Polyglot Press
Messages for World Languages Teachers
March 14, 2012
Here’s hoping you had great things going on during National Foreign Language Week! It’s a great time to celebrate what you accomplish each day with so many students.
The Polyglot Press aims to inform the UCPS World Language teachers and keep them abreast of valuable events, links, news, professional developments, accomplishment, etc. This information is housed on www.polyglotpress.blogspot.com Please consider sharing some of your recent discoveries and accomplishments. Thanks to those who share resources.
BRAVO
· Congratulations to all the teachers for their many fine efforts in motivating their students and in celebrating National Foreign Language Week. Weddington HS once again held their music festival every block of the day on Wednesday, held hall decorating competitions and a soccer match between language groups.
· Congratulations to Jessica Garner on the birth of her third child, Barrett Browning, Saturday, March 10. Jessica previously was a Spanish teacher at Piedmont High, Porter Ridge High and Cuthbertson High. She currently works with Race to the Top and DPI in Region 6.
· Best wishes to Jean Patterson of Parkwood High who is leading a group to Italy, France and Switzerland this summer.
· Best wishes to Alice Shrader who along with Cathy Eisner, both Spanish teachers at Marvin Ridge High, will be leading students to Spain this summer.
Professional Development
· Wednesday, March 21 from 2:00 – 3:00 The Art of a Flipped Classroom - free webinar to learn more about Flipped Learning and how to reach all of your students in every class every day. This overview will introduce participants to the concept of Flipped Learning: Where educators are actively transferring the responsibility and ownership of learning to the students. Flipped learning happens when the teacher’s lecture is delivered to students via video outside of the classroom. Then traditional class time is used for active problem solving and one-to-one or small group tutoring with the teacher. Students can watch the short video lectures as many times as they wish to grasp the content and then come to class ready to jump into the lesson, ask questions, work on collaborative projects and explore the content further. by EduVision by JDL Horizons & TechSmith https://eschoolmedia.webex.com/mw0306ld/mywebex/default.do?siteurl=eschoolmedia
· Wednesday, March 28, 2012 2:00 pm Powering the Digital Classroom: More than just computers Free webinar By now, using the experience of many districts around the country, we know a lot about how to use technology effectively to support improved instructional practices. Come learn from the experience of educators about key success factors in implementing a digital initiative. https://eschoolmedia.webex.com/mw0306ld/mywebex/default.do?siteurl=eschoolmedia
· Wednesday, April 4, 2012 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM (ET) Make Thinking Visible with the Flipped Classroom Model Free webinar. Attendees learn the steps to use the Flipped Classroom model. http://schoolwires.eventbrite.com/
· April 12, 2012, at 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. DPI Race to the Top Special Interest Group Free Webinar on Summative Assessment Options & the Use of Multiple Measures to Assess Proficiency To register for this webinar, please click on https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/462814313 and complete the form. Connection information and reminders will be sent to you via email.
· April 19, 2012 from 11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. Assessing Speaking: Putting the Pieces Together free webinar offered by the Language Acquisition Research Center. Planning and creating assessment will be covered as well as carrying out assessment. Why do we assess speaking? What training do we need to assess speaking? What feedback do we give learners? http://larc.sdsu.edu/webinar-glenn-fulcher View an overview of the webinar by the presenter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMlWTaeQfOk&feature=youtu.be handouts for webinar 1) http://larc.sdsu.edu/GlennFulcher/handout1.pdf 2) http://larc.sdsu.edu/GlennFulcher/handout2.pdf 3) http://larc.sdsu.edu/GlennFulcher/handout3.pdf
· June 24 – 27 Spanish Language and Culture: Embassies of Spanish and Uruguay / 3 Day Immersion Summer Institute for Teachers of Spanish offered by Embassy of Spain staff, Embassy of Uruguay staff, Smithsonian National Gallery of Art, and Sheila Cockey, M.A. Registration: $700 (single room), $600 (shared room) Includes 3 nights in dormitory and most meals. Level: K-12 / College / Adult “In addition to interactive presentation and networking at the Embassies of Spain and Uruguay, programs will include a special tour of Spanish art in the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art, catered meals from Spanish restaurants in Washington, DC, and hands-on, interactive presentations, discussions, and reflection on language and cultural experiences. Special workshops and activities will focus on the use of technology and social media in the Spanish language classrooms of the 21st century. Most meals will be provided and participants stay in university dorms on the main campus of The George Washington University. Evenings will focus on sharing teaching strategies and discussion among participants.” http://nclrc.org/profdev/nclrc_inst_pres/summer_inst.html
· Summer Study in Spain http://www.educacion.gob.es/eeuu/convocatorias-programas/convocatorias-eeuu/cursos-verano.html
· July 18-22, 2012 AP Annual Conference 2012: Sharing Knowledge. Motivating Students. Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel. Lake Buena Vista, Fla. http://noreply.collegeboard.org/18b8dcd0flayfousuah5h64yaaaaaaaoxhyhao7jbreyaaaaa
Literacy Support
· The National Education Association's Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on March 2, the birthday of beloved children's author Dr. Seuss. World Languages programs can support this event annually by reading the many Dr. Seuss books that are translated into Spanish.
UCPS Budget Update
· Dr. Davis outlines the budget outlook for 2012-2013 with this March 2012 video http://www.ucps.k12.nc.us/budget_videos.php
DPI Update
· DPI maintains a wiki of all the DPI World Language resources shared thus far this year since June 2011 Summer Institute. This wiki unites all handouts and is the best link for staying abreast with professional development, new standards, tools for implementing and understanding the new standards, etc. http://wlnces.ncdpi.wikispaces.net
· Next Generation Assessments: Why online? - North Carolina has provided online assessments since 2005 when the administration of the computer skills test was completely online. The goal is that by 2014-15, all assessments will be administered online; this includes a new generation of assessments for grades 3-8 and high school subjects, as well as the SMARTER Balanced Assessments that will be online in 2014-15. Moving to an online delivery of assessments aligns with efforts already underway to provide online instructional resources, online formative and benchmark assessments, and online training and professional development for teachers. One other important reason that North Carolina plans to transition to online assessments is to take advantage of computer adaptive testing. As a governing member in the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, North Carolina plans to adopt the common assessments developed by the consortium, which are being designed in a computer adaptive format. A brief overview of the latest information on North Carolina’s online assessments can be found online at www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/acre/assessment/assess1pageroct11.pdf . For more information on the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, please visit www.smarterbalanced.org/ . Questions on online assessments may also be directed to Kayla Siler at Kayla.siler@dpi.nc.gov.
· Online Writing Instruction Update - North Carolina is implementing a new system for writing instruction designed to provide students with opportunities to have a variety of experiences with writing across disciplines and throughout the school year. Online Writing Instruction is not an assessment, but a formative tool to monitor the progress of students writing and to adjust instruction accordingly. The new system for Online Writing Instruction replaces the previous Writing Instruction System that was used in 2009-10 and 2010-11. Tthere is no required number of writing tasks to be completed and it is no longer a requirement for LEAs. However, it is strongly encouraged for instructional use because writing is integrated into the Common Core State Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects. Go to NC Education at http://center.ncsu.edu/NC/ to access writing tasks by discipline, Common Core Appendix C Samples of Student Writing, and Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects.
The following tasks have been completed:
- Inserted writing tasks by grade level into folders for the Arts, Social Studies, Science, World Languages and English Language Arts. https://center.ncsu.edu/nc/mod/folder/view.php?id=365741
For more information on Online Writing Instruction, please contact Anna Frost with NCDPI Curriculum and Instruction at anna.frost@dpi.nc.gov.
Global Studies
· Democratic Countries in the World – See them mapped http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/peace/democracy_map/
World Languages Teaching Resources
· Lyrics and World Language Learning – “Lyrics Training is an easy and fun method to learn and improve your foreign languages skills through the music videos and lyrics of your favorite songs.” There are multiple languages on this site. Thanks to Paula McGuire for sharing.
· Extra Normal – digital, talking storytelling http://www.xtranormal.com/ Thanks to Alice DiPom and Dianne Mays.
· The International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching newsletter is now available at www.ijflt.com and http://www.tprstories.com/images/ijflt/IJFLTMarch2012.pdf
o IJFL references videos online of TPRS as used in the Denver Public Schools. http://www.schooltube.com/video/fab53dcfb99b3046d033/Nina%20Barber%20Spanish%20Part%201
Chinese Resources
· http://www.yes-chinese.com/story/index.jsp (Classic stories from around the world to read online and listen to)
· http://www.digitaldialects.com/Chinese.htm (games, vocab practice, matching audio to word) Thanks to Edna Castiblanco.
· Videos by Dr. Lori Ranger Ramirez China
French Resources
· http://www.digitaldialects.com/French.htm (games, vocab practice, matching audio to word) Thanks to Edna Castiblanco.
German Resources
· http://www.digitaldialects.com/German (games, vocab practice, matching audio to word) Thanks to Edna Castiblanco.
Spanish Resources
· El mejor diccionario (hasta ahora) en Internet que usan los traductores e intérpretes es el www.wordreference.com Es el ùnico que dejo que mis alumnos usen en clases (ojo... hay que enseñarles cómo usar un diccionario, porque no saben poner atención a la función de la palabra o contexto) Este sitio, te da la definición, pronunciación (en el mayor de los casos), y en la parte de abajo hay foros de discusión donde traductores comentan casos difìciles y de acuerdo a diversos campos... A mí me salva la vida cuando trabajo en traducciones técnicas especialmente... Aunque sus foros pasan por todas las áreas. Tthanks to Jessica Martinez-Medina)
· http://www.digitaldialects.com/Spanish.htm (games, vocab practice, matching audio to word) Thanks to Edna Castiblanco.
· Santillana Online Catalogue Santillana USA's digital Secondary Catalog: http://promos.santillanausa.com/eMag_SecondaryCatalog-2012/ The catalog is divided into two sections: Spanish and English. Each section features the Text materials first and then Literature (divided into Fiction, Nonfiction, Independent Reading and AP Authors and Classics), Reference, and Professional Development.
· Spanish Website Dr. Gustavo Fares: Lawrence University Very detailed website with lots of resources http://www.lawrence.edu/fast/faresg/sites.htm
· Mnemonic device for remembering country names in Central America: GuSaNiCoPaHon = Guatemala, (El) Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras (tip from Santillana list serv)
· Spanish Language and Culture – by Barbara Kucsun Nelson http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/SLC/index.php
· Videos by Dr. Lori Ranger Ramirez or, visit her YouTube channel “MisCositasTV”: http://www.youtube.com/user/MisCositasTV, or the list organized by country/topic on my website: http://www.miscositas.com/miscositastv.html. I hope you find these useful for your teaching! J ~Lori
· Vocabulary, grammar, culture in Spanish
· Panamá
· Colombia:
