FL Language Lab investigation and proposal for A.T. Jones Academy

INTRODUCTION

I first learned of A.T. Jones Academy from our local television program showing the young students learning Mandarin Chinese 30 minutes per day.  I chose to investigate their existing language lab and visited the school where Brenda Kearse is the principal.  She helped create a math, science, and technology academy and was granted a charter contract by Hillsborough County School District to serve 300 students grades K-5 that started in August 2010.  Since then their enrollment has doubled.  Their mission is to increase academic achievement utilizing an interdisciplinary approach by providing an interactive digital teaching and learning environment.  Their website states, “The school was established as a community-wide project in an effort to provide a private school atmosphere in a public school setting.” 

The school arose from a rising concern about American students needing to be winners in the 21^st century with the skills and tools needed to compete globally.  They believe their responsibility is not to prepare their students for what they know and see now, but to prepare them for a world that we can barely imagine.  They also believe students must learn to use technology effectively to be prepared to live and work in our complex, information-rich world.  Technology skills for students are an integral component.  Principal Kearse says, “If you want to be a world leader, learn BRIC languages because these countries are on their way to becoming the larger forces in the world economy.”  The BRICS languages come from Brazil, Russia, India,  China and Latin America or Spain. She also wants to add Spanish to the after school program from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. three times a week.  Board members realized technology was altering the very nature of pedagogy and knew they were envisioning an educational environment filled with technological innovations, international exchange of ideas, future-oriented 21^st century development of work skills, and a strong foundation in math and science. 

During my visit to the technology lab, which is located on the second floor, I found a working lab but one that has limited language technology for foreign language students.  One room was set up for technology classes and the other room was piled high with supplies. This latter room is the one I would recommend to have set up as the language learning center.  The technology budget was not available for me to see, but Principal Kearse mentioned grant money and parents as possibilities in purchasing software and equipment.  The technology lab has multimedia capabilities with Mac and Windows platforms.  The technology teacher calls it, “best of both worlds.”  He teaches 15 to 30 minute classes per day:  keyboarding, iWorks, and computer parts to the lower grades.  He teaches the upper grades iWorks, Keynotes and Numbers (are these the formal names of the programs?  If not, put in lower case), along with Word, Excel and PowerPoint.  He taught Excel for 2 weeks and used grid charts, colors, and basic formula writing.  He said, “Kids learn to hyperlink on their own.” 

The technology teacher does not support Second Life for education, but only as a video game for rewards.  He believes there is a big difference between instruction and practice.  The fifth graders had a big project to complete last year.  He developed a Life City for them by creating a geometric city.  There was a “Superman view” where students in pairs, built a city.  Students learned calculations by using the formulas for perimeter and area. 

Mandarin Chinese is the one foreign language taught.  The Mandarin Chinese teacher uses a Mac laptop with a SMART Board.  She uses a trial-version of Activinspire software to project her lessons and new vocabulary to students.  She teaches all grades for 30 minutes each day of the week.  While visiting a few classrooms, I did see what looked like Chinese greetings posted on the doorways.

Parents play an important role in this academy by completing a minimum of 20 volunteer hours each school year.  I met a parent who had already surpassed 300 hours.  School uniforms are required, but there is no tuition.

AUDIENCE

All the foreign language students from K-5^th grades and their teachers will continue to learn Mandarin Chinese and have the option to begin learning Spanish which will be fee-paid and will be offered after school.  The parents/guardians, administrators, and community will also be invited.  The school plans to offer students Hindu, Portuguese, and Russian in the future.

PERSONNEL

Brenda G. Kearse, Principal - bkearse@atjonesacademy.com

Michael Sosbe, Technology Teacher - msosbe@atjonesacademy.com

A new technology teacher will start in August 2011

Sonya Lao, the Mandarin Chinese teacher who all students 30 minutes per day 5 days a week.

DILEMMA

The technology teacher stated he has a dilemma regarding how to set up the technology lab for the new academic year.  If both Rooms 204 and 205 are used for technology, it would eliminate the storage room.  Each room is approximately 17.5’ x 20’ with a portable door to separate them if needed.

EXCITING HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, & EQUIPMENT in TECHNOLOGY LAB

This lab has multi-media capabilities for both Mac and PCs because the technology teacher wants students to experience both systems. All the computers have CD-Rom and DVD drives.

8 Lenovo (IBM) Intel I3 processors all-in-one (the ThinkCentre Computers) with 4G of Ram, 2.8 GHz and 64 bit

LANS is the only wireless

13 Quad 4 and Processors

24 sets of earphones

2 HP Office Jet 8500A Pro Laser wireless Printer

15 Mac laptops in portable cart

4 2-tiered trapezoid desks for 3 students

4 net gear

One Multi-touch portable Panda Board

28” widescreen Sharp television not used

Trial-version Activinspire with Promethean software within a flip chart

Smart Board (August 2011)

One wireless router

Lexus

10-line telephone

64 Bit Operating System: Windows 7 with basics, Student Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

EXCITING HARDWARE and EQUIPMENT in K-2^nd GRADE CLASSROOMS

2 iPads,

2 wireless Mac laptops

One Promethean Board

Each teacher has an iPad and a wireless Mac laptop

 DESIGN

This would be the logo on the front door with posters and welcome banners in six languages to the left of the door.

Two circular writing desks (which can be split up

and pushed against the wall if needed)                                    Cost: $250 Carpenter made

24 student chairs                                                                       Cost: $300 – or donation

1 teacher chair                                                                          Cost: $40 – or donation

1 area rug                                                                                  Cost: $20 – or donation

Alphabet posters from 6 languages                                          Cost: Free download prints

Book shelf                                                                                Cost: $25 – or donation

Posters, photos and images, word wall supplies                      Cost:  $100 – or donation

Teacher’s chair

RECOMMENDATION 

Create a World Language Learning Center

To create a learning environment for K-5 students this new center will reflect the harmony for which our culture strives.  The students have access to the wireless Mac laptops from the technology lab without purchasing more hardware at this time.  This center will be designed and decorated with photos, images, and posters from various BRIC and Spanish-speaking countries. They will have the means to telecollaborate with long distance classrooms, work on projects together, begin to learn other world languages, and learn to recognize and respect the differences in our “new friends.”

Software Recommended

I chose the following three computer assistant language software programs because I believe they demonstrate an understanding of the relationships between practices, products, and perspectives of the target cultures that speak Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Hindu. They are fun, use music to teach, and are easy to manipulate.  

1.     Buy Rosetta Stone, Level 1 Chinese and Rosetta Stone Level l Other Languages for the servers. These are popular with K-12 and higher education institutions and come highly recommended.                                                 Cost:  $199.00 Chinese Package

                                                                                    Cost: $199.00 for BRIC languages

2.     Telecollaborative  (televisions available per technology teacher)

            Option 1: Teacher
            Cost for one teacher/organization member:            Cost: $100 per year
            Teacher membership includes:

·      1 year (12 Months) membership

·      Unlimited access to over 200 online collaborative projects

·      Project Book

·      Multimedia CD on global collaboration

           

            Option 2: School or Organization
            School/Organization membership includes:

            Cost for school/organization                                    Cost:  $400 per year

·      Three Multimedia CDs on global collaboration

·      1 year membership (unlimited access for all teachers)

·      Unlimited access to over 200 online collaborative projects

·      Three Project Books

3.      Muzzy Language Program teaches K-3 not only Chinese but the other BRIC languages.        Students in the language learning center will be able to find the natural ability to start speaking a world language in a fun and easy way.  Animation stories and engaging music  surround the viewer with a second language and are presented in humorous dramatic stories.  There is a free trial.

      http://www.early-advantage.com/howitworks_et.aspx  COST: $199 Mandarin Chinese

      http://www.early-advantage.com/howitworks_et.aspx  COST: $199 Spanish, Russian,               Portuguese, Italian, French, German, and English

4.     FREE website iEARN at https://media.iearn.org/projects/iime is a collaborative center where you join interactive curriculum-based projects in which students aged 5to 20 are creating, researching, sharing opinions, and becoming global citizens. There are 40,000 teachers, 2 million students, 130 countries, and 30 languages working within these centers. One finds partners who share the vision that education can be enhanced and the world made better through collaborative uses of technology.  Students and educators communicate and collaborate in over 200 forums through text, images, videos, sound, and real-time media, all in a multilingual and visual platform.

           

5.      FREE Videoconferencing for Learning:  http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/vidconf/index.html

Hardware Recommended  

1.     Since the television was going to be removed from the technology center it can be transferred to the Language Learning Center so classes can videoconference with another class in another global nation (telecollaborative activity).

2.     Webcam                                                                 Cost: $20

3.      Document Camera                                                Cost: $300-$500

4.     Use the Mac laptops available to further their technology skills. An activity for the 5^th grades might be to teach how to blog with a pen pal or take notes encouraging writing skills.

5.      24 sets of headphones with microphones        Cost: $600 at $25 each

·      Students can only hear what each one is listening to at their own station

·      Students can video chat with individual students at their own stations

6.     Create a webpage for this center and add to their school’s website. Include it in the parent’s newsletter.

Room 205 – Technology Classroom

1.     Post the Technology and the Florida Sunshine State Standards for 3^rd to 5^th grades http://www.paec.org/david/big/sssgl.pdf  (see Foreign Language found on page 4 ) This reads:

·      FL.A.2.2.2 – answers or formulates questions about a variety of media experiences produced in the target language (e.g., video, radio, television, songs, or computer programs).

2.     Post “Safe computing tips.”

3.     Post Golden Rules of Netiquette.

Security Issues

·      Virus protection currently exists on the hardware that will help protect students from the negative aspects of the Internet by using filtering software, firewalls, and observation by teacher or parent.

·      Students need to sign an Internet permission slip that outlines user standards that remind teachers, students, and parents that they are guests on the Internet and that they need to use it appropriately.

·      Students will learn netiquette.

OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS:

1.     Visit this website to see how a teacher can take her students into this center, sit with them with laptops, and learn a new language together (http://www.tellmemorestore.com/).

2.     I recommend joining the Florida Foreign Language Association              Cost: $30/annual fee.

Four of the five languages A.T. Jones Academy wants to teach are promoted within this association, except for Hindu.  Since this school is part of Region 5, FFLA exists to help encourage a higher level of technology use within language learning at Florida schools. It is important to recognize how they have connected with IALLT (International Association for Language Learning and Technology) and its regional group SEALLT(Southeastern Association for Language Learning Technology).

The contact person is Frank J. Kruger-Robbins, Chair, World Languages Department, Pine Crest School, FFLA Special Appointee, IALLT K-12 Coordinator, and  K-12 Membership Coordinator SEALLT.

3.     Set up the television in the center against the wall at eye level to show the following TV station, PNACC 21-Chinese, CCTV-4 19-Chinese, NTVAmerica 33-Russian Educational, PBS in Spanish.  The television can also be used to telecollaborate with LD classes.

4.     Other teachers can use their LCD projectors to show YouTube videos of culture and music of the BRICS countries, play interactive games from different countries, and learn new vocabulary.  Students will feel immersed in the culture.

5.     FOR SPANISH:  students and teachers have the program Power to Learn with a Spanish link to http://www.powertolearn.com/articles/teaching_with_technology/index.shtml.  They will learn to blog, use technology, and create class websites.

6.     Select a coordinator or counselor to oversee this center. Students can be selected to be ambassadors to this center and represent each nation.  The coordinator will

·      Teach students and their teachers how to efficiently use the search engines and software to guarantee the investment be a sufficiently viable commercial venture

·      Teach the students and teachers how to telecollaborate to reach the goal of communicative competence with a foreign language

·      Teach and review The Golden Rules of netiquette

CONCLUSION 

This can be an ideal lab/center where the BRIC and Spanish languages and culture will be learned.  The after-school program will include Spanish classes and this location can be made available.  The world language learning center will foster the environment to facilitate, encourage, and teach the students these languages. The center has four walls and each can be decorated with posters, alphabets, world walls, and pictures from the four BRIC nations helping students to connect with their global neighbors. There will also be various cultural items from these nations collected and displayed like dolls, books, toys, clothing, and others.  Parents, future parents, administrators, and teachers will see that the school is serious about teaching their students to think “outside the box” and learn what other students learn in other parts of the world.

The A.T. Jones Academy staff has been invited to visit USF’s iTeach Lounge.  They have been encouraged to contact Dr. Jim Takacs, who is in charge of the Lounge.  (His email is takacs@usf.edu, and his phone number is (813) 974-9979.)  They will be see a foreign language lab which uses music and animation to engage the young visitors, and at the same time interacting with a highly technically skilled person.  

Research indicates that the level of student achievement increases as parent involvement increases.  So Principal Kearse can challenge her student’s parents to provide any new software for the language lab/center not paid for by the grant money.

The Academy already has a broad and stimulating vision about giving important skills and knowledge regarding the 21^st century world in which the students will be interacting.   They have articulated wanting to change BRIC to BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and Spanish language) with after school language instruction.   The addition of an enhanced language learning center as recommended in this proposal would add invaluable credibility to an already creative institution.

Why Telecollatorate?

I chose to focus on this because of the nature of my proposal for A.T. Jones Charter School.  Their tech teacher wants to use this activity with his K-5 students.  I learned this activity "is a curriculum-focus activity involving collaboration among teachers and students in distant locations." It exposes students globally to different viewpoints while communicating with other students around the world. 18 framework activities have been already set up to help teachers use these activities. Many projects have already been set up to join. I looked on the websites provided by Dr. Rogers and they were very friendly sites giving various projects to join and how to join the classes long distance. By reviewing the values for both students and teachers, it is clear that telecollaborative activities will be successful teaching strategies for our 21st century learners :

Values for students:

1. learning extends beyond their own classroom
2. communication extents to real-world
3. influence extends into the community
4. expands their technology proficiency for use in their future jobs
5. connect with experts in their subjects giving them new source of knowledge
6. increases motivation, engagement, and interest
7. encourages peer teaching
8. increases their communication skills
9. stimulates additional intelligences to satisfy different learners
10. involves critical thinking skills
11. provides clear organizational skills
12. 150 projects to choose from 
13. meaningful learning opportunities
14. opportunities to develop any new projects

Values for teacher:

1. effective application of curriculum explaining the use of technology
2. watch student voice their thoughts while they go through the inquiry process
3. access to more resources
4. students are more engaged
5. engage in professional development
6. provide better learning experience for their students
7. learn how to assist and guide students to tellecollaborate
8. connect more to other teachers and administrators
9. expands awareness of others in their communities as valuable information sources
10. more aware of the broad community of learners around the world
11. provides organization and scaffolds
12. 150 projects are available to choose from through iEARN

"Principals for Teaching ELL Students" from an inspiring teacher....

I so appreciate her listing the ESL Links to better obtaining Reading, Listening, Speaking, and Writing. She is getting "bookmarked" on my computer for future reference.  I find her blog amazingly communicative.  Because it is happy, I was drawn to him. Good lesson there for me.. Her years of teaching experience, the countries she has taught in, and the cultural background she has herself shows what an interesting learning environment can be created with the expertise she brings to the table as an educator.  I can assume her classrooms are fun to learn in and that her students are drawn to her personality. 

ListServe: What English Should be Taught (from a US perspective overseas)

I went to American Schools while living in 6 different Latin American countries and we had English teachers with British, New York, Southern, Texan, Australian, and Hispanic accents.  One develops an ear for these accents. You learn to use them socially, academically, and professionally.  I have classmates here in grad school who do not have good Spanish pronunciations and will be future Spanish teachers.  They know their grammar and writing skills excellently.  Again, I feel students and parents have a say-so in what accent they want to be taught with but we really did not have the choice. It was what we were given and we made the best of what we had.  What we learned through the different accents were the various cultures that were different and similar to our own.  We learned that globally, we are all alike and that we have different accents that will not take away from our jobs, our academics, or our own culture.

ListServe: What English Should be Taught...

Since pronunciations do vary with teachers depending where they are from or where they learned their English, I believe it is important that the students have choices in choosing their teachers.  It depends what they will be using their L2 for:  work?  pleasure? travel? academia?  Testing? Teaching a language has to be very clear, enunciated clearly and correctly.  With this comes some flexibility with the pronunciation.  English is world-spoken and can have many dialects.  I had a USF Statistics teachers assistant teach attempt to be a good teacher. I had to drop the course and choose another math course to pass my state boards for the GKT.  When the pronunciation hinders learning, something is definitely wrong.  Hiring and placing these teachers has to be thoughtfully considered

Internet Reciprocal Teaching - for World Language Classrooms

This PPT covers how to teach our students about internet searches.  Very interesting about Boolean searching uses
OR- synonymous terms
AND- the more concepts we combine, the few results we will retrieve
NOT- excludes records from our search results.

I have a paper to prepare and will utilize this method to narrow down my searches so I can learn how to teach my students the same method.  I will DEFINITELY use this in my world (not foreign) language classrooms because I believe it will hold their attention and help them create thorough reports.  I will teach them note-taking strategies (important skill to use at their jobs), teach them how to be IRT operators and guide them through their Internet research, and watch for skills they might need to read the Internet well such as;
1- how to make up good questions,
2- how to select key words and web sites,
3- how to evaluate reliable and trustworthy web sites,
4- how to take good notes on sites, and
5- to make sure they post their reports correctly and share with their peers.
I will have to monitor their use very carefully and will collect the Internet permission slips beforehand. I'll circulate actively from table to table looking for quality dialogues and trustworthy Internet searches.

I learned not only to use the Boolean Logic, but practiced using the implied Boolean logic and was excited to use the space and the minus sign to retrieve specific searches.
Lot's to practice and learn!

Chapter 5 Review: Distance Learning

Before reviewing my chapter, I wanted to share that I have recently received feedback from two adolescent high school students who took a DL Spanish course.  Both opinions were the same: they thought it was a waste of time to learn to speak the language even if the grammar and writing skills were learned.  They felt the conversation was more important but were obligated to take these courses.  I doubt the efficiency of this teaching strategy. I would have to speak with Spanish teachers who have experience with this to have a more open view. 

Learning a foreign language through distance learning was covered in this chapter. I was surprised to learn that online learning has a 9.7 percent (specifically in the association institutions) growth rate versus the 1.5 percent growth in the rest of higher education. I don't think teaching a world language via DL will ever replace the face-to-face with native speakers in order to reach advanced proficiency levels.

The author believes the U.S. needs to produce more bilinguals and take advantage of the rich bilingualism that already exists among our international communities. I believe our country needs to work hard on wiping out prejudices that accept these communities as our neighbors. 

I believe it is imperative that universities push their study abroad programs because I witnessed advanced proficiency in my now 27 year old daughter who spent 5 weeks in Morelia, Mexico.  She lived with a family who had a 5 year old daughter that taught my daughter more Spanish than anyone had ever in the past and she comes from a bilingual home.