p. 1

2011-2012 a word from the director programs project go larc labs social media and online teaching and learning outreach in the current grant cycle larc the language acquisition resource center has been focusing on creating opportunities for teachers to learn new technologies for language learning including social media and interactive web 2.0 applications creating credentialing alternatives for less commonly taught languages remains one of our highest priorities as a state and nation discernment in choosing the most appropriate learning environment including face-to-face intensive classroom settings remote or hybrid learning is a skill teachers will need to acquire in 21st century classrooms our webinar series focuses on topics of the greatest relevance to teachers and researchers in order to enable them to select the best technologies and tests and use them effectively in instruction we also put theory to practice in creating curricula and language learning opportunities year round our students range from kindergarteners in startalk summer camp programs to marines deploying to afghanistan to government employees brushing up on professional level language skills common to all of these experiences are high quality materials and curricula developed over time with the very best collaborators nationwide partnerships with other national language resource centers project go rotc institutions scattered throughout the country and with colleagues in the california state universities and california foreign language projects add many dimensions and strengths to our programs in difficult times these collaborations enable us to leverage funds and carry out missions of mutual interest we are grateful for the opportunities we have been afforded to improve language teaching and learning in the united states dr mary ann lyman-hager projects small portal lesson plan generator testing and assessment webinars series cast sailn methodology textbook cset prep alternative credentialing friday brown bag workshops programs project go project go global officers originally titled the rotc language and culture project is a department of defense initiative aimed at improving the language skills regional expertise and intercultural competency of future military officers administered by the institute of international education on behalf of the national security education program and the project defense language office project go provides institutional grants to 18 u.s universities across the country working in support of army air force and navy rotc strategies and policies project go facilitates collaborative efforts among universities and rotc leadership project go funds generally support direct student scholarships program coordinators language instructors curriculum development and outreach initiatives to support existing language programs some project go institutions also use their funding to provide academic year tutoring offset additional study abroad costs during the academic year or host guest speakers on cultural topics http larc.sdsu.edu/rotc events arabic /persian /russian courses social media workshop actfl oral proficiency interview training passage rating seminar online cast assessor training intermediate cast startalk teacher training and student camps distinguished level arabic larc labs the larc labs link the physical space within the nlrc with the virtual network of language resources sixty-two stations in two labs are available for student use when visiting with their class completing class assignments on their own or dropping in to access resources stations are set up for optimal audio and video recording typing and printing in all languages for easy access to lab language learning software and software available on-line larc staff are always on-hand to offer student and faculty technical support two large conference tables encourage sharing media and print resources are visibly displayed behind service counters for check out research is conducted in oral skills assessment teacher education mobile applications and the development of spoken corpora http larclab.sdsu.edu 1

[close]

p. 2

programs social media and online teaching and learning the language acquisition resource center larc over the past few years has positioned itself to play a part in all aspects of online teaching and learning professional development research and social networking larc offers free professional development opportunities throughout the academic year focusing on the social media and web 2.0 tools for the language classroom the summer social media workshop july 30 august 3 2012 and friday brown bag workshops these workshops provide real classroom examples and hands-on practice through a series of language educators and technology instructors demonstrating classroom uses of social media the language learning objectives instruction on how to use the tool and finally an activity that allows participants to sign up and experiment with the new tool larc currently delivers these workshops in a blended live and online format allowing local teacher to come to larc and those around the globe to participate in the virtual environment as much as information and communication technology has taken the world language professional by storm larc realizes that research must be conducted to legitimize the use of these modern communication tools in this effort larc is developing the social media and language learning research portal small to catalyze communication and partnerships between researchers classroom instructors graduate students and the world language community by sharing tools lesson plans articles white papers and engaging in discussions the small portal is currently undergoing beta-testing and will be available to the pub ­ continued lic in spring 2012 larc is also an active member of the social media community follow us on twitter larc_sdsu and facebook and check out our videos on youtube and screenr http www.youtube.com/larcsdsu outreach the language acquisition resource center maintains many connections with professional organizations state national and local agencies universities and community groups though its director of outreach several of larc s staff are on the boards of professional organizations that plan conferences and other events related to the teaching and learning of world languages one of our chief efforts has been our collaboration with community ethnic groups to found community-based language schools in order to preserve heritage languages and cultures these include the following languages arabic chinese dari/pashto filipino hebrew kurdish mixteco persian spanish swahili turkish vietnamese among others such collaborations often include advice on managing the school teacher selection and professional development as well as curriculum planning and assessment larc staff present at numerous local state and national conferences where we show recent developments in all matters related to the teaching and learning of world languages we broadly share new assessment tools recent research and publications operate another teacher workshop in 2012 teachers in the funded student programs are encouraged and expected to enroll in the workshop besides workshops that larc staff operate during the academic year and in the summer larc houses the local arm of the california foreign language project the southern area international languages network all larc-housed language instructors have completed all four tiers of sailn training and are now co-presenters in the tiers larc financially supports startalk teachers and teachers in some community-based language schools to attend these trainings we see this as an opportunity to increase capacity and quality of instruction in less commonly taught languages additionally larc staff serves frequently as consultants for research curriculum development and the director of outreach is a volunteer consultant for the california commission on teacher credentialing 2 in addition larc has been funded to operate student startalk summer camps in several languages and we have applied for eight student summer camps for 2012 this increases our connection to important ethnic community groups in the region and increases enrollment in ongoing community -based language schools we have also been funded for a teacher workshop in 2010 and 2011 we have applied again for funds to

[close]

p. 3

main themes a lternatives in teacher credentialing s tandards based curriculum building increasing the number of highly-qualified credentialed teachers in critical languages first in the state of california and second across the nation through alternative teacher credentialing online methodology and subject matter preparation courses in target languages and collaborating with other national and state organizations cset prep alternative credentialing methodology textbook increasing the use of standards-based language instructional materials at all levels particularly in several critical languages of emphasis through the creation of explicitly standards-based textbook materials series and online resources in the critical languages outlined above and by researching and compiling language teaching standards from around the world and posting them on our website lesson plan generator social media workshop friday brown bag workshops d eveloping trans-cultural competence t esting and assessing language growth increasing trans-cultural competencies through wellconstructed learner engagement in social media and web 2.0 applications documenting effects on student language and culture development by creating and maintaining a social media/web 2.0 research portal on larc.sdsu.edu and by conducting and disseminating research on the impact of technology enhanced language learning small portal social media workshop friday brown bag workshops increasing teachers knowledge and confidence in using measurement options appropriately to better understand learners developmental language growth and to provide useful feedback that will foster such growth by creating an adaptive multi-level online oral proficiency test with an optional tailored feedback module conducting multiple types of professional development in the area of oral assessment and creating a web registry of existing alternatives in language testing and assessment passage rating cast testing and assessment webinar series sailn actfl training 3

[close]

p. 4

projects small portal available to the public spring 2012 the social media and language learning portal small gathers research materials lesson plans and experiences of social media and web 2.0 in the foreign language classroom into one location beta testing is currently underway tested internally among larc staff and consultants and the current demo version can be accessed at http larc.sdsu.edu lessongenerator the final version is due for release in january 2012 when it will be tested by foreign language teachers in california increase their inter-rater reliability while ensuring their assessments conform to national actfl proficiency standards http cast.sdsu.edu sailn sailn is the local arm of the california foreign language project and has vigorously pursued the goal of challenging language professionals to improve and expand language programs in california and to promote foreign language education for all students the project aims to involve every language teacher in a supportive professional community that community fosters leadership opportunities to advocate for the retention expansion and articulation of foreign and heritage language offerings across educational levels beginning in the elementary grades sailn is housed at larc and offers pedagogical training during the academic year and in the summer workshops http larc.sdsu.edu/sailn testing and assessment webinar series language acquisition research increasingly points to targeted feedback as a key component for increasing learner proficiency to this end larc and calper at penn state a sister national language resource center are partnering to offer a series of webinars bringing well-known researchers and practitioners together in an online virtual classroom with supporting podcasts for each session and webinar archives available for post-session review recent and upcoming testing and assessment webinars http small.sdsu.edu october 27 2011 dr carl falsgraf formative assessment december 8 2011 dr sara cushing weigle assessing writing february 23 2012 dr larry vandergrift assessing listening april 19 2012 dr glenn fulcher assessing speaking lesson plan generator lpg for the past year and a half larc has been working on the development of the lesson plan generator in conjunction with the sdsu computer science department the lesson plan generator is an online tool designed to assist foreign language teachers in california in developing lesson plans that reflect the adopted national and state standards of foreign language teaching and learning it emphasizes backward design in lesson planning and incorporates assessment as the integral part of the planning process while the instrument has a broad application it has been developed with teachers of critical and lesscommonly-taught languages in mind so far the lesson plan generator has been methodology textbook working with the authors of the teacher s handbook 4th edition larc is creating target language modules in spanish arabic and chinese with other http larc.sdsu.edu/events/webinars cast larc has developed and refined an online proficiency test to measure advanced-level speaking skills cast is currently available in eleven languages and is ideal for preparing students for a full opi by emulating the test and offering feedback for those students who are rated as not achieving the advanced low level it is also an instrument for program evaluation and enabling research into student responses the test can be used by language departments to 4

[close]

p. 5

languages to follow to accompany and supplement each of the key chapters of this widely adopted textbook this project responds directly to california state laws mandating that language teachers receive a pedagogy course in their target language it also meets the common-sense standard that training for language teaching professionals should be available in both english and the target language they will teach for more info on the textbook visit http col l ege cenga ge com french/1428290362_shrum/index.html and chinese next year each year we will add online cset review courses for authorized critical languages once a candidate already possesses a california teaching credential s/he can take a cset examination for the language to add that language to the credential http l ar cl .s dsu .e d u/2 0 1 0 20 1 1 projects/alterntives-teacher-credential friday brown bag workshops fridays throughout the academic year the brown bag workshop series is intended to provide short and informal training sessions on all things related to technology in the language and culture classroom and at the larc labs the goal of these workshops is to also help initiate new faculty led research projects which will be part of cset prep alternative credentialing cset prep courses review the key domains covered by a cset examination larc is targeting critical languages one by one arabic online course has been completed filipino will be completed this year larc s future brown bag workshop series come be part of the conversation and participate in the exploration of technology for the world language classroom join trevor shanklin and evan rubin at the larc labs at sdsu or online in larc s virtual classroom can t make the event check out the archives http larc.sdsu.edu/events/brownbag events arabic/persian russian courses all levels session 1 may 24 june 29 2012 session 2 july 10 august 14 2012 these intensive 6 10 unit courses will help students develop beginner intermediate and advanced level skills in arabic persian and russian speaking listening reading and writing through the use of authentic materials the students will be exposed to a wide variety of topics including basic academic and cultural knowledge http larc.sdsu.edu/events/summerinstitutes long workshop in a blended live and online format to continue the exploration and integration of social media and web 2.0 for the world language classroom the workshop provides real classroom examples and hands-on practice through a series of language educators demonstrating their classroom uses of social media the language learning objectives and instruction on how to use the tool http larc.sdsu.edu/social -mediaworkshop for various proficiency levels this workshop is free but a cost is required for twounits of college credit for those interested this completely online 5-day workshop looks at various types of text print and media to determine how they map onto the various levels of proficiency from the actfl novice ilr 0 to the actfl advanced ilr 3 each day for one hour participants meet with the instructor in larc s virtual classroom to field questions and review the homework the rest of the day participants are free to enter larc s moodle site and work through the videos practice assignments and homework participants will come away from this workshop better equipped to choose authentic materials for the levels of language they are teaching as well as to understand the properties of text that students are capable of producing http larc.sdsu.edu/passage-ratingseminar passage rating workshop winter session january 23 27 2012 summer session july 23 27 2011 want to improve the use of authentic content in your classroom learn how to evaluate spoken and written passages for appropriate level gain expertise in developing language classroom tasks appropriate social media workshop july 30 august 3 2012 each summer larc hosts a free week 5

[close]

p. 6

actfl oral proficiency interview training january 9 12 2012 july 30 august 2 2012 at the end of this four-day session participants will be trained in the actfl proficiency standards and gain experience in conducting their own interviews with international students participants can apply to complete the requirements for actfl certification after the conclusion of the workshop larc will provide a subsidy for all those accepted for the workshop so that the cost for participants will only be $250 less than a third of the standard workshop fee so apply today this workshop will be offered on site at san diego state university http larc.sdsu.edu/oral-proficiencyinterview larc moodle site this workshop is free but a cost is required for two-units of college credit for those interested this and preceding workshop will be offered both on-site and virtually through blackboard-collaborate http larc.sdsu.edu/testing-andassessment this workshop will be an on-site training open to startalk teachers from around startalk summer camps tba cast assessor training aug 6 8 2012 anyone who has completed an opi workshop can take a three-day workshop on rating cast tests find out which evaluation techniques are similar to those in a full opi interview and to what extent they differ and then start rating your own cast tests the workshop itself is free but there is a fee for two-units of college credit for interested participants http larc.sdsu.edu/testing-andassessment startalk is the newest of the component programs of the national security language initiative nsli the initiative seeks to expand and improve the teaching and learning of strategically important world languages that are not now widely taught in the us startalk s mission is to increase the number of americans learning speaking and teaching critical foreign languages by offering students k­16 and teachers of these languages creative and engaging summer experiences that strive to exemplify best practices in language education and in language teacher development startalk camps will be offered in persian turkish and dari/pashto this year if funded we will able to offer student camps in the above languages but also in chinese russian and swahili http larc.sdsu.edu/startalk the country teachers participating in the program will attend instruction six hours per day from monday through friday for two consecutive weeks working in language-specific teams they will design and model teaching a one-hour lesson targeted to the proficiency and age levels of a specific group of students using a broad range of technological tools and software participants will learn to develop their lessons with media using communicativebased strategies infused with culture instruction for this workshop will be offered and modeled in english followed by work in language-specific teams in the afternoons http larc.sdsu.edu startalkteachertraining distinguished level arabic tba through the use authentic materials guest intermediate cast aug 8 10 2012 we will use the intermediate level of the cast framework developed by the center for applied linguistics we will populate a grid that has columns of function types and rows of content areas with test items in the languages represented at the workshop the goal will be to evolve these items into the hundreds necessary for a full-blown on -line test meanwhile test items developed in the workshop can be piloted through the startalk teacher training july 30 august 3 2012 speakers and work with state-of-the-art technology this unique course provides intensive in-depth rigorous academic content as well as the extensive cultural knowledge needed to function effectively in a professional setting http larc.sdsu.edu/summer institutes 6

[close]

p. 7

products 7

[close]

p. 8

pdphoto design lina hariri-hajj larc 5500 campanile dr eba 419 mc 8305 san diego ca 92182 http larc.sdsu.edu 8

[close]