STARTALK 2009 - Turkish Programs
Center for Applied Linguistics (teacher)
CAL STARTALK Proficiency Assessment Training Program
This STARTALK workshop will combine online and face-to-face workshop formats to provide training in language assessment. The purpose of the workshop is to help STARTALK program directors, instructors, and/or teacher trainers learn about and plan for assessment in their STARTALK summer programs. The workshop focuses on assessment with particular attention to assessing language growth in short-term STARTALK programs for students with novice-level proficiency. This blended learning workshop combines distance learning and face-to-face interaction. The workshop will begin with a four-module online course on the basics of assessment. Consistent with the blended learning approach, the initial four modules are followed by a two-day face-to-face workshop at the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, DC, in July, 2009. After the face-to-face workshop, CAL will continue the online modules in order to provide assessment assistance, advice, and support during participants’ STARTALK programs. Finally, optional oral proficiency workshops, conducted online, will be available in the fall of 2009. This workshop is limited to staff from STARTALK-funded programs. We hope that at least one person from every program participates. Organizers: Meg Malone, Lynn Thompson, Vicky Nier, and Anne Donovan Application: You can request the application and DRAFT syllabus from mmalone@cal.org.
Fauquier County Public Schools (student)
Fauquier County Language Explore
The Fauquier County Language Explore program is an introduction to the Turkish and Arabic languages and cultures. The goal of our program is to expose rising 5th- through 8th-grade students to less commonly taught languages and cultures. Students will choose one of the languages to focus their studies as the two programs will run at the same time. We hope to build a foundation for further study and inspire students to want to learn more about languages and cultures. Specifically, students who complete this program will be able to participate in simple conversations on familiar topics including, but not limited to, greetings, numbers, colors, clothing, food, and animals. Students will be able to identify alphabetic characters leading them towards the ability to read the target language. Students will become aware of the different languages and cultures around them to help them to be more productive citizens in a global community. This program will be held at Kettle Run High School in Nokesville, VA. The program runs from Monday, July 6 to Tuesday, July 21. There will be no classes on Fridays.
San Diego State University Research Foundation (student)
Turkish Language and Culture STARTALK Program
This proposal is developed in collaboration with the faculty from San Diego State University’s (SDSU) Language Acquisition Resource Center (LARC) and the committee members of San Diego Turkish School of the American Turkish Association of Southern California (ATASC). The proposal is to offer an intensive summer language program in Turkish for up to 20 students, grades 1-5. A unique feature of our proposal is that we will ensure the sustainability of our program by offering Turkish language courses for students in grades 1-5 for the following fall and spring through San Diego Turkish School of ATASC. The program will be open to any students (grades 1-5) in the community; however, we will make an effort to recruit students from Lahaska who are Meskhetian Turks, a small group of Turks who immigrated to the United States from Russia only recently and have little social and economic support and face challenges with linguistic and social integration. Our summer program will not only focus on teaching language but also will emphasize teaching Turkish culture by bringing in Turkish-speaking community members to teach Turkish history, music, dance, and other expressive forms of Turkish culture. We will have a small student to teacher ratio (20:2) and will use a co-teaching model, meaning that we will have 2 teachers for the classroom with expertise in the Turkish language, history, music, or art. In this way, students will be able to have small group instruction in Turkish based on their level of language proficiency.
UCLA Center for World Languages (teacher)
Heritage Language Teacher Workshop
In today’s “foreign” language classes, teachers are faced with many students who are heritage language speakers. For these students, the target language is not foreign, but rather a home language whose development was interrupted by a switch to English. A typical heritage learner has grown up hearing the language and begins classroom instruction with measurable oral and aural proficiency but with few literacy skills. This workshop is designed to help language teachers better understand the differences between L2 and HL learners, and learn how to differentiate curriculum to address the range of skill levels present in HL classes. Participants will explore ways to design their own curriculum and select materials and assessment tools. They will learn how to start where the students are and involve them as ACTIVE participants in the learning process. 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 teaching and promoting heritage language instruction in their own departments, institutions, and districts. The goal for the workshop is to develop a cohort of language teachers who will be leaders and mentors in heritage language instruction.
