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Presentation | Fitting the Program to the Learners:  Adapting Translation Competence Models to Heritage Speakers

This presentation is part of the Center for Integrated Language Communities (CILC) Heritage Interpreting research project, which aims to develop an interpreting curriculum that capitalizes on the strengths of heritage learners.  

The field of translation and interpreting is experiencing significant growth, with a projected 20% increase in job opportunities between 2021 and 2031. While college language departments are responding to this trend by introducing translation and interpreting programs, these programs typically overlook both the distinct needs of heritage speakers—who make up a sizable portion of these majors—and their valuable previous experience as informal translators and interpreters for their families and communities. This presentation addresses these students’ current language use; their language acquisition trajectories; their language proficiency in English and Spanish (both self-assessed and ACTFL-rated); their interpreting competence; and their experience as child language brokers. This presentation will also describe how knowledge of these particular linguistic characteristics can support the development of a curriculum better tailored to these future interpreters.   

Date: Thursday, October 5, 2023 

Time: 3:00-4:00 PM

To attend, register here to get the Zoom link. 

ILETC | ACTFL Workshop: Developing Interpretive Reading and Listening Proficiency

ILETC invites you to participate in a day-long, virtual ACTFL workshop (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) on text typology, led by Professor Cynthia Martin. 

This workshop will explain how to use the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines to develop learners’ general proficiency in interpretive modes (Listening and Reading) in the target language. Participants will review the Guidelines, which will be followed by an introduction to text typology for these interpretive modes. The majority of the workshop will be spent engaging in hands-on activities to guide participants in how to 1) evaluate the effectiveness of their existing teaching materials in terms of overall goals and target audience, and 2) select authentic reading and aural texts and use them to design appropriate proficiency-based activities at various levels. At the end of the workshop, participants will also have the opportunity to discuss implications for assessment of these interpretive modes. 

 Only 20 spots are available! 

Date: Tuesday, December 6, 2022 

Time: 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM 

Fee: $40 per person

To attend, register here.

Workshop | Process Writing in the Heritage Language Class: An approach to biliteracy development

Come join us on Friday, November 11, 2022, from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM, for an interactive presentation online.   

What are the differences between traditional writing assignments (prompts-draft-feedback-final copy) and assignments created following a genre-based approach? What do students and instructors gain by using a genre-based approach? More specifically, what are the distinct benefits for heritage language learners, who typically express an understanding that writing is their weaker skill in the heritage language?  

The presenters, Aránzazu Borrachero (Queensborough Community College and the Graduate Center) and Alberta Gatti (The Graduate Center), invite you to an interactive presentation/discussion that will explore the answers to these questions. They will describe the pilot of a genre-based curriculum that was taught to Spanish heritage learners at two CUNY schools (one community college and one senior college), as well as research-based information about the effects of this curriculum on the writing proficiency development of heritage language learners.   

This pedagogical approach is applicable not just to Spanish, but to other heritage languages, and to English writing classes as well, so we welcome all to come learn about it and to share your related experiences in a discussion with the group. 

To attend, get the Zoom link by registering here.

Bilingual Writing Proficiency of CUNY Students | Interactive presentation coming up in October

When working with multilingual students in your heritage language, English comp, or ESL classes, have you ever wondered about these learners’ ability to do things in “the other” language? For instance, should we assume that bilingual CUNY students who received most of their education in the U.S. write better in English than in their heritage language? What about how large the gap is between writing abilities in the two languages? Can our students accurately evaluate whether they are better at one of the two languages? And, is there anything in their biographical profile that seems to help predict language dominance in writing? 

Read more

Introducing We Authors

Dear CUNY Heritage Language Instructors,

We invite you to learn about We Authors (https://weauthors.commons.gc.cuny.edu/), a website for multilingual students enrolled in heritage language courses across CUNY.

We Authors provides students with a public-facing component to their assignments (under instructor supervision), which allows them to write with a purpose, something known to be instrumental in increasing learner engagement and advancing writing proficiency.

During the 2021-2022 academic year, ILETC successfully piloted the site with Spanish-English bilinguals enrolled in heritage courses at three CUNY colleges. Now, we are preparing the site to welcome courses in heritage Arabic, Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish.

The professors who participated in the pilot and the ILETC team will be conducting a brief Zoom presentation in August (two dates are available). During the presentation, we will share information on how to integrate We Authors into your course.

If interested, register for one of the two dates:

Thursday, August 11, 2022, 4:00-5:00 PM | Register here.

Friday, August 12, 2022, 11:00-12:00 PM | Register here.

We look forward to sharing more with you in August.

Best,

The ILETC Team

Educating Toward Advanced Performance Levels

April 29, 2019
Room TBA
The Graduate Center
10:00am – 1:00pm
Registration required: http://tiny.cc/1eiu3y

Presenter: Heidi Byrnes, Georgetown University

Workshop description:

In this workshop, we will consider how to enhance L2 instructed learners’ ability to attain advanced levels of ability through educational action. We will follow a three-step approach: First, we will lay out broad characteristics of ‘advancedness’ that differentiate that performance level from  intermediate levels of ability; second, using a functional, meaning-oriented approach, we will further specify advancedness in terms of register and genre in order to arrive at broad principles for curriculum construction and pedagogical action; finally, we will locate advancedness within the long-term development process of instructed learners and how programs might conceptualize and facilitate that extended movement. While the workshop will focus on writing, discussion will include all modalities of language use.

Heidi Byrnes is George M. Roth Distinguished Professor of German Emerita at Georgetown University. Her research focuses on adult L2 literacy acquisition, particularly at the advanced level. She has edited and co-edited books and special journal issues on the development of advanced literacy and the link between languaging and thinking, particularly in writing. She is a past president of AAAL, past editor of The Modern Language Journal, and is the recipient of numerous professional association awards, including the Distinguished Scholarship and Service Award of AAAL.

Spring 2019 ILETC Events

We are pleased to offer the following events in Spring 2019:

Lectures

Podcast Projects for Heritage Language Learners
(Click for more details)
April 12, 2019
Room 9204
The Graduate Center
11:00am – 1:00pm

This presentation explains how podcasting can be used in heritage language classes as a pedagogical tool for developing creativity and socially-engaged writing, interviewing, and listening skills.

When Heritage and Second Language Learners Come Together
(Click for more details)
February 15, 2019
Room 9206
The Graduate Center
10:30am – 12:30pm

Maria Carreira of California State University, Long Beach, presents some foundational principles behind teaching language classes with both second language learners (L2 learners) and HL learners in the same classroom. Applies to all languages.

Workshops

Educating toward Advanced Performance Levels: Theoretical, Curricular, and Developmental Considerations
(Click for more details)
April 29, 2019
Room TBA
The Graduate Center
10:00am – 1:00pm

Registration required: http://tiny.cc/1eiu3y

In this workshop, we will consider how to enhance L2 instructed learners’ ability to attain advanced levels of ability through educational action.

Symposia

Linguistic Diversity in Higher Education Symposium
(Click for more details)
May 2, 2019
Room 9204/9205
The Graduate Center

9:00am – 6:00pm

The symposium is free, however registration is required for lunch. The deadline for registration is April 26th. We will not be able to provide lunch for those who do not register or those who register after April 26thPlease visit the event page to register.

The symposium is an opportunity for scholars, practitioners, administrators, and students to engage in conversations about the ways in which multilingualism shapes access to higher education and to start collaborative projects such as scholarly publications, teaching materials, and educational programs. Students are particularly welcome.

For more information on any ILETC event, email ILETC@gc.cuny.edu or call 212-817-2083.

Photo by Mikes Photos from Pexels.

Workshops 2018-2019

We at the Institute for Language Education in Transcultural Context (ILETC) are excited to announce two professional development opportunities for language instructors in the 2018-2019 academic year. Please click on the title of each workshop for additional details, including how to apply.

Collaborative Curriculum Development: Workshop for Heritage Spanish Courses

Project-Based Language Learning for the Chinese Classroom

General Information

As is the case with all professional development activities conducted by ILETC, the workshops offered  during this academic year are guided by a combination of theoretical and pedagogical frameworks that are applicable to both L2 and heritage language education:

  • Language Acquisition. We adhere to the theory that acquiring a language entails the development of an implicit linguistic system and that such development does not take place without input (Krashen, S. D. (1982). Acquiring a Second Language. World Englishes, 1: 97-101.)
  • Proficiency. We understand language proficiency within the framework of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, 2012 (https://www.actfl.org/publications/guidelines-and-manuals/actfl-proficiency-guidelines-2012.)
  • Intercultural Communicative Competence. We approach the teaching of culture in the language class as the development of a person’s ability to successfully navigate between more than one language and cultural system (Byram, M. (2000). Assessing intercultural competence in language teaching. Sprogforum, 18(6), 8‐13.)
  • Critical Pedagogy. We recognize the centrality of curricula informed by sociolinguistic principles regarding language and power, language varieties, and language and identity. Critical pedagogy approaches provide effective classroom practices to understand, reflect on, and analyze such principles (Leeman, J. & Serafini, E. (2016). Sociolinguistics and heritage language education: A model for promoting critical translingual competence. In Marta Fairclough and Sara Beaudrie (Eds.) Innovative Strategies for Heritage Language Teaching. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 56-79.)

Project-Based Language Learning for the Chinese Classroom

Workshop Description

The Institute for Language Education in Transcultural Context (ILETC) invites CUNY full- and part-time Chinese language instructors to participate in a year-long workshop aimed at acquiring the tools to design project-based language learning (PBLL) curricula. PBLL is a student-centered pedagogy that focuses on meaning making in the target language. PBLL courses are organized around a complex question or problem. Learners develop linguistic and cultural competence by working toward addressing the question or problem. For sample PBLL projects, visit http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/pebbles/.

We at ILETC consider collaboration to be a key aspect of improving language education. The workshop sessions offer organized spaces for participants to work with and learn from each other. There will be group meetings to discuss progress with colleagues, reading groups and lectures from experts to keep ourselves up-to-date on the changing dynamics of language education, and structured activities to facilitate curriculum development. This professional development activity will be led by Dr. Megan M. Ferry, Professor of Chinese and Asian Studies at Union College in Schenectady, NY, and assisted by a graduate student.

The workshop entails six 2-hour long sessions, which will take place over the course of the 2018-2019 academic year. Most of the meetings will be virtual, although two of them will take place in person at the Graduate Center. The first meeting will be in person, tentatively scheduled for Friday, September 21, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., and the last in May 2019. In addition, we will invite ACTFL to offer a day-long workshop to participants in early November. The complete schedule for this workshop will be available in early September.

There are a limited number of spots available. To apply, please fill out the application form (found hereno later than August 30, 2018. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to ILETC@gc.cuny.edu.

Workshop Facilitator

Megan M. Ferry is Professor of Chinese and Asian Studies in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Union College (Schenectady, NY). She received her B.A. in Asian Studies and German from Mt. Holyoke College, M.A. and Ph.D. degree in Comparative Literature (Chinese and German, with an emphasis on modern Chinese literature and culture) from Washington University in St. Louis. The results of her studies have yielded a diverse body of research and courses. In addition to Chinese language at all levels, she teaches Chinese and Asian American film, Gender and Sexuality on Modern China, East Asian literature and culture, Media China, as well as co-teaches an interdisciplinary course with a civil engineer on China’s Three Gorges Dam and development. She has written on Chinese women writers and the literary field in 1920s and 1930s China, advertising, consumerism, and sexuality in contemporary China, and China-Latin America and China-African relations. In addition to these publications, she has written the Chinese curriculum for the Schenectady Public Schools District and served as evaluator for several K-16 Chinese language programs.

Collaborative Curriculum Development: Workshop for Heritage Spanish Courses

Workshop Description

The Institute for Language Education in Transcultural Context (ILETC) invites CUNY Spanish language instructors who teach heritage or mixed L2/heritage courses to participate in a year-long workshop aimed at revising curriculum, discussing pedagogical approaches, and evaluating materials and assessment tools.

We at ILETC consider collaboration to be a key aspect of improving language education. The workshop sessions offer organized spaces for participants to work with and learn from each other. There will be group meetings to discuss progress with colleagues, reading groups and lectures from experts to keep ourselves up-to-date on the changing dynamics of language education, and structured activities to facilitate curriculum development. This professional development activity will be led by ILETC Director, Alberta Gatti, and assisted by a graduate student.

Meetings will take place at the Graduate Center on Fridays, with the first meeting scheduled for Friday, September 21st. The group will meet three times in the Fall and three in the Spring, with the last meeting scheduled for May 2019. Additionally, ACTFL will be invited to offer a day-long workshop for participants. The complete schedule will be available in early September.

There are a limited number of spots available. To apply, please fill out the application form (applications now closed) no later than August 30, 2018. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to ILETC@gc.cuny.edu.

Workshop Facilitator

Alberta Gatti is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, where she directs the Center for Integrated Language Communities (CILC, a National Language Resource Center) and the Institute for Language Education in Transcultural Competence (ILETC, a research and resource center for language education at CUNY). For the past four years she has been conducting research on the proficiency of heritage speakers, which resulted in two publications and multiple conference presentations. Previously, she conducted work on Early Modern Spanish literature. Alberta Gatti holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic Language and Literatures from Boston University and a degree in Classical Studies from the University of Buenos Aires.