Advocacy Email - February 9, 2007To: Advocacy Email List of the Washington State Coalition for International Education The WAFLT (Washington Association for Language Teaching) Outreach Committee has just been notified that HB1517 is scheduled for a public hearing in the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, February 14, 2007 3:30 PM. This is a very significant step, as the bill includes a fiscal note to fund at full-time position for World Languages Supervisor at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. The bill also includes grant money for funding pilot programs in World Languages. Please consider coming to Olympia to give testimony if you possibly can. (If you've never done this before, it's a real lesson in civics.) If you can't come, please take the time to contact members of the House Appropriations Committee to request their support. Share your own story about why it is so important for us to prepare our students for today's interconnected world. See: http://internationaledwa.org/involved/advocacy.htm House Bill 1517 - Enhancing public school world language instruction.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1517 2007 Regular Session Actions
This bill would establish a full-time staff position at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to serve as world languages supervisor. It enumerates 10 duties to be fulfilled by the position. It proposes funding pilot projects at the elementary and middle school levels, including a dual language enrichment program in a major Asian language. Action Needed Now (as of 2/9/2007)
Here is the testimony I gave February 2, 2007 before the House Education Committee on HB1517: Members of the House Education Committee: My name is Michele Anciaux Aoki. I am here today on behalf of the Washington State Coalition for International Education, the Washington Association for Language Teaching, and the thousands of school children in our state who are being denied the opportunity to gain the skills they will need to thrive in the global reality of the 21st century. Thank you for the opportunity to address your committee today. I am here to ask you to support HB1517 Enhancing public school world language instruction. This is an apt title for this bill. If there was ever an area of academics that needed enhancing in our state, it would be world languages. World languages are the only academic area systematically left out of Washington's education reform effort that began in 1993. Fourteen years is a long time to sit on the sidelines and wait for your turn. Since 1993, the world has changed considerably. We have experienced 9/11, the Global War on Terror, and the Iraq War, not to mention the World Wide Web and the rise of China as an economic powerhouse. Recognizing the growing importance of China as a trading partner with our state, the Washington State Coalition for International Education last January organized an International Education Leadership Summit with the co-sponsorship of the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle, the Washington Council on International Trade, and Associates in Cultural Exchange, focusing on the question of how to expand Chinese Language Capacity in this state. The business participants challenged educators to imagine what would it take to have 10% of Washington students learning Chinese by 2015. In our Summit Report, we outlined a series of recommendations relating to preparing qualified Chinese language teachers, increasing the number and quality of school programs, and developing effective and innovative curriculum and assessments. The key recommendation, however, was for the Legislature to fund a full-time position at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to support World Languages and International Education. Now you have the opportunity to act on this priority articulated by key business leaders in our state. But it is not just business leaders who are making this request. In 2004, the International Education Coalition worked with OSPI and the Washington Association for Language Teaching to carry out the first World Language Survey in the state to capture a snapshot of what languages are taught where. Question 6 on the survey asked: "What role do you think OSPI, WAFLT, or other professional organizations should play in supporting world language education in Washington?" Let me share with you just a few of the comments from the schools that participated in this survey:
In summary, there is no single step that would be more beneficial to enhancing world language opportunities in our public schools than reestablishing the full-time position of World Languages Supervisor at OSPI. Thank you. Get InvolvedTo build strong grassroots advocacy for internationalizing education K-12 (K-20 even!), please invite your friends and colleagues to sign on to the advocacy@internationaledwa.org listserv. To subscribe to the listserv, they can complete the Get Involved Form: http://internationaledwa.org/forms/get_involved.htm. ____________________________________ Washington State Coalition for International Education http://internationaledwa.org/involved/advocacy.htm For questions or to unsubscribe, contact: action@internationaledwa.org. |