Future of Early Language Learning in Washington State

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Future of Early Language Learning in Washington
State

• Presentation by Michele Anciaux Aoki, Ph.D.
• WAFLT Spring Regional Conference
• Fairhaven Middle School, Bellingham
• March 18, 2006

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Remember Romania
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Washington State Today

• Washington state has nationally recognized
  early language programs, but no system
  for replicating best practices and no commitment
  to making the opportunity to learn another
  language a reality for all students.
• What would it take to get there?

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Let's talk about

• Whats working
• What needs to be in place
• What we can do to make it happen

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K-W-L
Know Want to Know Learned






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Whats Working

• Language immersion programs
• Parent-initiated before and after-school language
  programs
• Preschool language/culture programs
• Community-based language programs and schools
• Bilingual/Bicultural families
• New AP language exams (Chinese, Japanese)

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Language Immersion

• Puesta del Sol - Bellevue
• Spanish (Full Immersion)
• Woodin Elementary - Bothell
• Spanish (Dual or Two-Way)

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Language Immersion

• John Stanford International School - Seattle
• Spanish Japanese (Partial)
• Sheridan Elementary School of International
  Languages - Tacoma
• Spanish, French, Japanese (Partial)

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Immersion Example

• Richmond Elementary - Portland
• Japanese (Partial)
• Ohayo, Portland
• http//www.edutopia.org/1130

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Before and After-School Language Programs

• Coe Elementary - Seattle
• Spanish, French, Japanese, and Chinese at a
  variety of grade levels
• TOPS Elementary - Seattle
• New Chinese class filled to capacity
• Associates in Cultural Exchange
• Programs in about 100 schools

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Foreign Language Associates Northwest

• F.L.A.N. has been offering foreign language
  programs in Bellingham area schools for 20 years!
• Spanish, French, Japanese, ASL, Russian, German,
  and Chinese
• On the webhttp//www.flanonline.com/

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Preschool Language/Culture Programs

• Sponge School Seattle
• Spanish, French, Mandarin and Japanese language
  and culture
• Prescolar Alice Francis - Seattle
• Spanish language preschool with a social change
  based curriculum for 2 - 4 year olds

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Community-Based Language Programs and Schools

• Seattle Area German American School (SAGA)
• Seattle Japanese School
• Chong Wa Benevolent Association Seattle (Chinese)
• French-American School of Puget Sound

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Bilingual/Bicultural Families

• Growing influx of highly educated employees from
  abroad
• Multicultural marriages
• Young families returning from Peace Corps, living
  abroad
• Bilingual/Bicultural Family Network
  http//www.biculturalfamily.org/

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New AP Language Exams

• AP Japanese Language Culture
• Course Fall, 2006
• Exam Spring, 2007
• AP Chinese Language Culture
• Course Fall, 2006
• Exam Spring, 2007
• Info Adam Ross, Lakeside School

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What Needs To Be in Place

• Shared Vision for World Languages
• Voluntary Standards can help
• Inclusion of World Languages in the Ed Reform
  Agenda
• Assessments
• Rigorous High School Curriculum
• Commitment to Prepare Teachers

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World Language Standards

• Voluntary World Language Standards adopted Dec,
  2005 by Supt. Terry Bergeson
• The 5 Cs of the National Standards for Foreign
  Language
• http//www.k12.wa.us/curriculuminstruct/socstudies
  /WorldLanguages/voluntarystandards.aspx

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Assessments

• How do we know how well students are learning
  languages?
• How can we use assessment to help us articulate
  P-16?
• Does learning a language help students prepare
  for the WASL?
• Should we try Classroom-Based Assessments (like
  Social Studies)?

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Rigorous High School Curriculum

• HB 2706 introduced this session
• Establishes recommended graduation
  requirements
• 4 years of Math, 3 years of Science, etc. etc.
• Intention to align graduation requirements to
  college admissions
• World Languages NOT MENTIONED
• Lets get them added

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Commitment to Prepare Teachers

• MA in Teaching of Languages
• Including Early Language Learning theory and
  practical experience
• Certificate in Early Language Teaching and
  Learning
• Help prepare Instructional Assistants and
  heritage speakers (who might become teachers)

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What We Can Do To Make It Happen

• Work together WAFLT, OSPI, Higher Ed, and
  Washington State Coalition for International
  Education
• Ask for help Business must support the changes
• Most of all, we need
• A New Way of Thinking

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A New Way of Thinking

• Five Disciplines
• Personal Mastery
• Mental Models
• Shared Vision
• Team Learning
• Systems Thinking
• Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline, 1990

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Personal Mastery

• Dealing with the gap between where you are and
  where you want to be (or where the world is and
  where you want it to be)
• Its what youre doing here today taking charge
  of YOUR learning

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Mental Models

• "Schools may be the starkest example in modern
  society," says MIT educator and bestselling
  management writer Peter Senge, "of an entire
  institution modeled after the assembly line. This
  has dramatically increased educational capability
  in our time, but it has also created many of the
  most intractable problems with which students,
  teachers, and parents struggle to this day. If we
  want to change schools, it is unlikely to happen
  until we understand more deeply the core
  assumptions on which the industrial-age school is
  based."
• http//www.fieldbook.com/STL/STL.html 3/17/2006

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Shared Vision (One Example)

• Education for a world of opportunity.
• Washington State A place where everyone
  recognizes and values the spectrum of life in our
  world, and encounters the richness of its
  cultural diversity, human experience, and
  physical resources.
• http//internationaledwa.org/about.htm 3/17/2006

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Vision of International School(courtesy of
John Stanford International School, Seattle)
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Team Learning

• People learn by doing
• Talk is cheap, Actions speak
• Creating new spaces for problem solving
• Bringing people of diverse backgrounds together

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Systems Thinking

• How does our present reality shape our future?
• When we think of education and schools as a
  system, what insight does that give us into
  what needs to change?

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Next Steps

• Lets learn about our successes and advocate for
  replicating them
• Lets personally commit to changing the
  perception that Americanmonolingual
• How will WE do this?

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The Word Is Out About What Students Need

• Global Knowledge
• Including world history, geography, and
  international economics
• Languages
• Acquiring key cognitive and academic skills, as
  well as insight into another culture
• Global Perspectives
• Underlying respect for and interest in different
  perspectives
• Educating Leaders for a Global Society
• http//internationaled.org