2011 Heritage Language Teacher Workshop

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July 18-22, 2011

The StarTalk sponsored languages are:
Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Turkish and Urdu

Instructors from K-16 programs and community schools are invited to apply.

Additional spaces are available for other less commonly taught languages.

The workshop is sponsored by Startalk and the National Heritage Language Resource Center and cosponsored by the UCLA Asia Institute, the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies, and the UCLA Latin American Institute.

About the Workshop

This workshop is designed to help language teachers face the challenge of teaching heritage language students. It will prepare them to understand the differences between teaching L2 and HL learners, the issues involved in heritage language teaching, and how to address them. Participants will explore ways to design their own curriculum and select materials and assessment tools. They will learn how to involve students as ACTIVE participants in the learning process. The five Cs recommendations from the National Standards will be implemented throughout the workshop.

The workshop will include information on how to research a heritage language community and create a community-based program. A grasp of demographic data will give teachers an advantage in both teaching and promoting heritage language instruction in their own departments, institutions, and districts. The workshop will address these issues to better prepare teachers for the classroom.

The workshop hopes to develop a cohort of language teachers who will be leaders and mentors in the field of heritage language instruction.

The workshop's goals are:

  1. Understand the differences and similarities between L2 and HL teaching, including assessment.
  2. Set goals for HL instruction that differ from objectives for L2 programs.
  3. Design a curriculum that takes students' initial proficiencies into account.
  4. Incorporate knowledge of the community including use of demographic tools in curricular design and materials development.
  5. Incorporate National Foreign Language Standards and California Standards for World Languages into teaching.

There is no charge for this workshop. A limited number of stipends will be available to cover travel and accommodations for out of state participants.

For additional information, contact kathryn@humnet.ucla.edu