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1 in 4 Students is an English Language Learner: Are We Leaving Them Behind?

Despite a push to train and recruit more bilingual teachers, school counselors, and school administrators, the US is facing a shortage of educators who can support issues relevant to English language learners.

English language learners — often called ELL students or ELLs — are the fastest-growing student population group, according to the National Education Association. By 2025, an estimated 25 percent of public school students will be ELLs. While the numbers suggest these students are no longer the outliers in today’s schools, a look at their support resources suggests otherwise. There were more than 4.6 million ELL students in public schools during the 2015-16 school year, yet only 78,000 teachers dedicated to addressing their needs.

The number of ELLs in today’s public schools continues to rise, and so does the demand for those who can teach them. With that kind of growth in a single population, how can it be so difficult to find bilingual educators?

Experts cite a number of reasons for this gap, including a lack of robust educator training, insufficient salary bands, and the overall growth of the ELL population. However, what’s most apparent is a significant, systemic issue on both sides: society’s perception of students of color.

English Language Learners by Race/Ethnicity infographic with link to text-only transcript below.

“We tend to ‘otherize’ [English language learners] … because we think, ‘Yeah, they’re the other kids,’ right? But if we think about it in terms of a global scale, they’re the future of this country,” said Gigliana Melzi, a professor at Counseling@NYU.

Who are English language learners?

English language learners are students whose primary, native language is a language other than English. According to federal statute, ELLs are identified as students who demonstrate a sufficient difficulty in reading, writing, speaking, or understanding the English language: a challenge that “inhibits their ability to learn successfully in classrooms where English is the language of instruction or to participate fully in the larger US society.”

ELL students are most likely to attend urban schools, according to Colorín Colorado, an online resource for educators and families of English language learners, but their populations are growing rapidly in rural and suburban districts as well. This increase in ELL students, especially in public schools, means an increase in language diversity across the US. According to the Migration Policy Institute, the majority of ELLs speak Spanish, but not all ELLs are Spanish-speaking students. While 85 percent of language diversity in today’s public schools comes from the eight most common languages — Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, Hmong, Somali, Russian, Haitian — there are over 300 languages spoken in US public schools.

15 Most Common Languages of English Language Learner Students infographic with link to text-only transcript below.

However, this language diversity often goes uncelebrated in today’s classrooms.

“These children are often highly intelligent and highly motivated,” said Kenneth Patterson, a teacher leader at Woodmoor Elementary School in Baltimore, Md. “The language is a barrier, not their intellectual capacity.”

School support for English language learners

It’s important for schools to be thoughtful and capitalize on students’ strengths – rather than condemning student differences.

“We need to start developing bilingual programs so that children are learning both languages,” Melzi said. “Oftentimes what is happening is that we’re focusing only on their lack of English skills and then forget that they have a lot of academic knowledge in their first language.”

However, research shows there is a gap between the thoughtful, robust programs needed for ELLs and the resources available in today’s public schools. A 2016 report from the Department of Education noted that over half of the US has a shortage of educators certified to work with English language learners. A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences  echoes the same concerns.

English Language Learners by School District Location infographic with link to text-only transcript below.

A 2017 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine External link  found that teachers who work with English language learners are often underprepared for the job.

“We need to try and educate all teachers to be prepared to teach to the diverse group of children that make up the United States,” Melzi said. “It goes back to this idea that we’ve seen the kids as they need some kind of ‘special support’ rather than [the idea that] all teachers should be prepared to deal with all children.”

Legislators are attempting to acknowledge this gap. Earlier this year, a collection of Democrats in Congress introduced the Reaching English Learners Act.

A push for culturally responsive learning environments

Schools don’t need to wait for legislation, though. Patterson says that shift can happen from inside the school community.

“There must be a strategy focused on second language acquisition, both highlighting the need for bilingualism in our growing global context, as well as the need for more open-mindedness and appreciation for contributions to world progress through other countries and languages,” he said.

The move toward a world that supports and celebrates bilingualism starts in the classroom. Rather than “otherizing” these students, as Melzi says, educators should ensure that their classrooms and schools are culturally responsive learning environments.

Strategies for Schools

As schools become increasingly diverse, a recent American School Counselor Association journal article says it is important for school counselors to be “intentional in assuring they can equitably serve all students,” including those who are ethnically and culturally diverse.

Patterson, along with other classroom teachers, offers two primary strategies for how schools can create culturally responsive learning environments that support the unique needs of English language learners.

Don’t start from zero.  Students whose first language is not English are not automatically at a disadvantage, and culturally responsive teaching is not a “remedial strategy.” This negative mindset is damaging, Patterson said.

“We must begin with the belief that every student is already a genius and more than capable of shining,” Patterson said. “It is our responsibility to do the work of sifting through the cultural barriers and finding the pathways to awaken this genius.”

Embed cultures into the curriculum. Students’ populations should be reflected in educators’ work. Visible efforts to welcome and embrace ELLs “shortcut the connection of the student to the classroom,” Patterson says, and shows them they are celebrated and welcomed.

One way to do this is to begin a book club based on books the students like to read, suggests Keila Foster, AVID coordinator for the Maryland public school system. AVID is a school-based college and career readiness program that prepares high school students for success. Allowing English language learners to be a part of the planning and learning process enables their culture to shine from the literature they suggest.

Blair Mishleau, director of personalized learning at Western School of Science and Technology in Phoenix, Ariz., suggests programs like Readworks, Colorin Colorado, DonorsChoose, and FirstBook as accessible tools for educators looking to bring culturally relevant books into their classrooms.

At its core, the key to providing English language learners with school support is simple, Mishleau said.

“Ensure that your curriculum has many windows and mirrors,” he said. “Windows being perspectives into lives different than your students; mirrors being reflections of their lives.”

Courtesy: Counseling@NYU, which offers an online master’s in school counseling from NYU Steinhardt.

Decade of Ukrainian

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree to strengthen the role of the Ukrainian language, the presidential press service said in a statement.

“Staring from 2018 we are launching the decade of the Ukrainian language—we will do our utmost to protect the language,” Poroshenko said.

According to the statement, the decree stipulates that in the next decade, the government will carry out a series of measures aimed at ensuring the comprehensive development and functioning of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of public life. The plan is to “improve the level of teaching of the national language in the educational institutions, to facilitate the process of learning the Ukrainian language for foreigners, to develop distance and online courses on the Ukrainian language, to introduce certification exam in the Ukrainian language for those who applied for Ukrainian citizenship.”

The decree also envisages the creation of conditions for ensuring citizens’ rights to receive information in Ukrainian, including through mass media and advertising, the statement said.

In the meantime, the decree lays legal grounds for the protection of the rights of the country’s minorities, whose mother tongue is not Ukrainian, it said.

About 65-70% of Ukrainians consider Ukrainian as their first language. 

Canada to Make First Languages Constitutional Right

Canada’s federal government plans to recognize Indigenous languages as a constitutional right and create a new office of commissioners to protect and promote them under new legislation this fall, according to Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly. 

The details of the upcoming Indigenous languages bill are part of a list of principles co-developed over the past year by federal officials and national First Nations, Inuit and Métis organizations, Joly said in an interview.

“We’re dealing with the impact of colonialism in our country,” Joly said. “There’s such an urgent need to act. Right now, for some languages … we’re at the last generation of people speaking the languages,” she said. “This legislation will be a huge step toward reconciliation.” 

During the 2015 federal election, prospective PM Trudeau pledged to provide new funding to “promote and preserve” Indigenous languages. Last year, Joly and the leaders of the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and Métis National Council launched a consultation process to inform future legislation to protect and promote the 90 Indigenous languages and dialects that the United Nations has identified in Canada. 

Joly announced the government plans to consult stakeholders over the summer before tabling legislation in the fall, with the aim of passing the law before the 2019 election. She told the Toronto Star that consultations will now focus on a list of principles agreed to with the national Indigenous organizations. These include the recognition of Indigenous languages as a “fundamental right” under the constitution, as well as a plan to create an office of at least three commissioners to advocate for Indigenous language rights once the bill becomes law, she said. 

Funding for education and government services will likely depend on demand and the number of language speakers in various regions across the country, Joly said.

Canadian Heritage will spend up to $100,000 for the next 10 months to hire a supplier to assist and provide policy advice in the development and drafting legislation to promote, preserve and revitalize Indigenous languages.

To date, the government has the intention of awarding this Advance Contract Award Notice to a former General Counsel with the Department of Justice, if no other suppliers step forward. J. Paul Salembier’s name is on the tender notice.

As prime minister in Dec. 2016, Trudeau announced the government would work with national Indigenous political organizations to develop legislation to create an Indigenous languages Act.

In June 2017, Canadian Heritage, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Metis Nation launched the co-development of Indigenous languages legislation. Since the announcement, engagement sessions were held with the department, national Indigenous organizations, Indigenous experts and with language keepers.

In Dec. 2017, the AFN passed a resolution named the Support for Continued Co-Development Work on the Indigenous Languages Act calling on the federal government to officially recognize Indigenous languages like the English and French languages. Since the 1980s, AFN has passed close to 20 resolutions dealing with language preservation.

According to the latest census, there are 70 Indigenous languages in Canada with 260,000 language speakers. Several of these Indigenous languages are considered endangered. 

French Genders Get Political

The French prime minister, Édouard Philippe, has banned “inclusive writing” in official texts, clamping down on attempts to make the French language more female-friendly. Moves to end the linguistic dominance of the masculine over the feminine have caused outrage in France, as reported last month (“French in ‘Mortal Danger’ of Gender Neutrality,” Nov. 17).
At the heart of the debate is the middot, short for middle dot, or interpunct, which is a period inserted into a word to include both the masculine and feminine plural forms, similar in concept to the use of Latinx in the U.S. to include Latinas and Latinos equally. This form of “inclusive writing” is a new concept in France that some feminist activists hope will counter “implicit male domination in the French language,” fixing the centuries-old grammatical rule requiring the masculine gender take precedence over the feminine in plurals.
As an example, the French word for a mixed-gender group of students has been written in the masculine plural form étudiants, even if there are more female students than male, rather than with the feminine plural, étudiantes. Using inclusive writing, the word would be written as étudiant·e·s.
In a memo to his ministers, Philippe said: “The masculine [form] is a neutral form which should be used for terms liable to apply to women.” Hoping to avoid confusion in legally binding texts, he demanded government ministries avoid inclusive writing, “notably for reasons of intelligibility and clarity.”
The ministers were also instructed to ensure the traditional form be used in all public services under their authority. The prime minister’s office said the memo was intended to “end the controversy” but the government was still “resolutely committed to strengthening equality between women and men.”
France’s education minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer, commented, saying French “should not be exploited for fighting battles, no matter how legitimate they are.”

 

Ghana Commits to French

Ghana’s minister for education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, underscored his country’s commitment to the promotion of French as a second official language during the signing in Paris of a linguistic pact between West African nation and the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF) for improved technical support and capacity building for the teaching and learning of French in Ghana.

Explaining that Ghana was surrounded by French-speaking countries and that most Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries had French as their official language, Dr. Opoku stressed that strategically, it was in Ghana’s interests to pursue the teaching and learning of French to enable the country benefit more from the West African sub-region.

A Second Language for Every Student

Lisa A. Frumkes explains why bilingualism is more relevant than ever.

In today’s increasingly global and connected world, I interact every day with colleagues from different cultures who speak a wide array of languages. Achieving bilingualism and proficiency in a second language—be it English or another world language—is important for everyone, but especially for 21st-century students.

For today’s K–12 students, knowledge and mastery of a second language will be critical to finding employment in the future workforce. A report from New American Economy (NAE) on the growing importance of foreign language skills in the U.S. job market found the demand for bilingual workers in major industries more than doubled between 2010 and 2015.1 The demand for interpreters and translators is projected to grow more than any other field between now and 2026.2 But the requirement to be bilingual is no longer limited to aspiring State Department officials or UN translators. Increasingly, employers are seeking candidates who speak multiple languages for both low- and high-skilled positions. That is, even those with only a high school diploma may need another language to find a good job. Employers are seeking workers who speak multiple languages as they hire home health aides, secretaries, teachers, and web developers, and not only in those states with a higher demand for bilingualism, like Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Oregon, and Texas.3

It is also important to note that the academic benefits for students of achieving fluency in a language like Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or German go beyond securing employment. Once I became fluent in my first foreign language—French, as a high school student—I noticed how many more words I could recognize, even in English, because I had learned all these roots in another language. This was a big help when I took standardized tests before college. And the data bear this out: research shows world language learning can not only boost a student’s reading abilities4 but also positively impact SAT and ACT scores.5

Learning another language can provide cognitive benefits for K–12 learners. Studies show a correlation between bilingualism and problem solving, as well as improved verbal and spatial abilities.6 It is also linked to having a better attention span and offsetting age-related cognitive loss. Learning a second language helps students gain a better understanding of other cultures as well. Such cultural competency is critical to effectively working with people from varying backgrounds and cultivating a more positive attitude toward the language and its native speakers.7 

Language education is vital to all U.S. students, not just native speakers of English. With 4.7 million English language learners (ELLs) enrolled in U.S. public schools, there needs to be training to help them develop full, adult, professional competency in their native (or heritage) languages as well as English. As the ELL population continues to rise (the current 10% is projected to rise to 25% in 2025 and to 40% sometime in the decade after that), it is vital for teachers and schools to become better equipped to implement effective and equitable systems to improve the lives and academic outcomes of these students.

However, studies show that the dearth of world language learners persists across the U.S. In fact, a 2017 state-by-state analysis from the American Council for International Education that examined foreign language enrollment data estimated that only 10.6 million students—just 20% of America’s learners in grades K–12—are studying a world language or American Sign Language.8 In some states, less than 10% of students are enrolled in a language course. These statistics are even more worrisome when considering that more than 40 states and the District of Columbia report world language teacher shortages9 and “over 30 states do not require ELL training for general classroom teachers beyond the federal requirements.”10

It is critical to bring to light the importance of affording every student in the U.S. the opportunity to learn another language. Whether they seek a postsecondary degree or join the workforce following high school graduation, the necessity and the benefits of bilingualism are more abundant than at any time before. But why stop there? It is clear that students will benefit both academically and professionally from learning a second, third, or even fourth language. Europe has long led the way when it comes to multilingual education, with most countries making proficiency in two or three different languages a graduation requirement. I have many friends outside of the U.S. who think nothing of speaking two or three languages every day. They grow up feeling that it is a natural thing to do and are not afraid of it This is the kind of mindset I have tried to instill in my own children—a sense that learning other languages is an achievable—and enjoyable!—goal. My job is to enable and support America’s children linguistically—to provide them the tools, resources, and support they need to succeed, stay competitive in today’s global society, and become productive global citizens.

Links

1. http://research.newamericaneconomy.org/report/not-lost-in-translation-the-growing-importance-of-foreign-language-skills-in-the-u-s-job-market/

2. https://extension.ucsd.edu/UCSDExtension/media/UCSDExtensionsMedia/community-and-research/center-for-research/2017-Emerging-Careers-Report.pdf

3. http://research.newamericaneconomy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/NAE_Bilingual_V9.pdf

4. https://www.actfl.org/advocacy/what-the-research-shows/studies-supporting#reading

5. https://www.actfl.org/advocacy/what-the-research-shows/studies-supporting#satact

6. https://www.actfl.org/advocacy/what-the-research-shows#academic_achievement

7. https://www.actfl.org/advocacy/what-the-research-shows/what-the-research-shows-about-students%E2%80%99-attitudes-and-language-learning

8. https://www.americancouncils.org/sites/default/files/FLE-report-June17.pdf

9. https://www.actfl.org/news/press-releases/educators-rising-recruiting-world-language-teachers

10. http://ecs.force.com/mbdata/mbquestNB2?rep=ELL1415

 

Dr. Lisa A. Frumkes is senior director of content development at Rosetta Stone. 

 

Digital DIY

Kristal Bivona shows how creating their own digital workbooks can enthuse students of all levels and all languages 

Teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) spoiled me—the shelves of books at English schools, the textbook series with multiple levels, the countless digital resources, the ready-made curricula, and the online community of thousands of EFL teachers scattered throughout the world. Indeed, there is a great deal of investment in the industry of teaching English to speakers of other languages, and the tools developed with this investment spoiled me. Currently, as a Portuguese instructor, my library is a single shelf, and there are fewer online resources and only a handful of colleagues with whom to collaborate. 

Teaching a less commonly taught language has prompted me to be more creative and has even afforded me the freedom to experiment in my courses. In this article, I will describe how integrating HTML5 through an open-source tool known as H5P into my class enabled me to write a digital workbook that I can reuse or revise every time I teach the same course. I hope that my experience can show instructors of other less commonly taught languages (LCTL) that with technology, we can use authentic materials to create visually pleasing and dynamic digital materials that even grade themselves.

Fear Not the Technology

Anecdotally, I have heard that, like many other professionals, some teachers fear that we will be replaced by machines. Online courses and language-learning apps exist, and they are not going away. My department switched to a hybrid model for lower-level language courses, cutting down our contact hours with students (our pay was not affected), while increasing the hours that students spent completing activities online. The explicit instruction of grammar and vocabulary became part of the online self-study component, and class time focused exclusively on student-centered, communicative activities that practiced the new forms and vocabulary students acquired on their own. When I had the chance to teach second-year Portuguese, courses that had previously been instructed by visiting faculty and had no set textbook or curriculum, I decided to continue this hybrid model to which the students were already accustomed. Designing and teaching a course for the first time requires more prep time than teaching a course one has already taught, and I was willing to put in the time designing my own material after realizing that there were only a few options for intermediate-level textbooks and not all of them were easily available—I am sure other LCTL instructors can relate to the dearth of readily available materials after the beginner level. 

In consultation with my language program director, the instructional technology coordinator at UCLA’s Center for Digital Humanities (CDH), and CDH’s team of research and instructional technology consultants, I began creating curricula for second-year Portuguese that would include a substantial online component. My ultimate goal was to have a digital text that could be reused in the future, easily updated, and revised, and that would grade itself. After testing out different possibilities for content creation, I chose to use H5P.

Why H5P?

Among the other options available at my institution, H5P stood out to me for aesthetic reasons. It is easy to read and makes beautiful activities that can include images and video. H5P is also easy to use. But what is it? H5P is a web plugin that is free and open technology. It offers a framework for creating content and has many templates. Its use is not limited to educators—it is available to anyone with a website. 

H5P allowed me to create different activities in one column of content, meaning that students did not have to open multiple activities or tabs to complete their homework. They could scroll through the learning modules, which contained grammar explanations, vocabulary presentations, practice activities, videos for listening comprehension, and texts for reading comprehension. Within the column, I embedded different item templates. The templates upon which I relied most created questions in multiple-choice, true/false, short-answer, and drag-text formats.

The “Slideshow” template is perfect for grammar and vocabulary presentations. With the exercises corresponding to each slideshow in the same column, students can scroll up to refer back to the presentation while they complete activities without the need for multiple browser tabs or windows. 

Creating these activities was easy on H5P. In addition to user-friendly instruction, there are tutorials for each content type available that show each type’s capabilities. The range of content types ensured variety to make each learning module more dynamic. Editing the activities is also simple, whether the instructor needs to fix a typo or switch out a whole activity.

Why DIY Digital Activities for LCTL?

DIY activities are not a new concept for language teachers, but textbooks often become the centerpiece of the curriculum and the language classroom. Many of our colleagues do not even get to choose their own books and must teach with the ones that their school or department has selected. DIY digital activities are a great way to write one’s own course materials and activities, whether one has no textbook or a textbook one wants to supplement. The most compelling reasons for creating one’s own digital activities include:

Integrating current events and cultural content from the target culture. Choose recent news clips or articles and create activities about important events occurring in the target culture. Interviews with important figures, political speeches, advertisements, and social media also serve as authentic material that can teach students about the target culture.

Including materials that reflect the diversity of the target culture. Let us face it: some textbooks, especially older editions, might not present the target culture as diverse and, at worst, can even perpetuate stereotypes. Give students a more nuanced perspective of the target culture by including material that shows its diversity. For example, create activities around videos, audio files, or texts about the LGBTQ community, immigrant communities, ethnic minorities, and people who live outside of cosmopolitan centers. 

Creating activities for specific purposes. If students are learning a language for a specific purpose, procure content that will reinforce specialized vocabulary and the grammar they will need to function in the target language. 

Making lesson plans with students in mind. As you get to know students and their interests, integrate materials that expose them to aspects of the culture you know they will love. For example, perhaps a student wants to visit a specific place in the target culture. Design a lesson plan about that place. Maybe you have artists or musicians, and what better way to get them obsessed with your class than to show them art and music in their second language?

With a digital platform like H5P, we can create and plan courses that share the aspects of the target language that we love, and our enthusiasm will be contagious. 

Creating a Learning Module on H5P

To create a learning module on H5P, begin with the same type of preparation that is necessary for “analog” lessons: a theme, grammar points, vocabulary points, and the skills. Personally, I do not include speaking activities in my learning modules, so the skills I include are reading, listening, and writing. Typically, this is how I would plan:

Choose a theme. I aim for an overarching theme for two weeks with subthemes in each learning module and in each class meeting. For example, when my theme was immigration, my modules for a Brazilian Portuguese class had the subthemes of Japanese immigration to Brazil, the experience of Syrian refugees in Brazil, Brazilians living in the U.S., and Brazilians in Spanish-speaking American countries. 

Choose authentic materials, minding copyright law. I like to search for videos, podcasts, and written materials. With H5P, one can embed video with just the link. No need to download it to a computer and upload it after.

Create a vocabulary activity using language from the authentic material. This activity should be completed before students watch the video so that they are familiar with the words beforehand. 

Write comprehension questions using one of H5P’s templates. Options include fill in the blank, multiple choice, true/false, and others.

Choose a grammar point and create grammar activities that utilize the same subject in their content. 

Write a prompt to get students writing. 

There is an activity based on a video produced by the Centre of Excellence Against Hunger about a Brazilian farm co-owned by formerly landless farmworkers. This activity was part of a thematic unit about human rights in Brazil, and the theme of the module was land rights, so students learned about the indigenous people’s struggle for rights to land and the landless workers’ movement in Brazil.

By creating DIY digital workbooks, instructors of less commonly taught languages can plan activities that facilitate learning on an attractive online platform while using content that reflects the target culture today. These digital workbooks can be reused and updated to keep language courses up to date and replete with material specially designed for the students in the class. 

Kristal Bivona is a PhD candidate in Hispanic languages and literatures at UCLA. 

Louisiana Joins La Francophonie

Louisiana Expands its French Quarter

The state of Louisiana is now a member of the International Organization of La Francophonie (IOF). Its application as an observer member was accepted on October 11 by the organization’s member states at their biannual summit in Armenia, along with Ireland, Gambia, and Malta.

The 54 full members of the OIF unanimously approved Louisiana’s application at the 17th summit of La Francophonie. According to Bertin Leblanc, spokesperson for the organization, “In La Francophonie, decisions are made by consensus.” Louisiana, home to nearly 250,000 francophones, has 5,000 students enrolled in French-English dual-language programs.

“Louisiana has taken a seat at the table of La Francophonie,” announced the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL). “By being part of this organization comprised of Francophone and Francophile countries and governments from all over the world, Louisiana is now officially recognized as a Francophone region on the global stage,” reads the CODOFIL statement. “Being a member of the IOF also offers a number of opportunities for collaborations between our state and the rest of the Francophone world. The future is bright for the French language in Louisiana!”

Membership will increase funding for Louisiana’s French immersion programs and improve access to and cooperation with the French-speaking economies of the 84 member countries, provinces, and governments which promote the use of French and celebrate their ties to the language.

CODOFIL was instrumental in the membership process, producing an 80-page argument in support.

Game Giveaway for Teachers!

In honor of World Teachers’ Day, Goliath Games is giving away free prize packs of games.

5 winners will receive a 14-game prize pack – 7 games for their home and 7 for their child’s classroom. The giveaway ends on 10/31.

Descriptions of the games are below:

Sequence Letters, JAX Games (For 2-4 players, ages 4-7) https://www.jaxgames.com/sequence-letters-3/
Players sound out the letter on their cards, match it to the beginning sound of a picture on the gameboard, then place a chip there. Each card features a letter of the alphabet in upper and lower case. Colored squares on the cards and gameboard help with faster recognition. When you have 4 of your chips in a row, you’ve got a ! Kids will have fun playing the great game of while learning the letters of the alphabet. Dot your ‘i’s’ and cross your ‘t’s’…it’s the way to learn your ABC’s!

Sequence for Kids, JAX Games (For 2-4 players, ages 3-6) https://www.jaxgames.com/sequence-for-kids-3/
Play a card from your hand, place your chip on a corresponding character on the board… When you have 4 in a row, it’s a SEQUENCE and you win! Use a UNICORN card to place your chip anywhere. Remove your opponent’s chip with a DRAGON card. Have fun with you friends playing SEQUENCE®FOR KIDS™!

Wordsearch, Goliath Games (For 2-4 players, ages 7 and up) – https://www.goliathgames.us/product/wordsearch/
The race is on with this exciting version of the classic hidden word puzzle – it turns a solitary activity into a fun group word game as players go on a word search. Rotate the specially-designed circular board to reveal the word that the players will race to find on this turn. Everyone plays at once, and the first player to locate the word marks it with transparent colored tiles. With twists and turns that allow players to remove tiles played by competitors, Wordsearchers find that it’s a great game for kids and families to play together (and to boggle their minds!). The player with the most tiles on the board at the end wins.
Create your own custom Wordsearch cards with the online Puzzle Generator. It’s super quick and easy! Visit http://www.wordsearch.eu and enter up to 20 of your own unique words to generate a customized puzzle board; then download and print. The word combinations are endless! Create hours of fun for the whole family with the Wordsearch Puzzle Generator.

Pop the Pig, Goliath Games (For 2-4 players, ages 4 and up) https://www.goliathgames.us/product/pop-the-pig/
Pop the Pig ® is an international preschool classic that is adored by millions of children – it was the top-selling preschool game in 2016 and 2017 according to retailer sales data collected by NPD! Kids spin the spinner, pop a hamburger into the pig’s mouth and push down on his head. The more they pump, the more his belly grows until . . . pop! Kids love the suspense as they watch his belly grow; the player who makes his belly burst loses the game. Children can quickly reset this pig game with one pump of the pig’s head and experience consistent belly busting game-play each and every time. Pop the Pig provides hours of fun and is completely kid powered (no batteries needed).

Lucky Ducks, Pressman Toy (For 2-4 players, ages 3 and up) https://www.pressmantoy.com/product/lucky-ducks/
This wacky, quacky matching game combines developmental skills for young children with the fun of a “My First Game.” Lucky Ducks offers all the benefits of memory and matching games in a format that’s easier for little fingers than cards. As a bonus, it helps kids with shape recognition and colors. Switch on the circular pond, and the ducks start swimming–the bottom side of each duck has a colored shape. Players take turns picking up a duck and looking at the color and shape; if it matches their color and shape they get to keep the duck. If it doesn’t match they put it back. The ducks continue to swim so it’s more challenging than a traditional memory game, but easy enough for even the youngest duck lovers to play. This extra challenge makes the game more fun for parents and kids to play together, with plenty of opportunities for fun and learning

Enter now until October 31st for a chance to win 2 sets of Let’s Go Fishin’, Lucky Ducks, Mastermind, Pop the Pig, Sequence, Googly Eyes, and Wordsearch!
Enter here ➡️ http://bit.ly/GoliathTeachersGiveaway

About Goliath Games

Goliath Games has been dedicated to creating toys and games that inspire young minds and adults alike to reach beyond their imagination. As one of the few remaining family-owned toy companies, Goliath truly understands the importance of quality family time and bringing people together.

Since 1980, Goliath has applied its slogan “Clever Together!” to every aspect of its company culture. Furthermore, Goliath Games is devoted to creating innovative products that reinforce child development, critical thinking, social skills, and curiosity.

Its iconic consumer brands range from Rummikub®, Tri-Ominos®, Wordsearch™, Pop the Pig®, Doggie Doo™, Gooey Looey™, Catch the Fox™, and many more. Goliath is active in many other toy categories, such as puzzles, arts & crafts, outdoor, activity, and novelties. These timeless classics span generations, inspire limitless play, and encourage children to explore the world around them.

Global Presence

Goliath is an international manufacturer and distributor of toys and games, with its headquarters in the Netherlands and its North American division in Plano, TX. The company has continued to see substantial growth with the acquisitions of Pressman Toy®, JAX®, and Wahu® in the US, Crown & Andrews® in Australia, Modelco® in France, and Elephanta® in New Zealand.

Goliath is the third largest game manufacturer in North America and has been one of the world’s fastest growing independent toy companies. Goliath products now sell in more than 75 countries worldwide and has offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Poland, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada.

Finding Inspiration in Diversity

 

 

Chris Cartwright offers examples showing how improved intercultural competence can motivate language learning

“You really cannot teach a language; it has to be learned. Fostering the student’s motivation is not only important, it’s essential,” states international business professor Tim Keeley of Kyushu Sangyo University, in Japan. Dr. Keeley identifies as a polyglot and is “functional” in over 20 and can “get by” in an additional ten languages, which he often learns in clusters (e.g., the Baltic languages of Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian were learned simultaneously over a few-month period). Dr. Keeley had a “hunch” that people who were most fluent in a target language were also those who were motivated to appreciate and connect with the culture and people of the language they were learning. To test his hypothesis, he measured both the oral language-acquisition acumen (fluency) and intercultural competence of 86 Chinese students studying at his university’s business school in Japan. All of the participants in his study had been in Japan for one and a half to two years, if not longer; all of them had studied the Japanese language and tested in the language at the appropriate levels to gain admission. But he noted that some students were far more able to communicate with their Japanese classmates and faculty than others.

He measured these Chinese students’ intercultural competence using the Global Competency Inventory, a valid and reliable psychometric intercultural assessment tool. He then had the students interviewed and recorded for approximately ten to 15 minutes; these interviews were then rated by native-speaking peers on a five-point scale ranging from high—being able to understand with close to native pronunciation and comprehension—to weak in both areas. Inter-rater reliability was carefully negotiated with his peer reviewers. He was careful to conduct factor analysis for attributes like age, gender, and time spent immersed in the target-language culture. When the results of these two assessments were correlated, Dr. Keely found that his participants clearly fell into five groups of 17 or 18 participants, with the highest levels of intercultural competency clearly correlating to the highest levels of fluency and the lowest levels of intercultural competency correlating to the lowest levels of fluency.

His results bear out his hypothesis that high levels of intercultural competency can be used as an indicator of higher levels of target-language fluency. He concludes that the students with the highest levels of fluency and intercultural competency were more motivated or had a stronger desire to integrate with Japan and that they had a clear affinity for the culture and the people.

Defining Intercultural Competence

What do we mean by intercultural competence, and what role do language educators play in “fostering motivation” in their learners? There are a plethora of definitions of intercultural competence, frequently based on the frame which the educator or trainer chooses to use in his or her work. There are those who focus on communication competencies (Byram, 1997), those who focus on a continuous cycle of deeper or more sophisticated intercultural learning (Deardorff, 2004), those who focus on a set of intercultural intelligences (Ang and Van Dyne, 2015; Livermore, 2011), and those who focus on intercultural competencies that support cross-cultural engagement (Bennett, 1986; Mendenhall and Oddou, 1985). I see great value in the multiple frames and definitions available and often recommend that teachers, faculty, and their program directors take time to consider the frame and definition that will best fit their pedagogy. For a more comprehensive discussion of defining intercultural competence, I recommend Darla Deardorff’s SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence (2009).

As an intercultural assessment specialist with a focus on development or training for intercultural competence, I have a bias for the competency camps. I prefer the following definition, written by my mentor and director Dr. Janet Bennett: “Intercultural Competence is a set of cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills and characteristics that support effective and appropriate interaction in a variety of cultural contexts” (Bennett, 2008). Note that I added the italics on effective and appropriate to emphasize that interactions can and should change in different cultural contexts. This definition allows me to employ my dual interests in assessment and instructional design to identify the starting points of my programmatic or curricular interventions and then map out the processes for growth, with a clear, measurable outcome.

At a recent Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language, and Literacy (CERCLL) conference, scholars were discussing the need to reframe this work in terms of “intercultural communicative competence” in order to ensure that we include access to languages in our work. I am not a language educator and am intrigued by this construct. However, from my experience, learning languages and even cross-cultural communication skills are embedded within the overall scope of competencies but do not take into account all of the many things people need to be able to do to engage effectively across difference. There are knowledge sets like cultural self-awareness, cultural general frameworks, and culture-specific information; there are attitudes like open-mindedness toward, curiosity about, and motivation to engage cultural differences; and finally, there are skills like empathy, inclusive research, and problem solving, all of which are informed but not solely defined by language acquisition and/or communication skills. The competencies we are seeking in our leaners are (a) the ability to accurately discern and analyze the differences present; (b) the ability to identify the possible actions needed; and finally, (c) the behavioral flexibility and discipline to act effectively with a new population (Bird and Osland, 2006).

Fostering Motivation in Our Learners

Unlike Dr. Keeley, I identify as profoundly monolingual; my high school and college Latin coursework prepared me to read Homer’s Iliad in Latin and some letters from Gaul (France) by Julius Caesar, but little else. I do, however, have a network of fine educators and trainers to call upon to share their experience of motivating learners and the role of intercultural competence and language in their work. The case studies I am sharing in this article all use the same model of intercultural competence, based on the research on intercultural adaptation by Mendenhall and Oddou (1985). In this model, the learner is able to demonstrate competency in three primary factor areas:

the ability to learn effectively across cultural differences;
the ability to make and maintain relationships across cultural differences;
the ability to self-manage in the face of cultural differences.

There are two statistically valid and reliable assessment tools available based on this model. The Global Competency Inventory (GCI) has 17 dimensions of intercultural competence split between the three factor areas above. The Intercultural Effectiveness Scale (IES) has six dimensions split between a similarly defined set of three factor areas. For a more complete description of this model and the two assessment tools employed here, visit https://www.kozaigroup.com.

I am using these cases with the shared model of intercultural competence in order to simplify the explanations of the different cases. I believe these same cases could be described with a different model and/or set of assessment tools, and I know that there are many other cases of intercultural competence that could be linked to language learning. Readers are welcome to visit my agency’s online list of possible intercultural assessment tools. There are many to choose from. https://intercultural.org/intercultural-training-and-assessment-tools/

Case Study 1: Intercultural competence as an indicator of language acquisition with Dr. Keeley in Japan has been offered above.

Case Study 2: Intercultural competence and cultural self-awareness can motivate early new-language acquisition.

Donna Evans is a senior lecturer and chief departmental advisor in the Computer and Information Technology Department at Miami University Regional Campuses. In her courses, nontraditional (working adult, returning) computer technology students learn how to work effectively with diverse and international teams (virtually and in person). To cultivate her learners’ active participation in achieving their intercultural learning objectives, she has her students carry out personal development plans based on the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale (IES) results. They also complete a multileveled, team-based web-page project for an organization either from another culture or serving people from another culture. They are asked to frame their project work using the concept of becoming a bridge builder in order to construct:
Scaffolding from their own perspectives to those of cultural others;
Scaffolding from themselves to their team members;
Scaffolding from themselves to the company they are serving;
Scaffolding from themselves to the global economy;
Scaffolding from themselves to other U.S. Americans.

This type of frame causes her learners to focus on their soft skills in relationship building across difference and to cultivate intercultural competencies in each factor area outlined above. They are supported in these tasks by taking the GlobeSmart Profile (GSP), an inventory based on the work of Hofestede (2003) and Trompenaars and Hampton-Turner (2011) that identifies their culturally preferred mindsets and behaviors, such as preference for a more individualistic versus a more collectivistic societal engagement. GSP also allows them to analyze the profiles of their class teammates as well as the preferences of their target audience case-study organization. Evans shares that her students “love, love, love learning about their cultural bounded behaviors.” Many of her students report, “now I know why those people frustrate me,” adding that they finally understand why past teamwork (both academically and professionally) failed or had trouble as a result of not knowing about culturally derived behavior patterns.

The Miami University computer technology students have demonstrated consistent gains in intercultural competence as measured by the IES over the years, as well as a willingness to attempt new languages, even though it is not required in their program of study. Evans’s learners frequently research key terms in their case-study audiences’ target languages and drill themselves on correct pronunciation and spelling for their final class presentations. She states that “the motivation comes from my students, their desire to connect with global clients and each other.”

Case Study 3: Multicultural (intercultural) competence through civic engagement with language acquisition (Mexico):

One of the most intriguing examples of cultivating intercultural competence and language acquisition comes from the PrepaTec, Tecnológico de Monterrey, a well-resourced comprehensive school system in Mexico. I spoke with Lisa Petro, the system’s multicultural education consultant, about her role in assessing and developing intercultural competence in their 8,000+ high school–aged students on their 31 different residential campuses across the country. All of PrepaTec’s students are bilingual (Spanish/English) upon entering the schools, but to earn the multicultural certificate, they must learn a third language.
Petro and her colleague, Maria José Pineda Garin, director of academic quality, have worked to cultivate multicultural learning throughout the PrepaTec system by bringing together school principals and multicultural program coordinators in each school to define their goals, assess their learners, agree on a path for growth and development, and map their progress (2017). Together, these educators “reimagined [PrepaTec’s] approach to global competence education and redesigned its multicultural program, all through a focus on relationships.” Figure 1 gives an overview of the model constructed to frame their system-wide program.

Each campus multicultural program director and principal then works to develop core coursework and interdisciplinary projects in a selection of the following arenas:
Connected multicultural learning with a national focus
Connected multicultural learning with an international focus
Community service learning
Formative experience abroad
Entrepreneurial/social entrepreneurial

Petro referred me to a very enthusiastic French language teacher, Damien Jean Phillip Lesca, from their campus in Ciudad Obregon. Lesca told me of a student who studied abroad for six months in a French-speaking province of Switzerland but returned with less mastery of French than when she left. He also reported that the majority of his students were choosing to study abroad in Canada, a country considered “easy” for his students. They were traveling in groups and living in shared housing, which was causing them to be complacent about their French language acquisition. The individual case combined with the seeming lack of motivation to stretch themselves in more complex settings led Lesca to re-evaluate his program and seek ways to motivate his learners differently.

Lesca partnered with another teacher in his school (a literature and arts instructor) and uncovered the rich story of the ultramarathon race in the Chihuahua region of Mexico. This race is famous for being run by the indigenous Rarámuri tribe, often barefoot or in simple sandals. The native people pay no entry fee, but all others (Mexican and international) do. All proceeds from the race go to the Rarámuri people. The curriculum and projects that flowed from this story met the multicultural learning objectives (both national and international), civic engagement, relationship building, and social justice focus the PrepaTec programs seek.

The students in this project were inspired to:
Learn about this form of race, its origins, the story of the founder, Micah True, known as Caballo Blanco, and the book and movie based on his work (Run Free);
Compare and contrast the Mexican form of the race with the racing form popular in France, where runners collect litter while running. They Skyped with the founder of the Run Eco Team Race, Nicolas Lemonnier, in French. They also attempted to hold an Eco Team Race on their school grounds and became discouraged by the large volume of trash they collected in a short time;
Connect with Indigenous and French-speaking participants in the race, learning to engage with them, and seek new perspectives on their lives and cultures;
Debate the ethics of the Nike corporation’s sponsorship of the race and introduction of a sandal-like running shoe;
Discuss the native construct of korima, an Indigenous cultural mindset of sharing all natural resources, which makes the concept of begging not understandable in their culture;
Discussed the duality of perceptions of a grandmother running the race at 65 to get two bags of corn meal;
Make documentaries about the race (see references);
Study the manifest of French surrealist theater philosopher Antonin Artaud to see how the concepts he learned in this same region of Mexico influenced theater around the world and especially New York in the 1960s.

This multitiered experiential learner motivated his learners to work well beyond their fourth semester of French. The students were guided to learn deeply about their own cultures, values, and behaviors as well as those of culturally different others. Lesca stated that their French composition and comprehension greatly improved, and that their oral acumen improved as well. He is particularly pleased that more of his students are signing up for study abroad in France, Switzerland, and other European countries and that they are opting for homestays as opposed to group settings. He believes they will be challenged to employ their French more frequently. The cultural competency results based on the IES are being tabulated in the central office, but gains are expected in that arena as well.

Intercultural competence is a complex construct to wrestle with, but this same complexity can be leveraged to motivate learners to go beyond surface-level learning about languages and cultures. The cases presented here are not exhaustive but hopefully add some insight into ways that other bright and motivated teachers (like the readers of this magazine) can access intercultural competence to enhance language learning.

References available at www.languagemagazine.com/references-for-finding-inspiration-in-diversity.

Chris Cartwright is the director of intercultural assessment for the Intercultural Communication Institute, where he supports educators and trainers from all sectors of the economy and around the world in assessing and developing intercultural competence and global leadership skills. He has an EdD in postsecondary adult and continuing education and 39 years of experience teaching, training, researching, and managing in organizations focused on developing people to be effective across difference.

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