According to a recent study, the first of its kind and scale, students enrolled in dual-language immersions programs, in which students are taught in both English and a second language, outperform their single-language peers by almost a full grade-level in terms of English reading skills. The study followed almost 30,000 students in Portland Public Schools, including those in dual-language immersion programs in Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, Chinese, and Russian and was sponsored by the research firm RAND, the American Councils for International Education, and Portland public schools. “Part of the way Portland sees the issue, really is about ensuring schools and classrooms are diverse and people really benefit in a tangible way from that diversity,” said Jennifer Steele, RAND’s primary investigator for the study. “It is about kids learning from each other; the language you bring to that class is treated as an asset and the languages you get from your peers is also an asset, because more languages are better than fewer,” she continued.
Dual-language Programs Improve Reading Skills
Skills for a Multilingual, Global Learning Community
Edynn Sato offers strategies for educators to help multilingual learners develop academic literacies and succeed across multiple academic disciplines and contexts
In our increasingly diverse and global society, many students are in classrooms receiving instruction in a language that is not their primary language and engaging in new situations with unfamiliar language and practices. Students who are culturally and linguistically diverse are all over the world, and thus their literacy development is a global issue. These multilingual learners face real challenges as they strive to learn rigorous academic content and prepare for college and careers.
Academic Literacies
To support the literacy development and achievement of our multilingual learners, we must extend our focus on discrete language features of academic language (e.g., vocabulary, syntax) as the benchmark of language learning to include academic literacies. Generally speaking, academic literacies develop from making meaning in interactions and engagement in a given situation. They include “knowledge and skills needed to read and write, as well as competencies and understandings of language, its contexts, and its uses” (Molle, Sato, Boals, & Hedgspeth, 2015, p. 277). Such competencies are the ones we should work on developing, rather than simply addressing language in terms of its discrete features or in a manner disconnected from academic content. By doing so, we can help our multilingual learners develop literacy that will facilitate achievement across multiple disciplines and contexts.
Our multilingual learners are challenged with learning the language of instruction at the same time they are learning rigorous academic content. For example, they may be an English language learners (ELLs) learning geometry in a class taught in English by an English-speaking teacher. The academic instruction in English includes language critical to learning geometry—for example, words like coordinate and trapezoid, and structures such as those in a geometric proof—as well as ways of communicating and engaging with the content (e.g., individualist vs. collectivist, inductive vs. deductive) that may be unfamiliar to the student. These all pose challenges to someone learning the English language while working to achieve academically.
All students bring to the learning situation competencies that can be leveraged (Hickey & Lewis, 2015; Molle et al., 2015). There are a number of ways educators can tap into existing competencies in order to support multilingual learners’ literacy development. Generally, literacy development involves all four modalities of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Providing opportunities for students to draw on individual strengths (e.g., knowledge, skills, experiences) and use the four language modalities while learning academic content is critical. The nature of the task and conditions for such learning matter, and although the following considerations for facilitating literacy development, including considerations for supporting the development of academic literacies, reflect practices that benefit all learners, they can be particularly beneficial for multilingual learners in situations where their primary language is different from the language of instruction.
Interactions help students make meaning, so providing regular opportunities for students to interact in a purposeful manner is important. Interactions include those between the student and teacher as well as peer interactions, and these interactions can involve all four modalities (e.g., think-pair-share or write-pair-share, “jigsaw” activity, partner/group problem solving).1 When planned with a clear purpose related to specific learning goals and appropriately managed and supported, interactions provide opportunities to integrate language and literacy competencies with discipline-specific content, as well as allowing participants to draw on and apply individual strengths (Darling-Hammond, Austin, Orcutt, & Martin, 2003). Research shows that students who experience positive interactions—that is, when students are treated as interesting and valuable participants and their contributions are accepted and/or extended by the other(s) with whom they are interacting—are likely to have increased confidence in their ability to contribute to collaborative meaning-making and are likely to become more knowledgeable about the topics that are discussed (Wells, 2009).
Scaffolding is what teachers do for students to give them just enough support to advance their knowledge and skills while enabling them to reflect on and articulate their thoughts and learning (Darling-Hammond et al., 2003). Generally, scaffolding language and content for multilingual learners can take many forms, including paraphrasing (e.g., to define or describe information using alternate wording), highlighting (e.g., to help focus attention on or emphasize information), modeling (e.g., to show or demonstrate information), encouraging (e.g., to elicit or help refine thinking or behavior), praising (e.g., to support developing or desired thinking or behavior), and validating (e.g., to reinforce desired student performance) (The Petrie Partnership for Teacher Excellence Curriculum Development, 2009). Scaffolding also can provide task-specific support in the form of explanations, demonstrations, hands-on activities, and resources (e.g., visual, aural, tactile) that align with specific learning goals and address the developing needs of the student (Hammond & Gibbons, 2005; Hickey & Lewis, 2015). For multilingual learners, drawing attention to linguistic differences can facilitate their development of academic literacies as well as domain-specific understanding. Explicit discussions of how, for example, academic registers differ along different linguistic features and for different audiences and purposes support students’ understanding and use of language (Hickey & Lewis, 2015). Such analyses also can help students learn how to think about language and articulate thoughts about language (metacognition, metalanguage), which also aid their literacy development and learning (Hickey & Lewis, 2015; Young & Fry, 2008).
Decisions about how to structure interactions and which scaffolds to provide students can be informed by the students’ levels of language development. Table 1 on page 30 presents several strategies and activities according to five stages of second-language acquisition: preproduction; early production; speech emergence; intermediate fluency; and advanced fluency (Haynes, 2007). Preproduction, also known as the silent period, is the stage at which learners have some receptive vocabulary but do not yet speak the second language. Not all learners go through this stage, but if a learner speaks during this stage, the learner’s utterances typically are imitations of what is heard rather than creative language use. Early production is the stage at which learners are able to speak in short one- or two-word phrases. Learners at this stage also can memorize chunks of language; however, there may be mistakes in their utterances. Speech emergence is the stage at which learners can communicate using simple questions and phrases; however, there may be grammatical errors. Intermediate fluency is the stage at which learners can use more complicated sentence structures and share their thoughts and opinions. At this stage, learners still may make frequent errors when using more complicated sentence structures. The final stage, advanced fluency, is when learners can function at a level close to native speakers (Haynes, 2007; Robertson & Ford, 2015; Williams, 2015).
Across all stages, the following are critical to underscore in supporting the development of literacy and content understanding in our learners (Molle et al., 2015):
• There should be regular opportunities for students to practice and develop both their language and their understanding of academic content. Such practice should have clear goals and feedback that will help student learning and achievement. The practice opportunities could be an individual activity or an activity with peers, and these opportunities could involve all four language modalities.
• Examples that give students the opportunity to engage with and understand both content and language are important for the development of student literacy and content understanding. Using examples that relate to the students’ backgrounds and to settings that are familiar to the students presents opportunities for the students to make connections between their backgrounds and experiences and the new language and/or content to be learned. Discussions of examples provide opportunities, as appropriate for the students’ ages and levels of language development, to include the modeling of metacognitive and metalinguistic awareness.
As we implement more rigorous academic standards and our student population becomes increasingly diverse, we have an opportunity to rethink how we prepare our students for college and careers. A broader definition of literacy that extends beyond the instruction of discrete linguistic features to include academic literacies, along with strategies that are mindful of the particular challenges of multilingual learners and the knowledge and experiences they bring with them to the learning situation, can help us prepare our learners to succeed across a range of disciplines and contexts.
Notes 1 The focus here is on academic language and literacies and facilitating their development through interactions that are more structured than interactions that are typical of social, conversational language. Academic language and literacies and social, conversational language are not distinct, though there are differences. With respect to this discussion, the latter is important for the practice opportunities it provides language learners in terms of, for example, different registers, and it also presents opportunities for scaffolding and feedback in situations that are less formal than that in an academic lesson. However, specific discussion related to social, conversational language and its relationship to the development of academic language and literacies is beyond the scope of this article.
References
Darling-Hammond, L., Rosso, J., Austin, K., Orcutt, S., & Martin, D. (2003). The Learning Classroom: Theory into practice. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University.
Hammond, J. & Gibbons, P. (2005). “Putting scaffolding to work: The contribution of scaffolding in articulating ESL instruction.” Prospect, 20(1), 6-30.
Haynes, J. (2007). Getting Started with English Language Learners: How educators can meet the challenge. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Hickey, P. J. & Lewis, T. (2015). “To win the game, know the rules and legitimize the players: Disciplinary literacy and multilingual learners.” The Language and Literacy Spectrum, 25.
Hill, J. D. & Bjork, C. L. (2008). “Classroom instruction that works with English language learners participant’s workbook.” Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/ books/108053/chapters/The-Stages-of-Second-Language-Acquisition.aspx.
Molle, D., Sato, E., Boals, T., & Hedgspeth, C. A. (Eds.) (2015). Multilingual Learners and Academic Literacies: Sociocultural contexts of literacy development in adolescents. New York: Routledge.
Robertson, K. & Ford, K. (2015). “Language acquisition: An overview.” Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/language-acquisition-overview#h-instructional-strategies.
Shenendehowa ESL (2015). “The four stages of language acquisition.” Retrieved from http://www.shenet.org/arongen/ sfarenell/P04.htm.
The Petrie Partnership for Teacher Excellence Curriculum Development (2009). “L2 acquisition & ESL methodology & techniques for content-area teachers.” Retrieved from http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/teachlearn/mms/english_language_learners.
Wells, G. (2009). “The social context of language and literacy development.” In Barbarin, O. A., Frome, P., & Marie-Winn, D. (Eds.) The Handbook of Child Development and Early Education (pp. 271-302). London: Sage.
Williams, V. (2015). “Building to code.” Language Magazine. Retrieved from https://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=124487.
Young, A. & Fry, J. D. (2008). “Metacognitive awareness and academic achievement in college students.” Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 8(2), 1-10.
Edynn Sato is a principal research scientist in the Center for NextGen Learning & Assessment at Pearson’s Research & Innovation Network. Dr. Sato’s research focuses on issues affecting the learning and achievement of English language learners and students with disabilities. Prior to joining Pearson, she worked in academic, nonprofit, small for-profit, Fortune 500, and internet-based organizations. Dr. Sato received her master’s degree and doctorate in education from the University of California, Los Angeles.
How Learning Languages Affects Our Brain
As travel experiences go, there are few things as satisfying as ordering a meal in a foreign language. But while the practical and social aspects are obvious, multilingualism also has a transformative effect on the brain – improving brain power and changing the way we see the world.
Read on for an illustrated journey on how language affects the brain!
Wearable ASL Translation Technology
Roozbeh Jafari, Associate Professor for the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University is leading the development of a tool for American Sign Language (ASL) translation. While previous attempts for automatic ASL translation have largely relied on cameras and visual tracking technology, Jafari’s project tracks muscle movement and external motion. “The sensor is based on EMG, or electromyogram technology,” Jafari said. “Combined with the external motion sensors, which show us the overall hand movement, the EMG allows us to discriminate between gestures,” he said. “A fine-grain of interpretation […] motion sensors give us the overall sense and muscle activities give us information about the fine-grained intent.”
International Education Growing Exponentially
Study Abroad Growth Breaks Record
- Students to U.S. up 10%
- Intensive English enrollments up 13%
- U.S. students overseas up 5%
- Overseas Service Learning up 47%
Canada Considers Immigration for International Students
Canada’s Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister John McCallum says his government will be looking at ways to make the immigration process easier for international students. “International students are the best source of immigrants, in the sense that they’re educated, they’re young, they speak English or French, they know something of the country,” he said. “So we should be doing everything we can do to court them.”
The country’s Liberal government is looking to ease some rules to make it easier for international students who feel that they have been neglected by the previous Conservative government’s “express entry” route to permanent residency.
Express entry was launched by as a way to fill the country’s labor needs by fast-tracking permanent residency, in six months or less, for highly skilled foreign nationals.
“We must do more to attract students to this country as permanent residents,” McCallum said. “International students have been shortchanged by the express entry system. They are the cream of the crop, in terms of potential future Canadians.”
McCallum said he was committed to reforming the system “to be more welcoming to international students.”
“I do know that it’s become more difficult since express entry for international students to become permanent residents, and I believe that international students are among the most fertile source of new immigrants for Canada.
“By definition they’re educated—they speak English or French—they know something about the country. So they should be first on our list of people whom we court to come to Canada,” McCallum said.
McCallum also said he is also reviewing the need for employers to apply for a labor market impact assessment—a current requirement to hire a foreign national over a Canadian one which has been criticized by business groups.
The Liberals are moving forward with reforms, including Bill C-6, which proposes to count 50% of the time a foreign national spends in Canada before receiving permanent residency toward Canadian citizenship—a move that would also help international students.
Many international students have been calling on the government to give them extra points for post-secondary credentials obtained in Canada by making some changes to the system used to rank foreign nationals under express entry.
Will Every Student Succeed?
America’s new federal education bill has grand aspirations, but will it live up to them?
In December, President Obama signed the new iteration of the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). This legislation, called the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), is a bipartisan bill that reforms the unpopular No Child Left Behind act. The White House said in a statement, “The bill rejects the overuse of standardized tests and one-size-fits-all mandates on our schools, ensures that our education system will prepare every child to graduate from high school ready for college and careers, and provides more children access to high-quality state preschool programs.”
Conservatives applaud the bill for shifting more control from the federal government to the states and ending the link between federal funds and adopting specific college- and career-readiness standards, namely the Common Core State Standards. Democrats consider the ESSA’s passage a victory as it embraces key aspects of the Obama administration’s education platform, such as more support for early learning, closing the graduation gap, and promoting college and career readiness.
Under the ESSA, states still have to test students in reading and math in grades 3–8, plus once in high school, and break out the data for whole schools, plus different subgroups of students (English learners, students in special education, racial minorities, those in poverty). However, states have more discretion in setting targets, accountability, and intervention in low-performing schools. In addition to the tests that still have to be a part of state accountability systems, states must incorporate other factors, like school climate, teacher engagement, and advanced coursework.
States and districts will have to use locally developed, evidence-based interventions in the bottom 5% of schools and in schools where less than two-thirds of students graduate. States must also flag schools where subgroup students are chronically struggling.
The federal School Improvement Grants program has been replaced with other resources in the bill that states can use to help schools turn around.
The ESSA contains no provision for federal evaluation of teachers. The performance of each subgroup of students will now have to be measured separately, meaning states can no longer rely solely on “supersubgroups” (different categories of students lumped together for accountability purposes).
The act combines some 50 programs, some of which have been unfunded for years, into a giant block grant.
For English language learners (ELLs), the main practical difference from NCLB is that states can choose when to test newly arrived ELLs. Schools can include students’ test scores after they have been in the country a year, just like under current law, or alternatively is that during the first year, administrators can choose for test scores not to count toward the school’s rating, though ELLs still need to take both of the assessments and publicly report the results. In the second year, the state has to incorporate ELLs’ results for both reading and math, using some measure of growth. In their third year, the proficiency scores of these newly arrived ELLs are treated like those of any other students.
The compromise shifts accountability for English language learners from Title III (the English-language-acquisition section of the ESEA) to Title I (where the bulk of funds and accountability requirements sit).
The President claimed to be “proud to sign a law that is going to make sure that every student is prepared to succeed in the 21st century” in his official statement, in which he outlined some of the law’s key points: “First, this law focuses on a national goal of ensuring that all of our students graduate prepared for college and future careers. It builds on the reforms that helped us make progress already, holding everybody to high standards for teaching and learning, empowering states and school districts to develop their own strategies for improvement, dedicating resources to our most vulnerable children. Second, this bill makes long-overdue fixes to the last education law, replacing the one-size-fits-all approach to reform with a commitment to provide every student with a well-rounded education. It helps states and districts reduce unnecessary standardized tests. What we want to do is get rid of unnecessary standardized tests so that more teachers can spend time engaging in student learning while at the same time making sure that parents and teachers have clear information on their children’s academic performance. Number three: we know that the early years can make a huge difference in a child’s life, so this law lays the foundation to expand high-quality preschools, and it creates incentives for innovative approaches for learning and for supporting great teachers. With this bill, we reaffirm that fundamentally American ideal that every child, regardless of race, income, background, the zip code where they live, deserves the chance to make out of their lives what they will.”
To complement (or temper) the President’s enthusiasm, Language Magazine solicited reactions from other interested parties:
AFT: “It’s a new day in public education. For nearly 15 years, we’ve been treading water as top-down, test-and-sanction-based reforms failed to help all kids succeed. Parents, students, and educators came together with one message: ‘Enough with the testing fixation. Let’s bring back the joy of learning.’ Legislators on both sides of the aisle listened, worked with one another, and delivered.
“This law will usher in the most sweeping, positive changes to public education we’ve seen in two decades. It keeps the best of the original intent of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, targeting funding to support the disadvantaged schools and children who need it most. It significantly reduces the stakes and the amount of testing. It ensures that the federal government can no longer require these tests as part of teacher evaluation. And it makes public education a joint responsibility.
“Our work is only beginning, and our members are ready to roll up their sleeves at the state level, partner with community, and send the message that the policies of No Child Left Behind, waivers, and Race to the Top should be abandoned, not replicated.”
In reference to the elimination of the federal mandate that teacher evaluations be tied to student performance on standardized tests: “We will continue to be vigilant as work shifts to the states to fix accountability systems and develop teacher-evaluation systems that are fair and aimed at improving and supporting good instruction.”
Randi Weingarten, president, American Federation of Teachers
ALA: “We are just so pleased. School libraries and school librarians are really recognized as critical education partners in this bill.”
Sari Feldman, 2015–16 president of the American Library Association
TESOL: “The recent passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in the U.S. House of Representatives is a major step forward in bringing significant changes to public education in the U.S. TESOL International Association is encouraged that this effort to update the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) keeps a strong focus on supporting the needs of ELLs and is moving forward in a bipartisan manner.”
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) International Association
NCLR: “Over the past year, we worked closely with our national network of affiliates and partners to make sure this law kept its civil rights promise to protect Latinos and English learners, and that states were held accountable for the education performance of students. There is a lot at stake for students of color in this new law, particularly Latino students, who comprise one in every four children in U.S. public schools, and English learners (ELs), who make up nearly 10% of all K–12 enrollments. The new law includes a number of positive approaches to ensure the academic success of ELs: the Every Student Succeeds Act requires the inclusion of ELs in a state’s accountability system, includes reporting on ELs with disabilities and long-term ELs, and also creates standardized entrance and exit procedures for ELs that will ensure that ELs receive continuity of services regardless of their zip codes. The law, however, leaves a lot of discretion at the state and local level to determine what must happen when groups of students are consistently underperforming. NCLR will work with our affiliates to ensure effective advocacy to ensure our must vulnerable children are succeeding.”
Peggy McLeod, deputy VP, education and workforce development, National Council of La Raza
JNCL-NCLIS: “While NCLIS is disappointed with the elimination of the Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP), ESSA does provide opportunities for funding for the foreign-language community. It is clear from the elimination of other discipline-specific programs that had been authorized alongside FLAP under NCLB that the federal government’s role in K–12 education had been moving toward support of a ‘well-rounded’ curriculum. The inclusion of foreign languages in this definition offers a wider variety of opportunities to receive funding than were available under NCLB. With authority having been restored to the state and local education agencies, funding decisions have been devolved to the state and local level. The most notable implication of this is that the foreign-language community will need to work closely with state and local education agencies to ensure that world languages are represented among the other disciplines competing for these funds. It also necessitates work at the national level through the Department of Education to advocate that foreign languages remain a priority in the regulations to be developed by the department. The grassroots support for Seals of Biliteracy and dual-language immersion at the state and local levels will prove instrumental in both regards. NCLIS is encouraged by the inclusion of foreign languages in the definition of a well-rounded education and will continue to work with its member organizations and partners to facilitate cooperation between state and local foreign-language communities, and with the Department of Education on promoting world languages in ESSA.”
Joint National Committee for Languages–National Council for Languages and International Studies
Testing All The Time
The new education law, the “Every Student Succeeds Act,” appears to us to be part of a movement that may increase testing far more than ever and drastically narrow the curriculum—this will come in the form of Competency-Based Education (CBE). As described in a recent paper from the National Governors Assocation, CBE is course-work based on the common core, provided by and designed by commercial publishers, and delivered online to schools. Students work individually on computers, and are allowed to move from module to module only when they have “mastered” the current module. Mastery is determined by passing a test, also delivered online.
CBE modules present skills and content knowledge as objectives that are “clear” and “measurable” (p. 3), so the modules only cover material that lends itself to straight-forward testing. This severely limits what can be included. Students take the tests when they feel they are ready.
Demonstrated competence via these online courses will determine student success, teacher ratings, and the ranking of the school. Thus, students will be in a perpetual cycle of working through packaged programs and being tested on their content. This could translate into test prep and testing all the time, with end-of-module tests perhaps even daily.
The new education law and CBE
The new education law is an important part of making all this happen. Sections 1201 and 1204 announce grants for “innovative assessments” and explicitly mention competency-based education. Section 1204 discusses “computer-adaptive” assessments “that emphasize the mastery of standards and aligned competencies in a competency-based education model…” To show that CBE is not just a supplement but is core, applicants for grants are required to include a plan “to transition to full statewide use of the innovative assessment system.”
The Lack of Research
The following statement about CBE is from the National Governors Association’s paper, a document that aggressively promotes CBE: “Although an emerging research base suggests that CBE is a promising model, it includes only a few rigorous evaluations and analyses of current and ongoing CBE pilots and similar programs” (p. 6). Despite this admitted gap, “Efforts to start transitioning to CBE systems have begun in both K–12 and higher education through discussions at the federal, state, and local levels” (p. 4). And, we might add, these efforts are supported by the new education law.
Coincidence?
President Obama’s recent call for a limit on standardized testing may simply be a convenient first step toward something much worse than end-of-the-year testing: testing all the time, which makes end-of-the-year testing obsolete. It is interesting that the President’s announcement took place on October 25, 2015, the National Governors Association’s position paper on CBE is dated from October 2015, and the new education law was signed by the President on December 10, 2015—all very close in time.
Paying for the New Technology
It has not escaped our notice that CBE will reduce the role of teachers. This might be deliberate, freeing up funds for more spending on technology and greater profits for the technology industry—the industry that will supply the computers, the software, the hardware, the content of the modules, and, of course, the tests.
Conclusion
The new education law greatly facilitates the introduction of CBE, a move that will limit what is taught to easily testable facts and concepts. The new law is considered by many to signal a reduction in testing, but its support for competency-based education promises to make the current testing burden, already the heaviest in the history of the planet, much much worse, as well as making corporate profits much much higher.
Morna McDermott and Peggy Robertson are among the founders of the national opt-out (refuse the test) movement (http://unitedoptout.com). Stephen Krashen will be a keynote speaker at the 2016 United Opt Out conference in Philadelphia, February 26–28.
Spanish Vistas
Students share their diverse experiences of Spain
ISLA Salamanca
“ISLA is a real island of adventures, strong emotions,
and first-rate Spanish in Spain’s most famous university city. Maybe that first phrase sounds like a bit of a cliché, but for me it really was like this. I’ve been to ISLA twice, and I always remember these holidays as being full of new experiences, discoveries, and good friends. The teachers at the school are always so friendly. I learned more in one month than after a whole year of Spanish class in Russia. ISLA’s team organizes lots of activities. I dream about going back again and immersing myself again.”
Ana Kirik, Russia
Cultural Vistas Internship in Spain
“My experience working as an intern in Madrid was nothing short of life changing. I have a newfound awareness of myself, my country, and the world, which will continue to deepen and evolve. Leaving my internship and returning to the States, I see my future career developing before me. I now understand the workings of an NGO and working in public affairs. I felt comfortable in this type of office and really enjoyed the work I was doing. Being that Spain was my first experience outside the United States, I now know I can independently travel and want to continue.”
Elizabeth Deschaine
Hispania, Escuela de Español
“Studying here was a great experience and I don’t think
I could’ve learned this much in any other place. The teachers are amazing and make the lessons as enjoyable and informative as possible! I truly think this school deserves the title of Best Language School in Spain.”
Leila Erzen, Ukraine
International House Seville–CLIC
“I have spent nine weeks in this great school located in the center of Seville. The classes have been amazing, as well as all the teachers I met. My teacher’s enthusiasm, patience, and humor made the classes very productive and fun. Furthermore, the combination of up-to-date textbooks, linkage of study subjects to daily news, and usage of multimedia during classes helped me understand and learn the Spanish language quickly. Aside from the Spanish classes, the school offers an optional cultural program. This program (varying from wine tasting to guided tours to salsa courses) added unforgettable experiences to my time in Seville. I would definitely recommend this school to everyone who is thinking about studying Spanish! CLIC, ¡Te echo de menos!”
Jacqueline Smits, The Netherlands
Instituto de Idiomas Ibiza
“As a complete beginner, only able to attend the school for a week, I was worried I might be out of my depth. But I was really impressed with how well the school catered to all abilities. Once you step into the classroom, you are only spoken to in Spanish. This was tough at first, but all the teachers are so helpful and friendly that it wasn’t intimidating. Instead, it was really motivating. The school organizes a lot of activities in the evenings and afternoons to get you oriented in Ibiza, which helps you immerse yourself in the culture. The atmosphere in the school was very social, and a lot of the students organized activities together themselves. I would highly recommend the school. I looked into quite a few, and this one is a brilliant value for the money. The courses are engaging, and you get a sense that the teachers care. The location is great; there is a lot of beautiful scenery to explore, as well as the famous nightlife and music scene. If you challenge yourself, then you are sure to learn a lot of Spanish and enjoy it along the way.”
Pippa Smart, 25, UK
School Year Abroad
“My nine months in Zaragoza, Spain changed my life. SYA allowed me to grow as a person while providing a support system and an education consistent with my home school. I learned to be independent and open to new situations. I learned to be comfortable being uncomfortable in a given situation. I learned to get lost in the windy streets of the old quarter. Most days I spoke more Spanish than English and by the end of the year could discuss politics, feminism, and cute Spanish fútbol players with my Spanish homestay mother. I traveled constantly and opened my eyes to the rest of the world. I miss Spain every day!”
Claire Tellekson—Flash, SYA ES15–MA, U.S.
Eurocentres
“My stay at Eurocentres was very good. What I liked the most was that the teachers are always in a good mood and they make sure that there is always time for laughter in the classes; they dedicate a lot of time to make that possible. I was received with affection and attention; that is how I met most of my friends. I have enjoyed my stay in Barcelona and a lot of that is thanks to Eurocentres.”
Antonio Gitahy, Brazil
Colegio Delibes
“If you ask me why I love Colegio Delibes so much, I would say that everything is perfect here. All the teachers are so nice and they have a lot of teaching experience. They can solve your grammar questions in very simple ways. The classrooms are so original and beautifully decorated. The school is centrally located. You can walk to Plaza Mayor in less than five minutes. Colegio Delibes is my second home.”
Yiying Wang
Tía Tula Colegio de Español
“I wanted to learn Spanish, but I didn’t know my options that well. I was told that Salamanca would be the perfect city to go to. In Salamanca, no dialects are spoken, which makes it easier to talk with the locals and with the thousands of Spanish students who are living here. It is safe, there are a lot of cultural activities to do, and life costs are low. I found out that Tía Tula would fit me best, because their standards are internationally acknowledged, prices are very reasonable, the school is based in a modern building with state-of-the-art facilities, and all the information about your stay can be found on the website. In fact, now, after the first four weeks of my stay, I feel very confident when communicating in Spanish in class and in my daily life thanks to Tía Tula.”
Luuk Specht, The Netherlands
AIP Language Institute
“What I liked about AIP Language Institute is that they don’t just teach a language, they give you the opportunity to get to know the real Spain and learn about its language and culture. The teachers make the lectures very fun and informative, and also outside the classroom they are always willing to help you improve your skills. I liked the activities AIP Language Institute offered, because they really complemented the full Spanish experience. The location of the school was perfect, since it is ten minutes from the center and the beach by public transportation.”
Soraya Han, The Netherlands
Academic Programs International Cádiz
“I chose to study abroad with API when I fell in love with the Andalusian town known as Cádiz. Among other aspects of API that drew my attention, their genuine and thorough care of their students and their obvious encouragement for adventure caught my eye. I wanted nothing more than to stroll down those weaving, cobbled streets, to smell the salty Atlantic ocean as I watched the setting sun, and to hear the passionate rhythm of Spanish conversation flowing through the breeze. I went to Cádiz with all kinds of expectations of how life there would be. I had heard that Spain was a wondrous place full of flamenco dancers and bullfighters, red wines and Spanish rice. But no one could have shown me exactly how my experience would be. Probably the most challenging—and rewarding—part of my time abroad was learning to define myself in a place where all of my previously used terminology no longer existed.
Not only was I physically out of place, like a Cheerio among Froot Loops, but I was also mentally isolated, given that I could only use Spanish to express myself. Living in Cádiz, which was largely free of Americans and English speakers, my Spanish improved greatly in the four months I was there. But I didn’t just learn a second language in Spain. I learned that who I am is not defined by that which surrounds me, but by that which is within me. And that is a lesson I will continue to learn for the rest of my life.”
Julie Pleshe
International House Palma–CLIC
“I’ve taken 20 weeks of Spanish lessons at IH Palma, and I still have 15 more to go! I’m extremely happy with this school. I’ve learned a lot here. The teachers are very good and enthusiastic. I really like the fact that every teacher has their own teaching style, so I have loved having different teachers. They have a good timetable and time seems to fly, even though we have four hours of lessons per day. The school also offers a program of activities outside the school, where you can learn about the culture and meet new people.”
Sara Lund, Sweden
International House Barcelona–CLIC
“I really enjoyed my courses here at International House, because the teachers used different methods of teaching so that it was never boring and it didn’t feel difficult learning the language. We always had to interact with the other students by talking about a certain topic with each other. The teachers were always motivated and always had an answer for our questions, even if they weren’t about the course but the city in general, for example. I would definitely recommend International House.”
Vanessa Ritzel, Germany
International House Cádiz–CLIC
“This is my second time doing a Spanish course here at clic Cádiz. The reason I came back is simply because my experience was fantastic! I learned so much over a one-week course. We did a wide range of activities and spoke about lots of different topics. The teachers here are really friendly, encouraging, and well organized. As a result, I feel as though my Spanish has improved in every way. In addition to the classes, there are plenty of activities to enjoy outside of the classroom, such as city tours, trips, surfing, and more. There are endless opportunities to practice Spanish while exploring the city and meeting lots of great people.”
Paris Van-Loo
ACIS Educational Tours, Madrid
“I stepped off the plane in Madrid and knew that the way I perceived life would change. From the cobblestoned streets navigated in Granada to the breathtaking cliffs in Ronda, I had never experienced a world like this, so far outside of the 16-year-old bubble I had been enclosed in. The first day, I stood in the middle of the Plaza Mayor and breathed. My eyes examined every line and color in the architecture scaling the cloudless sky while my ears listened to the roaring language which previously only surrounded me in classrooms. I looked at a smiling stranger—‘Holá bella.’ I smiled back.”
Isabelle Koene
TLCdénia Teenager Summer Program
“During two weeks in summer, I had the chance to study Spanish at TLCdénia with a friend, and we loved it. Everyone in the school is very friendly; the teachers make the lessons interesting by talking about current affairs and giving students the opportunity to learn in the method that is best suited for them. Our class liked to practice speaking and listening. The classes are interesting and of course very useful, and after, you can practice whatever you just learned in class with friends, or if you are staying with a Spanish family, you can practice with them too. After class there are trips that you can sign up for, which are not obligatory but they are really fun and give you more chance to practice speaking Spanish. At TLCdénia, I learned a lot and it improved my Spanish a lot, but it was also really fun and I was able to make many new friends from all over the world, learning more not only about the Spanish culture but also of the countries of the great friends you can make there.”
Rebecca Brahde
And New York
Instituto Cervantes
“I have been a student at Instituto Cervantes in New York City for more than two years, and for me, what is most special about the school is that it brings a little bit of Spain to New York. There are many places to learn Spanish here, and of course, many Spanish speakers, but most are from Latin or Central America. If you are passionate about the culture of Spain, as I am, it is hard to find another place here that brings it so to life. So many of the teachers are from Spain, and they enjoy sharing their language, country, and backgrounds with their students. It brings another whole dimension to the study of Spanish.”
Joan Friedman, New York
Artificial Neural Network Learns Language
Researchers from Sassari University and Plymouth University have made a cognitive model of networked artificial neurons that can learn language with no prior knowledge. The Artificial Neural Network with Adaptive Behaviour Exploited for Language Learning, or Annabell, relies on synaptic plasticity and neural gating to learn through human conversation. “The system is capable of learning to communicate through natural language starting from tabula rasa, without any prior knowledge of the structure of phrases, meaning of words [or] role of the different classes of words, and only by interacting with a human through a text-based interface,” researchers said. “It is also able to learn nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns and other word classes and to use them in expressive language.”
NYC Introduces Language Program Legislation
Council members have called on the Department of Education, “to amend the administrative code of the city of New York in relation to foreign language courses offered in New York city public schools.” This new legislation would require tracking of the number of students in dual-language and foreign-language programs including grade levels and detailed reports on instruction. Council member Mark Levine, who is one of the bill’s biggest advocates, published a document on New York’s current language education status, arguing that more needs to be done to create bilingual teachers and provide foreign language education access to lower income areas. “The highest demand for dual language programs has been from middle-income, English-speaking families,” Levine told Capital New York. “The Department of Education is ramping up outreach to low-income families but that is still a big challenge. Dual language classes are one of the best solutions to school integration that we’ve seen.”
