9 Lingo: Fall 2004

Dialogue JournalsReview by Sonja G. Hokanson, Ph.D., PNCFL President Elect

How, exactly, would aninstructor go about having theirforeign language students writedialogue journals? Wouldn’t thestudent e f for ts a t genuinecommunication be loaded with awfulerrors? An article that I first reviewedfor Foreign Language Annals as ananonymous draft was revised andpublished this spring in that journal(Vol. 37, No. 1). “Student and TeacherStrategies for Communicating throughDialogue Journals in Hebrew: ATeacher Research Project” lists someof the strategies used and some of theireffects. I wish I had read this articlebefore I tried having my students writedialogue journals for the first time! Itwould have saved me some difficultiesand made the experience moreproductive for me as well as for mystudents.

The author, David Schwarzer,Ph.D., is the assistant professor forforeign language education at theUniversity of Texas in Austin, Texas. He uses dialogue journals for writtenconversation in the target language(L2) with his students and shares withus the six elements that helped create“a very clear sense of audience andpurpose.” His summary list ofsuccessful practices is paraphrased asfollows:

1.) Summarize the informationprovided by the students intheir entry with teacher notesin the margins of thestudents’ paper. Use the L2 asmuch as possible.

2.) In the summary, modelstandard usage of the L2 byr e p e a t i n g t h e m a i ninformation in the standardform.

3.) Sometimes use the students’native language whenexplaining complexities ofthe foreign language.Translation and switchingback and forth from L1 to L2may help ensure meaning.

4.) Use a basic and repetitiveformat for the teacher’sresponses in the L2. Anexample might be to alwaysrefer to mistakes in verbendings in Spanish by writing“agreement” after a verb withthe wrong ending.

5.) Use students’ themes andvocabulary in the teacher’sresponses.

6.) Comment on the content ofthe students’ remarksw h e n e v e r p o s s i b l e ,m i n i m i z i n g g r a m m a rcomments.

I heartily recommend reading theentire, short five-page article! Whilethe examples are in Hebrew, the pointof each example is clearly stated andtranslated into English with easy-to-follow steps.

“I wish I had read this articlebefore I tried having my students

write dialogue journals for thefirst time!”

10 Lingo: Fall 2004

PNCFL E-Notes Antonella Sorace and Bob Ladd ofthe Linguistic Society of America havecreated “Raising Bilingual Children,”an educational pamphlet that deflatescommon misconceptionsregarding bi l inguallanguage acquisition andprovides insight onraising bilingual children.The article also includesa bibliography of relatedmaterials for those interested in furtherreading. View the pdf version online athttp://www.lsadc.org/pdf_files/Bilingual_Child.pdf.

According to new research findingsby a team at York University lead byEllen Bialystok, bilingual speakersmay be better able to deal with

d i s t r a c t i o n s i ncomparison to theirmonolingual peers. Inaddition, those whospeak a second languagefluently may alsodecrease their risk of age-

related declines in mentalperformance. Read more about theresearch findings of Bialystok’s YorkU n i v e r s i t y t e a m a thttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39338-2004Jun13.html.

Important BookmarksStay connected to the language community with the help of these distinguished sites!

ACTFL MALT http://actfl.org/ http://www.maltsite.org/ COFLT PNCFL

http://www.coflt.org/ http://babel.uoregon.edu/pncfl ITALC WAFLT

http://www.iatlc.org/ http://www.waflt.net/ JNCL-NCLIS Year of Languages

http://www.languagepolicy.org/ http://yearoflanguages.org Language Resource Centers

http://nflrc.msu.edu

“…Bilingual speakers maybe better able to deal with

distractions...”

11 Lingo: Fall 2004

Regional ReportReported by Stephen Flesher, ACTFL Representative

May 22-24, 2004

The spring meeting of theACTFL executive council was held inAlexandria, Virginia, on May 22-24 inthe Embassy Suites Hotel.

President Keith Cothrunwelcomed new Council membersAudrey Heining-Boynton, presidentelect; Beverly Harris-Schenz, PA;Guadalupe Valdés, CA; and MauriceCherry, SCOLT representative. SisterMary Helen Kashuba, Northeastrepresentative, joined the council andwas welcomed on Sunday.

President Keith Cothrun andExecutive Director Bret Lovejoyattended regional conferences thisspring and shared in discussions onthe Year of Languages. Keith plans onattending the Oregon/Washington jointconference this fall for PNCFL.

Discussion of having theAmerican Sign Language Association

become an organizational member ofACTFL was had, and an invitation tothem has been sent.

In discussions with NewVisions, it was agreed that ACTFLwould take on the implementation ofthe Teacher of the Year Award afterthe pilot testing was completed bySWCOLT. ACTFL will be providingthe regional organizations withinformation about the process forimplementing the Teacher of the YearAward at the regional and nationallevel. ACTFL will recognize the firstNational Teacher of the Year inNovember 2005 at the convention inBaltimore, Maryland.

The “Best of” regional sessionswill receive comp registrationbeginning at the Chicago conference.

The Year of Languages iseveryone’s initiative. ACTFL isencouraging all language organizationsto join them in planning a variety ofactivities that will provide Americanswith a new and fresh perspective onthe value of learning other languages.Though there will be a monthly focusfrom ACTFL headquarters, each stateand community within the state needto spearhead their own activities.Fore more information, click on theYear of Languages (YOL) logo ath t t p : / / a c t f l . o r g o r v i s i thttp://yearoflanguages.org.

ACTFL President Keith Cothrunplans on attending the

Oregon/Washington jointconference this fall.

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Regional UpdatesCentral States Conference on theTeaching of Foreign Languages heldthe i r con fe rence , “Mak ingConnections,” this year in Dearborn,Michigan, on April 1-3. The 2005 CSCconference will be at the HyattRegency in Columbus, Ohio, March10-12. Visit their website athttp://www.centralstates.cc.

Northeast Conference on theTeaching of Foreign Languagescelebrated their 51st conference in NewYork City. For more information onthe 2005 conference at the MarriottMarquis in New York, visithttp://dickinson.edu/nectfl/.

Pacific Northwest Council forLanguages . Thirty-three secondlanguage teachers from the PacificNorthwest – Alaska, Idaho, Montana,Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming –are working and learning together toimprove second language educationthroughout the region. WILL wascreated because most rural teachers are

isolated from colleagues and resourcesand lack opportunities to learn aboutnew ideas and issues in the field.These teachers have been meetingsince June 2003 on a regular basis andconduct action research in theirclassrooms. Each teacher willeventually publish his or her researchthrough a state conferencepresentation and a written publicationin L ingo or other professionalnewsletters and journals. For moreinformation on PNCFL, go tohttp://babel.uoregon.edu/pncfl.

Southwest Conference onLanguage Teaching formed their Yearof Language ad hoc committee at theirleadership session in Albuquerque inMarch. The committee includesmembers from all states of theSouthwest. Committee membersreceive periodical updates from theYOL working committee and thenmeet individually by state to plan theactivities in their state. Desa Dawson,this year’s pilot Teacher of the YearSWCOLT recipient, is organizing aSWCOLT regional activity for the 2005conference. For more information onSWCOLT, go to http://swcolt.org.

Southern Conference onLanguage Teaching held its annualmeeting in Mobile, Alabama. The 40th

Anniversary of SCOLT will take placein Charlotte, North Carolina, onFebruary 24-26 in conjunction withthe Foreign Language Association ofNorth Carolina (FLANC). Visit theS C O L T w e b s i t e a thttp://www.valdosta.edu/ scolt/.

Future ACTFL Conference Dates

November 18-20, 2005 Baltimore, MD November 17-19, 2006 Nashville, TN November 16-18, 2007 San Antonio, TX

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ACTFL 2004The American Council on the

Teaching of Foreign Languages(ACTFL) wants your help incelebrating the international spirit!ACTFL will hold its annualc o n v e n t i o n a n d o f f i c i a lcommencement for the Year ofLanguages in Chicago, Illinois,November 19-21 at the Hilton Chicago.Conference workshops commence aday before the conference onNovember 18.

The ACTFL Annual Meetingand Exposition attracts more than5 , 0 0 0 s t u d e n t s , t e a c h e r s ,administrators, and foreign languageenthusiasts – making it the largestprofessional meeting of secondlanguage educators in the UnitedStates. In addition, over 400educational sessions will be featuredduring the convention. Languageaficionados can find topics rangingfrom assessment to professionaldevelopment to standards andtechnology, along with much more!After all, ACTFL is the largest

exhibition of teaching materials for theforeign language profession. Moreover,the convention provides an avenue fornetworking and reconnecting withcolleagues. Please visit http://actfl.orgfor registration information or todownload the preliminary conferencebrochure.

To ensure that language teachersand professionals in the PacificNorthwest will be represented, PNCFLwill lead the Regional ForeignLanguage Association BusinessMeeting. During this meeting, fiveregional language organizations willdiscuss national and regional issues. Inaddition, PNCFL will share boothspace with the Center for AppliedSecond Language Studies, theNorthwest Foreign Language ResourceCenter, to disseminate informationalmaterials. For more informationregarding PNCFL’s activities atACTFL, please contact PresidentBarbara Rupert by email atbrupert@fp.k12.wa.us.

14 Lingo: Fall 2004

Interpreting the Year of LanguagesAbbe Spokane, from The National Capital Language Resource Center, has

provided a fantastic resource that summarizes the activities associated to the Yearof Languages. This resource, reprinted from the National Capital Language

Resource Center's newsletter, The Language Resource, September, 2004 issue, canalso be accessed on the NCLRC Web site at http://www.nclrc.org or directly at

http://www.nclrc.org/caidlr86.htm#no1.

The United States Senate hasofficially declared 2005 to be the Yearof Languages. Now what? Whatexactly does that mean, what sort ofthings will be going on, and how canyou take advantage of this opportunityin your classroom and community?

For starters, the Year ofLanguages (YOL) was proposed andsupported by the American Councilfor the Teaching of Foreign Languages(ACTFL) as a way to increase national,regional, and local visibility oflanguage speakers, learners, andteachers, and to highlight theirimportance across the country. On thenational level, ACTFL will sponsorpress conferences , producepromotional materials, and offerguidance for regional and localorganizations on how to involve theircommunities in promoting languages.The Year of Languages headquarters ishoused on ACTFL’s website athttp://www.yearoflanguages.org/,where they offer a participant kitincluding sample press releases, anoverview of the initiative, a list offocus points, an official logo, and apower point presentation to helpsmaller organizations or schools

spread the word and organize theirefforts. Also included on the site is anarticle about the Year of Languagesand its importance, a calendar ofnational events, a copy of the Senateresolution, and facts about the world’slanguages.

This all sounds great, but youmight want to get started now, becauseonce the school year starts, will youreally be able to spend your dayconvincing your local media to coverthe YOL? Luckily, you’ve got a fewmonths until 2005, and now’s the besttime to start planning so that you andyour students, parents, and othercommunity members will be able toenjoy the fruits of your labor later inthe year.

The Year of Languages is a greatexcuse to indulge in some fun projectswhile offering your students newopportunities to experience andexperiment with languages:

• Contact the music and dramadepartments as soon as the schoolyear starts and offer to collaborateon a foreign-language chorusconcert, opera, musical, or play.

15 Lingo: Fall 2004

This is a great way to get a largenumber of students involved,including those who don’tnecessarily speak a foreignlanguage. You or some of youradvanced students could offerdiction training or translationservices so that the performersknow what they’re singing about.

• Ask the literary magazine advisorto consider publishing studentpoetry and short stories in foreignlanguages and then help yourstudents write their submissions.Older students don’t often get achance to express their creativityin writing, especially in a foreignlanguage. The project couldactually involve a whole team ofstudents for editing, artwork, andpromotion.

• Ask the school paper to publishforeign language crosswordpuzzles, lunch menus, word finds,or other fun, quick features usingcommon foreign words thateveryone can enjoy. Have studentstranslate the daily menus anddevelop the puzzles. This is a funway to help students realize howmany foreign words they canalready understand.

• Contact your elementary school orlocal public library and offer yourupper-level students as volunteersfor bilingual storytelling. Studentscould read from their own storiesor from books. Another option isto hold a drive for foreign languagebook donations, or ask fordonations from local bookstores.

• Get your high school students todress up in wacky costumes andput together a short skit on whatit’s like to learn a foreign language,and how you can use it. Take yourtroupe to elementary schools.They’ll be a hit, and the younger

students get early encouragementto study language.

• Start a service learning projectwhere students can volunteer inthe community using theirlanguage skills. One idea is to goto a senior citizen’s center in acommunity with a non-Englishspeaking population and haveyour students play games, presenttheir songs, plays, poetry, orstories, or just talk with people inthe foreign language about what itwas like to grow up in anothercountry.

• Have a short meeting withguidance counselors and languageteachers to discuss how topromote language careers andshow the importance of knowinganother language in the job marketand higher education. Often,students don’t realize howspeaking another language canhelp with more than just studyabroad. Some may need to seeconcrete examples of people whouse language in their careers, so try

“The Year of Languages is a greatexcuse to indulge in some funprojects while offering your

students new opportunities toexperience and experiment with

languages.”

16 Lingo: Fall 2004

to bring in speakers from thecommunity.

If you’re feeling more ambitious,this is where ACTFL can help. Takeadvantage of the materials in theparticipant kit to approach businessesand media and ask for theirsponsorship. Find businesses tosponsor prizes for a poster contest, andthen hang the entries around town.Have your students put together ashort TV or radio spot to send to yourlocal news or public stations tohighlight events that the communitymay be interested in attending, like aninternational dinner, concert, or show.

Some states and otherorganizations are already making plansfor the Year of Languages that you canget involved in. For example, the stateof Virginia is developing a videotapethat will feature language programsstate-wide with an introduction byGovernor Mark Warner outlining theimportance of language learning for allchildren in the Commonwealth ofVirginia. The video production,scheduled to be completed in February2005, is funded by the VirginiaDepartment of Education at the requestof a member of the State Board ofEducation. For more information,

contact Faye Rollings-Carter atfrolling@mail.vak12ed.edu.

Here are some other sites withYOL initiatives or postings:

• Alabama Association of ForeignL a n g u a g e T e a c h e r s :http://www.uab.edu/aaflt

• Foreign Language Association ofGeorgia:http://www.flageorgia.org/YOL/yol.htm

• California Language TeachersAssociation:http://www.clta.net/yol

• Colorado Congress of ForeignL a n g u a g e T e a c h e r s :http://ccflt.org/yearoflang.htm

• Foreign Language Association ofN o r t h C a r o l i n a:http://www.flanc.org/page.aspx?page_id=62

If you’ve already brainstormedabout how you’ll share your passionfor languages this coming year, we’dlove to include your ideas inupcoming reports on the Year ofLanguages. Please send us your plans,insights, and updates on ongoingactivit ies at nclrc@gwu.edu.

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Spectrum.Publication of the Confederation in Oregon for Language Teaching (COFLT).

FORUM.Publication of the Washington Association for Language Teaching (WAFLT).

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONSWe invite all PNCFL members to submit materials for consideration for publication in both Spectrum andFORUM. Membership in COFLT or WAFLT is not required.

A submission might be an article on the presentation you gave at a conference or a summary of a sessionyou attended and found particularly worthwhile, a classroom unit you would like to share, a shortteaching tip, a feature article on your summer travel/studies, or an opinion you have on a professionalissue.

For consideration for publication in both publications, all submissions must be by email. Submit to onlyone of us (not both). We will exchange what we receive.

Lauren Kiolet, Editor, FORUM lkiolet@earthlink.netAs an attachment, submissions in MS Word. Otherwise, cut & paste into your email.

Ray Verzasconi, Editor, Spectrum rverzasconi@msn.comAs an attachment, submissions in WordPerfect, MS Word or pdf.format. Otherwise, cut& paste into your email.

Although both publications appear three times a year at about the same time, we have different pressdeadlines and different financial limitations so an article accepted for publication in both publicationsmay not appear in the same general issue. Further, since we have slightly different publication criteria, anarticle accepted in one may not necessarily be accepted in the other. As editors, however, we want to givelanguage teachers in the PNCFL region an opportunity to share their ideas with colleagues in both states.

Submission deadlines also vary, but submission deadlines apply only to time-dated material. If you wantto submit time-dated material, e.g., an announcement of a forthcoming event, for:

FORUM: December 15 for Winter issueApril 15 for Spring/Summer issueAugust 5 for Fall issue

Spectrum November 15 for January issueFebruary 15 for April issueJuly 15 for September issue

Non-time dated materials are welcome at any time. If accepted for publication, they will be included inthe next issue for which space is available.

Questions about maximum length of articles or publication criteria should be addressed to both of us.

Lauren KioletRay Verzasconi

18 Lingo: Fall 2004

5290 University ofOregonEugene, OR 97477

Phone:541-346-5699

Facsimile:541-346-0322

Email:mgarman@gladstone.uoregon.edu

Visit us on the web! http://babel.uoregon. edu/pncfl

PacificNorthwestCouncil forLanguages

Editor’s CommentLingo, the PNCFL newsletter, is published

twice a year at the Center for Applied SecondLanguage Studies (CASLS) at the University ofOregon. Short articles, descriptions of innovativecourses, reviews of teaching materials, technologyreports, as well as other items of interest tomembers of the language teaching profession arehighly welcomed by Lingo staff. Submissions canbe sent by fax, mail, or email to:

Mandy GarmanPNCFL Editor

5290 University of OregonEugene, OR 97403Fax: 541-346-5699

mgarman@gladstone.uoregon.edu

Lingo is designed for PNCFL members andlanguage professionals in the Pacific Northwest.PNCFL wants to publish articles that are focusedon your needs. In order to increase the value of ourservices to you, we would like to know what youfind important. Perhaps you’d like to see morearticles on assessment or professionaldevelopment or workshops. Perhaps you’d like toread about new teaching materials or techniques.Let PNCFL know what you’d like to see in Lingoby contacting the editor at the above address, andwe’ll make sure your newsletter is comprised ofinformation you’d like to know more about and beapart of.

The editor would like to thank StephenFlesher, Sonja Hokanson, Teresa Kennedy, LaurenKiolet, Daniel Morris, and Ray Verzasconi for theircontributive efforts; Barbara Rupert and TrinaZimmer for their revision efforts; and GuyLindgren and Robert Wilson for their graphic andlayout efforts.