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.)

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 here) no 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.

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 21^st. 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.