be accepted after the deadline date. To submit a proposal: http://bit.ly/19MK6f5 The TexFLEC Committee at The University of Texas at Austin is pleased to announce that they are now accepting proposals for the 15th annual conference that brings together researchers, educators, and students in the fields of foreign language education, TEFL/TESL, linguistics, and applied linguistics: "Shaping the Future of Foreign/Second Language Education to Cross Cultural Boundaries: Integrating Theory and Practice." Conference dates: February 14-15, 2014. Proposals can be submitted online: http://bit.ly/1duDmJu. Proposals received before December 1, 2013 will receive priority with the final deadline for proposal submission on December 31, 2013. More information about the conference: http://bit.ly/18AgTHd. Questions can be directed to: texfleccommittee@gmail.com. The Foreign Language Association of Virginia provides an opportunity to share innovative teaching, technology, research and student success strategies. Send in your proposal by April 18, 2014. The Conference Committee invites proposals for active and engaging presentations on topics related, but not limited to: Supporting beginning teachers; Promoting active use of the target language; Making the most of classroom time; Supporting student learning; Active and engaging instructional strategies; Innovative instructional methodology; Innovative assessment strategies; Unique uses of technology; Technology strategies for all students including those with disabilities. To learn more and submit a proposal: http://bit.ly/1kk31CJ |
Note the deadline this week! The Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Abroad Program offers scholarships to American high school students to spend the 2014-15 academic year in countries that may include Bosnia & Herzegovina, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mali (semester), Morocco, Oman, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia, and Turkey. This post 9/11 program focuses on increasing understanding between people in the U.S. and countries with significant Muslim populations. Applications due January 9, 2014. For more information: www.yes-abroad.org American Councils for International Education offers a program called the Teachers of Critical Languages Program (TCLP) to help U.S. K-12 schools start or grow their Arabic language programs. This program is funded by the U.S. Department of State and provides your school with a language teacher from Egypt or China to teach Arabic or Mandarin for one year. The application deadline is Wednesday, January 22, 2014. If you wish to apply, please visit www.tclprogram.org You may be interested in this simple Arabic typing tutor to help your students learn to type in Arabic: http://www.studyarabic.com/arabic-typing-tutor The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) now offers the Computerized Oral Proficiency Instrument (COPI), a computer-based, semi-adaptive test of Modern Standard Arabic or Spanish oral proficiency intended for use with native-English-speaking students in later years of high school, college students, and professionals. It provides language educators with a computerized, time-efficient assessment of their students' oral language proficiency in Arabic or Spanish. Performance on the COPI is rated according to the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. For more information: http://bit.ly/Iw45aE The Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) has produced an Arabic Oral Proficiency Guide for Students. This free online tutorial helps high school and university-level students of Arabic understand and improve their oral proficiency. It teaches students how oral proficiency is rated according to the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines so that they can self-assess and set language learning goals. The tutorial features authentic examples of students speaking Arabic at different levels, tips and resources to improve oral proficiency, and student descriptions of their experiences being assessed and then using their Arabic to communicate abroad. View the site at http://www.cal.org/aop/index.php The Qatar Foundation International (QFI) is launching a new website for Arabic K-12 teachers Al-Masdar (almasdar.oercommons.org). Al-Masdar provides a platform for you to discover free resources through search strategies, to author or upload your own resources, to review resources, join groups and conversations, and collaborate with others. The site is intended to be a hub - the source - for language teaching materials, opportunities, news and events relevant to Arabic instructors. You are invited to explore it and offer your feedback by completing this survey: http://bit.ly/1gvdkWS Your advanced students may enjoy this new simplified version of Lebanese author Hoda Barakat's novel, Sayyidi wa Habibi, which comes with a set of pedagogical activities and a companion website: http://bit.ly/16vBpEc Al-Jazeera news is currently developing a special news site for Arabic language learners. Although some of the features are still in progress, it may be worth keeping an eye on as a resource for your classes: http://learning.aljazeera.net/arabic The National Middle East Language Resource Center (NMELRC), in cooperation with Qatar Foundation International and Brigham Young University Independent Study, is offering a hybrid online course for high school students. The high school implementation of Arabic Without Walls, winner of the 2010 Distance Education Course Award, covers the basics of both spoken and written Arabic and enables students to acquire real-world communication skills. This process starts with students attending a one-day course in their region and continues as they work online with a tutor and a cohort of students who form a tight-knit learning community. Students who have done so have gone on to win NSLI-Youth Scholarships to study in the Arab world. For more information on registration, cost and credit please visit: http://bit.ly/1bfmfcG . The Institute for Middle East Studies (IMES) Title VI Outreach Program at The George Washington University (Washington, DC) maintains a film and book library and Skype-a-Scholar program that is free and available to area educators. You can view a list of all of the library resources and find out more about the films using our new Film Guide which contains synopses of the films and classroom usage ideas for educators. The Skype-A-Scholar program brings university experts to your classroom through Skype, to converse with students for an in-depth, innovative learning experience. Contact imesnrc@gwu.edu for more information on these programs. American Councils for International Education coordinates the U.S. Department of State's FLEX, YES, and A-SMYLE programs, where students from the Middle East and other areas of the world have competed against their peers and earned a scholarship to come to the U.S. for a full academic year. The students live with an American host family, attend school and become a part of the family. Anyone interested in hosting an exchange student for a period of two months to a full academic year, and the ability to provide a safe, supportive, English-speaking environment is welcome to contact the programs for more information. For more information: http://inbound.americancouncils.org . The Peace Corps offers the World Wise Schools website, with cross-cultural learning resources including lesson plans, videos, publications, an online game, and more. Take advantage of these free resources to develop your students' global competencies and prepare them to be engaged, 21st century global citizens. Connecting With Teachers Connect with hundreds of Arabic teachers in America and from around the world on the Teachers of Arabic Language K-12 (TALK12) page on Facebook. Teachers can chat, swap ideas, and give each other advice: http://www.talk12.org . |
Grant Opportunities Qatar Foundation International has announced Teacher Initiative Grants (maximum award: $1,000) to enhance Arabic programs and promote excellence in the classroom. Arabic teachers working in U.S. public or public charter schools may apply for funding to purchase books and materials; host cultural events or workshops; take students on field trips; or attend professional development conferences. Applications are due on the first of each month for awards to be announced by the end of that month, from Nov. 1 until April 1. To download the complete Request for Proposal, follow the link: http://bit.ly/17lD6I0 Job Openings FAME Public Charter School in Newark, California, is seeking an Arabic Teacher for the 2013-2014 school year. The application deadline is January 31, 2014. To learn more: http://bit.ly/1hoz3R9 Second Language Testing, Inc. (SLTI) of Rockville MD makes tests for a variety of clients, including the US Government. SLTI is currently in need of consultants to assist in the development of tests in Algerian and Sudanese. The ideal consultant will be familiar with the ILR Skill Level Descriptions and their application to the leveling of texts in their language. He or she may have experience as a teacher, test developer, or translator. The applicant should be highly literate in the non-English language and have a solid command of written English. The applicant should also have good computer skills, and access to high speed internet. Ability to conduct Internet research and submit Word documents and/or audio files. Familiarity with audio editing software is a plus. US citizens preferred.
The consultancy will involve 20 to 40 hours work, although follow-up work may occur. Interested individuals should send a resume and cover message, with citizenship/immigration status and contact information to Mmensoor@2LTI.com. |
Nada Shaath (Bell High School, CA) suggests: VoiceThreads (http://www.voicethreads.com/) A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too. Users can doodle while commenting, use multiple identities, and pick which comments are shown through moderation. VoiceThreads can even be embedded to show and receive comments on other websites and exported to MP3 players or DVDs to play as archival movies. Do you have a favorite website to share? Send us a link and a short description, and don't forget to include the name and location of your school! |
Belal Joundeya (Renaissance Academy, UT) suggests: Poison Trap Print a page with a 9-square grid with pictures of vocabulary words. Divide the class into groups of 4-5 students. Give students a cup of Cheerios and have them put one piece on each square. One students leaves and the group chooses a "poison" square. The student returns and starts randomly talking about the vocabulary in the squares, eating the Cheerio as they go. When they choose the "poison" square everyone yells "poison!" (In the target language). Students repeat the process giving each student a turn. |
The Middle East Outreach Council (http://www.meoc.us) recommends the youth literature book A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return by Zeina Abirached (Graphic Universe). With its compelling plot, characterization and imagery, this graphic novel gives faces and stories to the families from the Lebanese civil war trying to survive. The historical content focuses on the civic geography of living so close to a green zone which divides a city during a war. It is a story about families, war, survival, and above all community. The stark black blocked illustrations work well to convey the content of fear during war. Because of its simplicity, Game for Swallows is a book for all ages; young children will grasp the basic situation: two young children like themselves whose parents are away but who are looked after by other adults. Older readers will be interested in the background of the story and want to discuss why the writer-illustrator created the book as she did. Adults will focus on the subtleties–slight changes in facial expression, for instance–that can reveal a lot about characterization and relationships. This is a compelling and meaningful book for all readers. |
Rethinking Assessment in Light of What Improves Learning
By Kim Marshall | Marshall Memo #517, December 30, 2013, http://www.marshallmemo.com In this article in Independent School, Mariale Hardiman (Johns Hopkins University) and Glenn Whitman (St. Andrew's Episcopal School) describe how teachers at Whitman's school have used research to improve the way they use assessments: • Most curriculum units now begin with a pre-assessment to measure prior knowledge and serve as a baseline to measure student growth. • Teachers use frequent on-the-spot assessments to check for understanding, including ungraded surprise quizzes, Socrative "clicker" questions, and entry and exit slips. Teachers have found that asking students to retrieve information from short- and long-term memory enhances retention (the "testing effect"). • Students are often given the opportunity to correct what they got wrong on tests. "Delaying or 'scaffolding' feedback, and having students struggle with finding the correct answer, leads to better retention than does simply providing correct answers," say Hardiman and Whitman. • After an assessment, teachers ask students what cognitive demands it made – attention, memory, visual thinking, executive functioning, language, neuro-motor function, social or higher-order cognition – and what implications that has for the way they study. • Teachers share research on how multitasking with technology degrades students' ability to study effectively and consolidate memory. Hardiman and Whitman also suggest using "Assessment Tic-Tac-Toe", which allows middle- and high-school students to play to their strengths and develop new skills. During the school year, each student is asked to choose three cells from a row, column, or diagonal to be used as the summative assessment for three different units. Students are responsible for creating a grading rubric for each assessment they choose: • Podcast
• 3-D medium: Trifold poster or diorama
• PowerPoint, Prezi, or Keynote presentation
• Student-designed flipped classroom lesson
• Hypertext essay
• iMovie/Final Cut
• Public speaking/oral presentation
• Free space (what else is available that your teacher has not learned about yet?
• 2-D medium: Painting, drawing, PowerPoint poster "Assessment and the Learning Brain: What the Research Tells Us" by Mariale Hardiman and Glenn Whitman in Independent School, Winter 2014 (Vol. 73, #2, p. 36-41), no e-link available; Whitman can be reached at gwhitman@saes.org. |
Update 2013: Hellgate senior learns language and more in Morocco
By Kalyn Campbell | ravallirebublic.com, December 29, 2013
Source: http://bit.ly/1lrxfqI Editor's note: The Missoulian featured Kalyn Campbell in a story last August, just as the Hellgate High School senior was leaving for Morocco on a nine-month, all-expenses-paid scholarship from the U.S. Department of State. "It's exciting and a little bit intimidating to pack up your life for something totally foreign and alien," Campbell said at the time. Campbell was one of 10 students chosen for the immersion education program, and one of 625 students who are participating in the State Department's National Security Language Initiative for Youth in 10 countries around the world. She is living with a host family, studying Arabic, taking cultural lessons, and teaching English to people in her community. Missoulian reporter Betsy Cohen caught up with her by email and asked her to share what the experience has been like so far. The following is Campbell's reply (abridged by the editor--see the source for the complete narrative). First of all, let me say that I am loving every minute of my time here in Morocco. Really, every day I wake up and I still have to pinch myself to make sure that I'm not dreaming. There are times when I have to stop and take a second to ask myself how I got so lucky to be here, and I keep falling more and more in love with Marrakech every day.
... My Arabic studies have been incredible. I had no idea that learning a language could be this engaging and stimulating, and because of this my language has really progressed. I feel very comfortable speaking the language, and a majority of people here are surprised to learn that I am from America and not Moroccan! Just today, I had a Moroccan ask me for directions and they had no idea that I wasn't from Marrakech! Also, I was given the name "Salma" by my host family upon my arrival, as Kalyn doesn't roll off the tongue easily. In Arabic, it means peace and safety, and it is also the name of the queen of Morocco.
... The average day for me goes like this: After a commute of about 30 minutes (I take the bus every day; suffice to say it doesn't run on a schedule), I start class at 9 a.m. and end at noon. During these hours, I study Arabic Fusha (Modern Standard Arabic) with four other American students who are on this program with me. My teacher is absolutely incredible, and it's hard to believe that I've learned so much in such a short amount of time. After class, I have a break until 3 p.m. and electives go from 3 to 5:30 p.m. I am studying calligraphy and cooking once a week, and I take belly dancing lessons twice a week, all of which have been a great way to deepen my cultural understanding of Morocco. After electives, I either have a free afternoon or an English class. I will receive my Teachers of English as a Foreign Language certification soon, and I will then be teaching a class twice a week at my language center for students who come from poor backgrounds and are otherwise unable to study English. Currently, I am volunteering at the Amal Center, which is a center that supports disadvantaged women by providing them with training, work experience and, now, education (http://hope-amal.org). I teach English twice a week in the evenings to a group of four women, and it has been such a blessing for me to watch them grow. To see people who have a genuine desire to learn is a beautiful thing, and something that I think most American students take for granted. I stay really busy here, but in my free time I love exploring everything this city has to offer. I've gotten very good at bargaining, so traversing the souks within the Medina (the old city of Marrakech) is always a lot of fun. I love spending time with my friends, and Moroccan teenagers are the same as their American counterparts in most ways. Every day holds something new. Morocco has shown me that it isn't the place you are at that makes you happy, but it's what you make of your time that creates an amazing experience. It's hard to describe an experience like this, and it is even more difficult to describe how it changes you. I've seen living conditions that are hardly fit for an animal, much less a human. I've been in a classroom that is little more than a tin lean-to, and in these same places I've seen people who are so content with their lives. It's made me much more grateful for what I have, especially the fact that I am able to be here. Furthermore, seeing how I have been able to touch the lives of my students through teaching has been incredibly moving to me, and it has given me a desire to go into education in the future. In this day and age, we are so focused on getting from one stage of our life to the next: We move with our heads down and our feet pointed straight forward, never taking time to look up and see what's around us. Every day is lived simply to get somewhere, but it is the getting there that is so beautiful. It's time that more kids break free of the status quo and explore everything that this world holds, because it will teach you more than you will learn in any classroom. I've realized that it's imperative to embrace every experience, regardless of whether it is positive or negative. You're alive, you're human, you have the ability to be anything you want, and that is a beautiful thing. |
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