This was our plan:
Homework: Read the attached article. Or click HERE to read it online.
Pay special attention to the author's point #5:
(excerpted here:)
5. The world is much more open, and events abroad affect the lives of Americans more than ever before. This makes it essential that the educational experience breed cosmopolitanism — that students have international experiences, and classes in the social sciences draw on examples from around the world. It seems logical, too, that more in the way of language study be expected of students. I am not so sure.
English’s emergence as the global language, along with the rapid progress in machine translation and the fragmentation of languages spoken around the world, make it less clear that the substantial investment necessary to speak a foreign tongue is universally worthwhile. While there is no gainsaying the insights that come from mastering a language, it will over time become less essential in doing business in Asia, treating patients in Africa or helping resolve conflicts in the Middle East.
In Meeting:
This article presents a particular world view. Whether you agree with this or not, (and there are certainly criticisms to this position) the reality is that the world is changing quickly as are assumptions and perceptions about language study. We suspect that most of us see it as more valuable than this author.
Our essential question for the next 90 minutes is:
What are the things that our 6-12 language program needs to do in order to be as relevant as possible in the development and lives of our students? How do we want to define language learning for our students?
Here are our tasks:
1. (15 minutes)
What are the essential elements of our language program?
What do we want our students to be able to do/ know / understand when they leave our program?
2. (30 minutes)
Eliminate the current reality of our language program. Start from the ground up and redesign the ideal 6-12 vision. There are NO barriers. What should it look like? What would the "requirements" be? What would characterize our classes? Would there be classes?
3. (10 minutes)
In your group, design a presentation (3 minutes) of your new program to present to the board of trustees of Punahou School. Compel them to okay the change from the current reality to your vision.
4. Presentations and questions
This plan was sent to teachers prior to the meeting and the results were really exciting. Some folks came to the discussion with a detailed proposal to eliminate the middle school world language program as it is (5 different languages) and replace it with a multi-lingulal world cultures program in which all of the students would participate. Ideas about de-tracking, increasing emphasis on spoken communication and cross-cultural understanding emerged. Another recurring theme in the groups presentations was the essential role of travel and in-country living plays (or has played) in language acquisition. Teachers wondered together about the role of technology can play in facilitating cross-cultural exchanges and relationships.
It was a great day of thinking and wondering and imagining big. Now we have to figure out what things that we dreamed about make sense, and then just figure out how to get there. That should be as easy (but as much fun!) as Jet Skiing across the ocean.
