Next Meeting: October 25, 2005 10:30-11:30 at UW Language Learning Center (Denny Hall 108)
Present
UW: Klaus Brandl, Paul Aoki, Hedwige Meyer;
Washington State Coalition for International Education:
Michele Anciaux Aoki, Marie-Pierre Koban, Martine Koban
Goal of the Symposium
To provide a forum for dialogue among educators, administrators, college faculty and students, parents, and community groups about the value of providing early language learning opportunities for children and the implications to our educational systems K-12 through higher ed when more students are learning more languages earlier and longer.
Some specific questions to consider:
- What are the hidden benefits to beginning language learning early?
- What does it take to offer early language learning in the schools?
- Language acquisition and language learning -- where do they intersect?
- What can parents do to give their children the benefits of early language learning experiences?
Draft Agenda
Note: Some speakers have not been confirmed yet.
9:00 Registration and morning refreshments
9:30 Welcome -- John Keeler, Director of UW Jackson
School West European Center and Chair of French & Italian Department
(Hedwige will confirm)
9:35 Keynote speaker(s)
10:20 Interactive activity to see who the participants are and
to help introduce each other
(Idea: Divide the participants into language
groups (language they don't know) and teach them to say "My name is..."
in that language. Go around the room and everyone introduces themselves
in the language they just learned.)
10:40 The Hidden Benefits of Early Language Learning
Moderator: Michele or volunteer?) Panel: Parents with their children who
have been raised in a bilingual/bicultural environment:
- Klaus and Carmina Brandl (14) (German and Spanish)
- Paul and Natalya Aoki (17) (Japanese, plus other languages)
- Marie-Pierre & Martine Koban & Isabel (13) and Amelia (11)
(three generations of French) - Hedwige & Richie Meyer (15)
11:30 Language Learning for Heritage Speakers
- Galina Zakashanskaya (Russian)
- Hussein Elkhafaifi (Arabic)
- Maria Gillman (Spanish at UW) (Klaus will invite her)
12:00-1:30 LUNCH BREAK (on your own on the Ave)
1:30 Where Language Acquisition Meets Language Learning (??)
- Brief keynote by Dr. Julia Herschensohn, Chair of Linguistics
(Hedwige will invite her)
2:00 Beyond Colors and Numbers: Global Passport to Culture-Based Language Learning
- Jennifer Geist, Global Passport and iEARN
- Hiromi Pingry, Japanese Immersion teacher at John Stanford International School (Michele will invite her)
2:30 Exploring Models for Early Language Learning and Managing Expectations. Michele Anciaux Aoki, Washington State Coalition for International Education with help...
3:00 How do we make this happen? Break-out sessions for:
- Language instructors and teachers
- School administrators and principals
- Parents and PTAs
- Community Organizations
Each breakout with have a leader/facilitator. We can sort out whether it's better to do these as break-outs or as a combined session -- perhaps depending on space.
4:00 Closing words by Paul K. Aoki, Ph.D., Director of the UW Language Learning Center.
Some notes from our conversation
We talked about how to share the "hidden advantages" that Early Language Learning brings. In other words, fluency or becoming bilingual may not be achieved, but the invisible benefits will be there.
- They have an openness to learning new things (in general), but especially to seeing new cultures
- They don't see our borders as confining. They want to travel and meet other people. They realize we can't function like this (in our box of isolation) anymore.
- They expect to have larger circle of friends from outside their own school or city.
- They understand their own country in greater depth because they can understand the concept of "culture." (You have to "get outside yourself" to see yourself; otherwise your culture is invisible to you.)
- They easily pick up a third and fourth language. They know how to learn languages and can take ownership of their own learning.
- They get along better with people because they have the skill to negotiate meaning.
- They develop cultural competence at an early age.
Another issue is how to manage parents' (and administrators') expectations. It would be good to have a panel from John Stanford International School and Puesta del Sol, for example, to really talk about what the students' language looks like after 1, 2, 3, 4, 5+ years. Good to get a student who graduated from high school in Bellevue with 12 year Spanish immersion experience.
Logistics and Planning
Location
University of Washington Denny Hall, Room 216
Enter at 17th Ave NE entrance. Park in N4 or N5. Denny is the oldest
building on campus, with the large bell tower. Parking is FREE on
holidays.
Note: If registrations exceed the space available there, we may need to
look for an alternative location.
Outreach
- Flyers to WAFLT (Washington Association For Language Teaching) Conference Oct 13-15 in Spokane (Michele)
- Flyers to Social Studies conference in Edmonds Oct 15
- Posters (about 40 in color) to post around campus (Hedwige)
- Emails to News and Coalition listservs on Coalition
- Link on OSPI website (maybe email to principals?)
- Other?
We'll use http://internationaledwa.org for planning notes. When we have a web page ready with final information and agenda, we'll host that on the UW Language Learning Center website. On that website, we should include links to Reading Lists for parents and teachers.
Registration
We will handle online registration with a web form on http://internationaledwa.org. We won't have a registration fee, but we'll invite participants to consider making a donation of $10 or more on the day of event (check made out to Friends of LLC).
Videoconferencing and Streaming Video?
We may use the videoconferencing capability of Language Learning Center Denny 109 for part of the symposium -- both for videoconferencing (if anyone wants to connect elsewhere in the state) and later to post to the web in streaming video.
Clock Hours
Should look for way to offer clock hours (free, if possible), for teachers. (Michele will contact Caleb about this.)
Food
See if we can get funding for coffee and muffins in the morning. Klaus had leftover plates and cups from previous lectures. Leave time for people to go to the Ave for lunch on their own (or perhaps reserve some group space in some restaurants).
Budget
- Poster/Flyer printing -- about $200 (LLC can print)
- Refreshments -- about $100
(Hedwige will request support from John Keeler)
No honoraria, etc. Everything is pretty much in-kind.