World Languages Education

"Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding." - Stephen Krashen

Professional Development Resources and Events

World Language Learning Resources

Common Core Standards and Disciplinary Literacy:

ACTFL has published an extremely helpful document that spells out very clearly how world language education addresses reading, writing, speaking, and listening. You can view and download that document here.

Questions about disciplinary literacy can also be directly answered through this document. The DPI has defined disciplinary literacy as follows:

“In Wisconsin, disciplinary literacy is defined as the confluence of content knowledge, experiences, and skills merged with the ability to read, write, listen, speak, think critically and perform in a way that is meaningful within the context of a given field.”

The ACTFL alignment document shows how this definition applies to world language education. The current focus on disciplinary literacy is a natural continuation of what the world language education field has been working on since the publication of national and state standards in 1996 (national) and 1998 (state).

Teacher Effectiveness: The “TELL Project – Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning” provides excellent “ I can…” statements for world language teachers. These can be used by individual teachers for self-monitoring and improvement as well as by school and district world language departments as a professional development tool.

ECB World Language Assessment: Get in the Mode!
This on-demand video series, produced by the Educational Communications Board, introduces viewers to the goals, practice and results of standards-based performance assessment of world language learning. Each episode, filmed in Wisconsin classrooms, highlights key elements of the assessment process. The series website includes professional development guides, a discussion forum and teacher resources. New approaches to assessment are transforming the world language teaching and learning experience in Wisconsin. Congratulations to ECB, Wisconsin Public Television and Wisconsin educators involved in this project.

Wisconsin Association for Language Teachers
Visit the WAFLT website to learn more about Language Educator Development E-Learning (LEDE) Modules, Wisconsin LinguaFolio, Public Relations, and the PDP Partnership and Mentoring Programs.

For more information, contact:  

Gerhard Fischer or phone: (608) 267-9265
FAX: (608) 266-1965

Last updated on 5/11/2012 1:28:41 PM