Foreign Language Week March 7-13
This year’s theme is “Languages Make the World Go Round.”
The Spanish Club here at SCHS has some dynamite activities for Foreign Language Week. They’ll be speaking different languages on the announcements, giving out Buñuelos to try (eat!), having a Salsa night Friday and of course hosting some guest speakers during our classes dealing with travel and other languages and cultures!
Here are some ideas from other places. New York’s State Association of Foreign Language Teachers has an advocacy page and these suggestions for activities. Cortland has these ideas. California’s Language Teachers offer these suggestions.
“U.S. falls behind in foreign languages”
The International Business Times has an article up,
U.S. falls behind in foreign languages
I guess this is something every foreign language teacher understands as we try energetically to impart at least the importance of learning a foreign language (lest we fail to impart our own passion for our language). Blank faces sometimes greet us as we spark those “why do we need to know this?” conversations at the beginning of various units.
I guess now we can say, “this is essential to not only national security but to your mental capacities which will be responsible for our country either surging ahead in the world or continuing to fall behind in it.” From the sounds of the article, it’s the hearts and minds of the people determining funding and founding policies for education that need to be reached as much as those of our learners and their families.
Georgia Candidates Weigh in on Foreign Language
The Foreign Language Association of Georgia has published the responses it received from Candidates in Georgia here in the form of a Voter Guide (as regards foreign language and education.) Here are some different things to consider when voting than traditional ones we hear about on the news.
