An Activity for Thinking About World Language Programs

On our curriculum day the other week our middle school and high school language departments had a rare joint meeting. It was such a fun chance to spend time with the educators across campus while thinking about our shared purpose and how do we move forward.



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.

Semester 2 goals (Spring 2012)

Having busy days and nights is what keeps me going.  My work is fun and diverse and some days I toggle between all of the different things too quickly to do my best job keeping track of what is essential.  So on the dawn of our second semester at school (my online course and PhD student second semesters already started, but better late than never) I am going to post some goals so I can remind myself of what is important every day. This is not exhaustive, of course-- just some things to focus on. Family is number one, and my students next; after that the order is less meaningful.



1) Family

• Don't look at my phone around my daughter unless it is looking at something with her
• Pack good lunches
• Appreciate my awesome husband

2) Being a Face-to-Face Teacher

• Be clear about expectations 
• Hold students accountable to the goals they or I set for them
• Give meaningful feedback about their work every cycle
• Be a caring but motivating teacher of second semester seniors

3) Being an online teacher

• See being a face-to face teacher and 
• Commit to meeting with each student for a half hour individual conference each week
• Be in touch with their families and home schools with good news at least every month

4) Being a Department Chair

• Update the department meeting agendas and dates for the semester prior to the first meeting 
• Support initiatives of individual teachers or sub departments by making connections with resources around school 
• Develop an annual report question that fosters discussion and thought around our curricular review
• Visit classrooms every cycle and write reflections to the teachers

5) Being a Summer School Director

• Find the best people to teach in the open positions and make all candidates feel good about the process of hiring
• Support new and wonderful staff as they transition into the school 
• Communicate clearly with other areas of the Academy and the school as the summer approaches
• Communicate well with families and students about their summer experience

6) Being a PhD student

• Complete the readings for the evening they are assigned (and at least gather the optional readings into Mendely, if not read them) 
• Keep my reading journal on this blog (search for the tag ETEC750D) 
• Continue connecting with scholars in my areas of interest
• Narrow down a dissertation topic (or range of possible questions) 
• Learn from my amazing classmates
• Submit one paper for publication or a conference

That's all, I guess.

(image from http://mikevial.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/plate-spinning.jpg)

Women Leaders: How?

Many cool ideas that I am exposed to these days comes from things my friends share on Facebook.  The other day I clicked on a link to a TED talk by Sheryl Sandberg (who happens to be the COO of Facebook) in which she describes three things for women to consider in terms of how their actions can keep them from taking on leadership roles.

1. Sit at the table:  She talks about how women can marginalize themselves physically and metaphorically in the workplace.  I found myself thinking about this the other day when I walked into a meeting in which I was a surrounded by "high ups" in the school.  Was I taking someone's seat?  Should I move to the end of the table?  Women, as Sandberg shares, tend to underestimate their abilities and so they can tend to marginalize themselves.  No need, sit at the table, and sit up tall.

2. Make your partner your TRUE partner: In relationships where both partners work full-time women end up doing twice the house work and three times the child care that their male partners do.  She talked about the deleterious effect that tis can have on women's perception of their work, and the quality too.  Makes sense.  And it made me think about how lucky I am in my relationship  in which my husband took on being a stay at home dad for our daughter's first two years.

3. Don't leave before you leave: If you are a young woman thinking about someday having kids, don't let that hope cause you to lean back or not take on things that are exciting and challenging to you.  Men who might some day want to have kids won't lean back and disengage from opportunities.

Sandberg based her talk on the reality of disproportionately low numbers of women leaders in all fields despite the fact that women make up half of the population and more than half of current college students.  Sandberg is not suggesting that women are to blame for the dearth of female leaders, but I was energized by the fact that she presents the situation and then gives three actionable items that we can consider to effect change and model true equality for our daughters' generation.  And she gets the challenges, she has two little kids.  A mom, a leader, a thinker- awesome.