Polyglot
Press
Staying
Connected to World Language Teaching Resources
January
24, 2013
We have hit the half-way mark in the school
year. Congrats and best wishes to the high school teachers who have just
finished final exams. Good luck to all teachers in this second half of the
school year. The Polyglot Press is archived at: http://polyglotpress.blogspot.com/
Staffing
Changes
·
Dr. Paula
McGuire is retiring at the end of January. Paula taught Spanish at Sandy
Ridge Elementary for five and a half years and at Marvin Ridge Middle for one
and half years.
·
Wanda Parks is retiring
at the end of January. She taught Spanish at Forest Hills High for the last two
and a half years after beginning her career at FHHS teaching English. Wanda has
also taught Spanish in Anson County and in elementary schools in UCPS.
·
Long-term Marvin Ridge High Spanish sub, Marlena James, has taken a full time position
at Monroe High. Welcome!
·
Francesca Rodriguez will
be joining the staff at Forest Hills to teach Spanish. Bienvenida!
·
Rachele Shelton is leaving
teaching for medical reasons. Rachele has taught elementary Spanish at
Unionville and Marshville; high school Spanish at Porter Ridge and Weddington.
Best wishes, amiga.
·
Jennifer Edenfield, a
UCPS graduate of our K-12 Spanish program and Parkwood High Spanish teacher moves
on. Best wishes.
·
Welcome back to two moms
out on maternity leave: Charlotte
Hancock at Sun Valley High and Sarah
Wade at Marvin Ridge High.
BRAVO
·
Julianne Lease’s Spanish
students at Piedmont High connected
on Skype with Unionville Principal Sharon Von Cannon in the Dominican Republic http://pmhs.ucps.k12.nc.us/news/jump.php?news_id=371506
·
The Marvin Ridge High Art, History and
Chinese teachers worked together to
learn about the Great Wall of China. They
have painted soldiers and sections of the wall that begin in the first floor
stairwell and ascend up to the second floor landing. Students researched and
wrote up facts about the wall to place along the stairs for students to read as
they descend the stairs. Xiaohong
HuMueller was the Chinese teacher involved.
·
Jean Patterson, French
teacher at Parkwood High, will be spending a week in
Québec City doing an immersion study for teachers of French. She will be
studying at the Collège Mérici right outside of Vieux Québec and is very
excited.
·
Yanli Zhou took her
upper level Cuthbertson High Chinese
students to New Town and Kensington Elementary to perform a play based on the Chinese Zodiac animals. The high school students dressed up as zodiac animals,
taught the students some Chinese phrases and sang songs to them. http://chs.ucps.k12.nc.us/news/jump.php?news_id=371600
·
Daniel Sellner, German
teacher at Cuthbertson and Weddington High, is organizing a trip to Berlin, Prague and Munich July
8 – 16, 2013.
·
Sharon Tian’s Weddington
Middle Chinese have created fascinating digital
stories using Microsoft Photostory 3 that incorporate Chinese characters,
visuals and audio in Chinese to practice basic high frequency questions and
answers in Chinese 1. Currently, Photostory 3 is almost all UCPS laptops and is
an excellent way to incorporate technology and NC WL Standard 3: oral
presentation projects.
o NL.COD.3.3 Use readily available technology tools and digital
literacy skills to present in the target language.
o NM.COD.3.3 Use readily available technology tools and digital
literacy skills to present academic information in the target language.
ACTFL
Teacher of the Year Announced: http://actfl.org/news/press-releases/national-language-teacher-the-year-denver-co-spanish-educator
Events
·
February – Black
History Month. Black History Month had its beginnings in 1926 in
the United States. Did you know that Black History month
is celebrated in the US and Canada in February but in the United Kingdom in
October. This week was chosen because it marked the
birthday of both Abraham and Frederick Douglass. Woodson created the holiday
with the hope that it eventually be eliminated when black history became
fundamental to American history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_History_Month
o
This year's theme "Black Women in American Culture
and History" honors African American women and the myriad of roles
they played in the shaping of our nation. http://www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/about.html
o
There are many notable Afro-Latinos. Visit http://www.afrolatinos.tv/ for “La historia que nunca nos contaron.” 3 años grabando, 19 países,
150 horas de video orginal, más de 200 entrevistas, 8,000 kilómetros. Internet http://www.afrolatinos.tv/ Radio Afro-latino con Tito Puentes, Susana Baca, etc.
http://www.afrolatinos.tv/index.php?station.display/43/Afro-Latinos-Radio
·
March 4 – 10, 2013 National Foreign
Language Week The Official Theme for the year 2013
is: “Foreign Languages: They Nourish the
Brain!” http://www.lacitycollege.edu/academic/honor/amg/nflw.html
·
March 4 – 8, 2013 National Latin Teacher Recruitment Week - first week in March Classical Languages:
Latin Workshop Being planned for National Latin Teacher Recruitment Week,
Professional
Development
·
January 31, 2013, Thursday, 7:00 p.m. World
Languages DPI Webinar
·
February 20, 2013 Wednesday, 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. World Languages DPI Webinar: Proficiency-based Rubrics
·
March 2, 2013 FLANC
Spring Conference is set to take place at East Carolina University,
Greenville, NC. http://flanc.org/?sec=conference&page=spring
·
March 4 – 8, 2013 National Latin Teacher Recruitment Week - first week in March Classical Languages:
Latin Workshop Being planned for National Latin Teacher Recruitment Week,
·
April 11 – 13, 2013 SCOLT
Conference (Southern Conference on Language
Teaching) Birmingham Alabama http://scolt.org/index.php/conferences/current-conference
·
April 22, 2013 7:00 p.m. World Languages DPI
Webinar
·
National Board Certification Training
Workshop Series: $150.00 for all three workshops; UNC-Charlotte;
College of Education, Room 166
o
January 19, 2013 Getting
Started with the National Board Certification Process $60.00
per workshop
o
February 2, 2013 WRITING
FOR NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFICATION $60.00
per workshop
o
May 4, 2013
PREPARING FOR THE ASSESSMENT CENTER $60.00
per workshop
o
National
Board Certification is an advanced teaching credential. It complements, but
does not replace, a state’s teacher license. It is valid for 10 years, and
renewal candidates must begin the renewal process during their eighth or ninth
years as NBCTs.
o
National
Board Certification is achieved upon successful completion of a voluntary
assessment program designed to recognize effective and accomplished teachers
who meet high standards based on what teachers should know and be able to do.
National Board Certification is available nationwide for most preK–12 teachers.
o
As part of
the certification process, candidates complete 10 assessments that are reviewed
by trained teachers in their certificate areas. The assessments include four
portfolio entries that feature teaching practice and six constructed response
exercises that assess content knowledge. To register please
visit http://education.uncc.edu/oeo/nbc. Questions
regarding registration please contact Jennifer Townsend at jatownse@uncc.edu or
704.687.8998. For questions regarding the workshop please contact Dr. Amy Good
at agood5@uncc.edu or
704.687.8624 or Dr. Teresa Petty at tmpetty@uncc.edu or
704.687.8888
o
– Connecting with Our 21st
Century Learners
o
– Digital Literacies in
the K-12 Classroom
o
– Introduction to Data
Literacy
o
– Literacy in
History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects
o
– North Carolina School
Executive Standards and Evaluation Process
o
– Understanding Young Student
Behavior in the Classroom
·
October
10 – 12, 2013 The FLANC Fall Conference will be in Winston-Salem, NC
·
November 22-24, 2013 ACTFL Annual
Convention and World Languages Expo, will take place in Orlando, FL. The
2013 convention theme is New Spaces, New Realities: Learning Any
Time, Any Place.
DPI Updates
·
Preparing
Students for the World: Final Report of the State Board of Education’s Task
Force on Global Education - To download a copy of the final report, go to: http://seclang.ncwiseowl.org/policy___legislation/sbe_task_force_final_report_accepted
o
Task Force Findings:
§ 4: North
Carolina was once a leader in language learning. It’s time to return to the
pole position.
o
5 Commitments (with specific recommendations)
§ 1: Robust and Cutting-edge Teacher Support and Tools
§ 2: Leading-edge
Language Instruction
§ 3: New School Models
§ 4: District Networking and Recognition
§ 5: Strategic International Relationships
·
NC Education has released a new online
learning module for teachers. It is called Measures of Student Learning: Grades
9 – 12. https://center.ncsu.edu/nc/mod/page/view.php?id=521661
You need a password to login. The module has two goals:
o
Goal 1: Teachers
will be able to describe the Measures of Student Learning, including their
purpose, how they have been designed, and the basic structure of the
assessments
o
Goal 2: Teachers
will be able to use the rubric to assess student responses to performance items
on the Measures of Student Learning.
o
Measures
of Student Learning or Common Exams are being designed for
non-tested subjects for district to use to populate Standard 6: Teachers
contribute to the academic success of students. These measures provide
districts with tools to measure how much growth is taking place in courses and
grades with no state assessments. They are built around the Common Core State
Standards and North Carolina Essential Standards, focusing on what should students know and be able to do
at each grade level.
o
What MSLs ARE: a) Measures of what students know and are able
to do after completing a course or grade;
b) Tightly linked to the instruction that a teacher delivers; c) One part of
how North Carolina will evaluate the effectiveness of its teachers; d) Similar
to the common summative assessments that many districts already have in place
o
What they ARE NOT: a) Multiple-choice standardized exams for all
areas of the Standard Course of Study,
b) Assessments that need to be delivered with the same level of security as
EOCs and EOGs, c) Designed without teacher input; d) The only source of data
used to make decisions about a teacher’s effectiveness, e) Part of the school
accountability model
o
Valid measures
of what students know and are able to do will likely exceed traditional
multiple-choice assessment We know that
assessing true understanding of our standards requires more than just
multiple-choice assessment questions. It’s about asking our students to
think, analyze, and write or show their work.
·
The World Languages Race
to the Top January 18 Webinar recording and Power Points are found at http://wlnces.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/2012-2013+Webinars You can read the presentation in
the PPT notes.
o
Questions for DPI –
World Languages You can submit a
question to the state WL consultant for the next DPI World Languages webinar at
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGlTMXJKaDNpT2dDM3hjbFRkQmYzQkE6MQ#gid=0
§
Home Base NC DPI is preparing to launch ‘HomeBase”
as a central warehouse for student and instructional information. The NCDPI
will begin the rollout of pieces of Home Base in fall 2013. Home Base is North
Carolina’s technology initiative that combines a student information system (SIS)
which provides tools for information and data with an instructional improvement
system (IIS) that provides tools for teaching and learning. Home Base will provide teachers with
collaboration tools, instructional tools and resources, student assessments,
learner profiles and reporting tools to help teachers customize lessons and
other materials to improve student educational outcomes. http://www.ncpublicschools.org/homebase
§
A major component
of Home Base will be PowerSchool, the new student information system.
§
“The teacher
area will allow teachers to upload evidence of their proficiency in meeting the
teaching standards and contain other pertinent information about the
teacher.”
§
Parents will have
daily access.
§
The Assessment and
Growth component has the capacity to assist instructional staff by allowing
them to create, align, deliver, archive, and manage various levels and types of
assessment items and strategies ranging from daily classroom formative
assessment to district interim/benchmark testing to statewide grades 3-8 and
High School summative assessments. The resources available through this
component will add to the depth of items/tasks available for use at the
classroom level across the state.
§ Home Base explanationed:
·
November
Home Base 2012 webinar is archived http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/homebase/presentations/teacher-webinar.pdf
o
Growth Data for World
Language Teachers: See slide 22 in the
January 18 DPI World Languages webinar Power Point indicates WL as a “content focused on
performance”.
·
North Carolina Teacher Standards and
Evaluation Process: Facilitated Course for Teachers - no cost to North Carolina teachers
and will be facilitated by DPI professionals. It will take approximately 20
hours to complete over a period of six weeks, and teachers will earn 2 CEUs
upon completion. Teachers can go to http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/7698 to
register for the course.
Tech News
·
Dr. Ellis’ “staff intends to move forward
with a personalized learning infrastructure, which involves learner-driven classrooms, mobile access,
public policy and partnerships. Ellis told the school board Tuesday night
that she is still working toward a "my
size fits me" education model, opposed to a "one size fits
all" model. Ellis and Mike Webb, deputy superintendent of instructional
technology and operations, said that providing connectivity for children in
poverty is one of their top priorities. The district is proposing to take the
netbooks provided to middle school students through the 1:1 laptop initiative,
scrub and clean them, then give them to students in grades 3 through 5. Students
in grades 6 through 12 would receive Chromebooks. It has cloud storage, is
data secured, has wireless and 3G capability, a good battery life and other
qualities. Soon all testing will be done online, therefore students need to
have access and understand how to use the technology, Ellis said. The school
board voted unanimously to move forward with the Chromebooks and begin speaking
with vendors. http://www.ucps.k12.nc.us/news/jump.php?news_id=371869
·
Voki tech tip – how to make
vokis play automatically http://blog.voki.com/2013/01/15/voki-tip-of-the-week-auto-play-voki/
·
Vocaroo – This is a
quick and easy tool for students or teachers to make a short recording. The
student can email the recording to a teacher or post the URL in a google doc, twitter,
homework assignment, Moodle forum, etc. http://vocaroo.com
Listen to this recording by ex-UCPS
Spanish teacher, Jessica Garner, who now works for DPI http://vocaroo.com/i/s0jusL661Zaj
Tech Tools
for WL
·
Online Voice
Recording Tools for Language Learning: Audacity, Voki, Voice Thread, Voxopop,
Vocaroo, Chirbit, Audiopal, Cinch, Odiogo, etc. http://educationaltechnologyinelt.blogspot.com/2010/09/8-voice-recording-tools-for-language.html
·
Audio Drop Box También, el sitio de CLEAR, de Michigan State University nos da la
habilidad de crear conversaciones interactivas, además de dar a los estudiantes
un Audio Drop Box para grabar presentaciones. Es muy fácil usar, disponible de
cualquier lugar y no cuesta nada. El profesor tiene que inscribirse y
crear las actividades, pero es muy fácil. Para ver un ejemplo de una
conversación que yo diseñé basada en una fuente original de noticias: http://www.jackson.stark.k12.oh.us/webpages/pdraggett/espa.cfm?subpage=1377559 Para ver un ejemplo del Audio
Drop Box con otra fuente original como base (una entrevista con Hugo Chávez):http://www.jackson.stark.k12.oh.us/webpages/pdraggett/espa.cfm?subpage=1375870.
·
Audacity step-by-step
instructions – for
teachers or students
·
Using
google docs to create digital kits for student projects - “Teachers interested in
incorporating digital storytelling projects into their classrooms create
digital kits that students can use as starting points for their efforts. Digital
kits are nothing more than collections of content -- still images, video clips, audio
clips, passages of text -- connected to the topic being studied that teachers
assemble for their kids before a project even begins. Then, students use
the content in digital kits to assemble their final products into their
projects on the topic of instruction. When you
search for images directly in Docs, Google ONLY returns images that are
licensed for reuse and modification.” http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/2012/03/googledocs-digitalkits.html Thanks
to Michael O’Hagan, Bill Ferreter and Casey Reimer for this info.
Globalization
Resources
o Where in the World is Matt? 2.0 with the lyrics “Come on and trip the light. We’re
gonna break the night, And we’ll see with
new eyes, We’re gonna trip the light”. Showcase countries around the world in this uplifting video
clip of Matt dancing with groups in many countries. https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pwe-pA6TaZk?rel=0
Lyrics at http://lybio.net/tag/alicia-lemke-trip-the-light-lyrics/
Thanks to Monica Roncagliolo for
sharing.
Research
·
Machine translation and speech recognition – “Speech recognition,
executed without mistakes, is the Holy Grail of translation. If we could talk
into our smartphones and have vocalized a flawless translation into any
language of our choosing, be it Pashtun or Portuguese, the language barrier
would no longer exist. But like the Babel Fish in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy,” perfect translation is still a thing of fiction.” ComputerWorld Government IT Spotlight http://blogs.computerworld.com/government-it/21604/futuristic-marriage-machine-translation-and-speech-recognition
Advocacy
Resources
·
Interpreting as a Career:
Presidential interpreters. Listen as an interpreter has a video conference with a
classroom of language students. Link to Learn video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM7zfYjD3cI&feature=youtu.be
·
Studying
Abroad in College Helps Graduates Make More Money and Land Jobs Faster http://www.mediatracking.com/npcapp/bounce.aspx/ClipMail/538976343/0/dGFtbXkubmVsc29uQHVjcHMuazEyLm5jLnVz/913057841 (Black Collegian Online © 01/18/2013 )
IES Abroad diversity initiatives and partnerships with HBCUs assist underrepresented students with international education opportunities By Gretchen Cook-Anderson, Director of Diversity Recruiting & Advising at IES Abroad College and university students should consider the benefits of study abroad as they plan their curriculum choices. The results of a recent survey by IES Abroad showed stud...
IES Abroad diversity initiatives and partnerships with HBCUs assist underrepresented students with international education opportunities By Gretchen Cook-Anderson, Director of Diversity Recruiting & Advising at IES Abroad College and university students should consider the benefits of study abroad as they plan their curriculum choices. The results of a recent survey by IES Abroad showed stud...
Chinese Resources
·
Chinese Input Method – Online http://www.chinese-tools.com/tools/ime.html Thanks to Sharon Tian and her students for teaching this to me.
French
Resources
·
Learning to use
French
in the Peace Corps. Find video from Link to Learn at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRMZI65PEi0&feature=youtu.be
Spanish Resources
·
Audio – Pictorial
Dictionary
Students can click and the letter of the alphabet to find words, then see a
visual and click to hear it read. Words marked with “v” are verbs. One can
click on any tense and hear all conjugations. http://www.hello-world.com/Spanish/index.php?translate=English
·
Publisher of La
Noticia recognized by NC Hispanic Chamber of Commerce - On Saturday, December 9 the NC Hispanic
Chamber of Commerce held the first Latino Entrepreneur Award Celebration. Hilda
Gurdian, Publisher of La Noticia, The Spanish-Language Newspaper received the
award as Latina Entrepreneur of the Year http://www.mountainx.com/article/47251/NC-Hispanic-Chamber-of-Commerce-recognizes-Hilda-Gurdian-publisher-of-La-Noticia. Gurdian is publisher of three editions: La Noticia Charlotte, La Noticia Asheville andLa Noticia Raleigh.
Gurdian is also President and CEO of La Noticia Foundation, a nonprofit organization that awards a minimum of four scholarships in the amount of $2,500 to outstanding Latino students to go to college. La Noticia Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area has a circulation of 26,000 copies each week and a readership of more than 100,000. It covers 21 cities and eight counties in the area.La Noticia Asheville has a circulation of 6,000 copies every week and more than 25,000 readers. They cover 19 cities in 9 counties.La Noticia Charlotte has a circulation of 26,000 copies each week and a readership of more than 100,000. It covers 27 cities in nine counties. http://www.lanoticia.com/
Gurdian is also President and CEO of La Noticia Foundation, a nonprofit organization that awards a minimum of four scholarships in the amount of $2,500 to outstanding Latino students to go to college. La Noticia Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area has a circulation of 26,000 copies each week and a readership of more than 100,000. It covers 21 cities and eight counties in the area.La Noticia Asheville has a circulation of 6,000 copies every week and more than 25,000 readers. They cover 19 cities in 9 counties.La Noticia Charlotte has a circulation of 26,000 copies each week and a readership of more than 100,000. It covers 27 cities in nine counties. http://www.lanoticia.com/
·
People Communicate by
Whistling on
Silbo Island in Spain http://www.busuu.com/enc/silbo http://youtu.be/btoM688UDAA http://static1.bscdn.net/files/silbo/busuu_silbo_enc.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silbo_Gomero_language
