Obama on Languages

Have a look at a quote Marcy Web put online on her blog.

Here is a famous quote, by then-Presidential candidate Barack Obama, from the campaign trail:


Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that. But understand this. Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English — they’ll learn English — you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about, how can your child become bilingual? We should have every child speaking more than one language.

You know, it’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe, and all we can say [is], “Merci beaucoup.” Right?

You know, no, I’m serious about this. We should understand that our young people, if you have a foreign language, that is a powerful tool to get a job. You are so much more employable. You can be part of international business. So we should be emphasizing foreign languages in our schools from an early age, because children will actually learn a foreign language easier when they’re 5, or 6, or 7 than when they’re 46, like me.

Go to the blog to see more discussion and reaction.

Archived IYL Online Seminars

The sound and visuals archives of the first 2008 Year of Languages Online Seminars are available (as Adobe Connect archives). Give each a full minute to establish.

Are we entitled to be optimistic about languages education? Joe Lo Bianco, Melbourne University, 16 April 2008 "Over-enthused and under-prepared: pre-service languages teachers in the spotlight." Lesley Harbon, Sydney University, 14 May 2008 Accelerative Integrated Method Oj Rugins, Jenny McKinney and Tim Girard, 11 June 2008 "Primary school languages - our primary failing." Matthew Absalom, University of Melbourne, 26 June 2008 Australian Languages Education: What is happening at national level?" Lia Tedesco, School of Languages, South Australia, and President of the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations (AFMLTA), 19 June 2008 "I absolutely believe in languages teaching but I'm not doing it anymore." Tina, Sunshine Coast and Ella, Melbourne, 9 September 2008

Endangered languages

When time permits we will take up again our online seminar series for languages teachers. In the meantime, have a look at this NEWSWEEK article Say it loud, say it proud. It describes a film documentary called "The Linguists," a PBS documentary airing on Feb. 26 2009 in the USA. It's about "Swarthmore professor K. David Harrison and Gregory Anderson of the Living Tongues Institute, who travel from Siberia to India to Bolivia hoping to document obscure languages before they disappear for good. As they go, it becomes clear that their mission is about more than words. Every two weeks, one of the world's 7,000 languages vanishes; most belong to indigenous communities that have been stamped out and homogenized by colonialists."

Update 10 May 2009 Lingua Franca of 9 May 2009 has the startling news that new languages are being discovered or uncovered in China even now, even as 516 of the 6909 known living languages are in danger of imminent extinction. 'New' languages 'discovered' in China Of the 83 new entries listed in the latest edition of Ethnologue, the authoritative compendium of the world's languages, 30 were 'found' in China and contributed by surveying linguists led by David Bradley of La Trobe University, Australia.

Breeze retires; Connect takes over

I have to apologize. My university operates the old Macromedia Breeze until next week when we move to its upgrade incarnation, Adobe Connect. However Breeze is no longer accessible to everyone who has upgraded to Flash 10 on their computer. (Took me some effort to get an older Flash re-installed on my home computer.) This has led to our two advertised sessions on Process Drama and AIM being delayed. Will advertise a.s.a.p. when we are ready to roll. Enjoy our archives in the meantime. Oh, have a look at MAAYA, the worldnetwork for linguistic diversity at http://www.maaya.org/ It is still being established but seems like the kind of "people action" we need, not sitting around waiting on government bureaucracies. You may also like to read Prof. Michael Clyne's recent article A linguist's vision for multicultural Australia November 18, 2008. Salut salam shalom Phil

Erika Piazzoli - Process Drama and L2

Erika Piazzoli has been collecting data while running a 7 week course at Griffith University using the Process Drama methodology with 3rd year L2 Italian students. She will present her results at 7.00 pm Qld time (8.00 AEST) on 12 November and give an online introduction to Process Drama for L2 teachers. Erika writes:

Process Drama is a strand of drama that emerged in the late 1980s and has become recognised as a tool to teach a variety of disciplines including history, art, geography and literature. More recently PD has been used as an approach to L2 teaching, with very promising results (See Kao & O'Neill, 1998, for research findings).

"PD falls under the humanistic teaching umbrella, promoting student's intrinsic learning and activating their own knowledge. It shares the key features of the communicative method, but it takes it a step further by providing a common thread to the role plays we tend to use in L2 teaching and injecting meaning into the scenarios, making them more authentic for the students. Personally, I believe there is great potential for PD in L2 acquisition."

I learned something about the related Experiential Drama in Tasmania years ago and that was wonderful. Teachers interested in the Accelerative Integrated Approach will find this illuminating too. Phil Mahnken

BTW "For those who came in late", there is a brief and swanky online animated tutorial called Attend your first Adobe Connect Pro meeting.

Wendy Maxwell, founder of AIM 22 - 23 Nov

Jen McKinney of Hearsay Learning Downunder [jenny@hearsaylearning.com] advises that Wendy Maxwell, the founder of the Accelerative Integrated Method (AIM) would be deligted to engage in discussion with Australian languages teachers on 22nd - 23rd November (that's Saturday and Sunday) so a change of time from our usual evening sessions. We must remember the time difference in Canada. Exact time and date to be confirmed soon. This is a great opportunity to speak directly with the person who has made a huge difference in successful learning of French in Canada, a country whose educational culture is quite similar to ours. Stay tuned.

Forthcoming in November - December

IYL Seminar on “Schools of languages”
Saturday and out-of-hours languages schools – unsung heroes
Lia Tedesco Denis Cunningham Michael Clyne Sydney Open High

IYL Seminar on School Principals with School Principals
Line them up against a wall? And teach them languages.
What do school principals think. Log on and listen to a brave bunch.

Comments on online live audio-conferencing

These seminars are a great idea! you can participate from the comfort of your own home - in your tracky dacks, sipping a nice red wine..... [Lia]	I'll confess to ugg boots... [Andrea]
"I like the idea of holding the meetings via this Breeze system because it's very family friendly and if for whatever reason you can't tune in you can always listen to the archive. Three cheers for technology!" [Angela]	"As I've said before, this kind of technology itself can be part of the solution for small enrolment classes - come and experience it."[Phil]

I believe but I'm not doing it anymore

IYL Online Seminars continue AT 19:30 AEST on 9 September with three teachers and the topic:

"I absolutely believe in languages teaching but I'm not doing it anymore." Please join us for an Adobe Connect online audio-conference on the problems and constraints that drive away from the profession some of those who love it most. Help us work out how to meet these challenges. Login as Guest at http://callisto.usc.edu.au/languages. No password needed. You need speakers-and-microphone or headset.
The correct archive address for 9 September seminar is
http://callisto.usc.edu.au/p52509402/ You may notice gaps in the recording later in the session - our Breeze system played up a bit. Apologies.

Languages Action Alliance GoogleMap

This map aims to acknowledge all the non-mainstream playgroups, community schools , bilingual schools, Saturday schools, Schools of Languages, adult education organisations and others that work to maintain or teach languages. Email Phil to add your placemarker. Find out more about the Languages Action Alliance and also at Bilingual Families


View Larger Map

Forum: preparing for the Asian century

Forum: preparing for the Asian century broadcast on Radio National program, Life Matters, and presented by Asia Education Foundation

The five year olds starting school this year will be at the peak of their working lives in 2040 when China and India are predicted to become the world's major economies.

So should their education reflect this reality? In this forum recorded at the recent Asia Education Forum in Adelaide, Richard Aedy discusses what new skills and knowledge Australian children will need to succeed. Also, how well prepared are our schools for teaching students the cultural literacy that could help them engage with our region.

Guests:
Malcolm Norris, Head of Exploration and New Business for Intrepid Mines
Professor Robin Jeffery, Director of the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at ANU
Kathy Kiting, Principal of Campbell Primary School in the ACT
Andrew Blair, President of the Australian Secondary Principals Assocation

Listen to or download the podcast (mp3) - highly recommended (about 55 minutes). The forum discusses languages education, not only Asian languages.

"A fresh Breeze is blowing...."

Phil Gorbett at I.T. advises that from July 14 "A fresh Breeze is blowing...." at the University of the Sunshine Coast. "Breeze is back up - we had an issue with an errant Microsoft service pack for the database. You should now have access to your meetings and archives." You can find links to all five archives below. I will start work on the ongoing presenter schedule very soon. News of a Languages Alliance

July break

For three reasons we are having a break in July. It's school holidays for some. Phil is off to Armidale and Sydney. And the server is having a break(down) too. So opportune time to relax, read Roland Sussex's article in the Courier Mail Monolingual Aussies left behind in international business of 28 June 2008. Or contemplate the speakers in the next half of the year including Wendy Maxwell, founder of the Canadian AIM system, Angela Scarino, Denis Cunningham and Lia Tedesco on 'Schools of Languages', and Erika Pazzoli on Process Drama. Erika writes:

Process Drama is a strand of drama that emerged in the late 80s and has become recognised as a tool to teach a variety of disciplines including history, art, geography and literature. More recently PD has been used as an approach to L2 teaching, with very promising results (See Kao & O'Neill, 1998, for research findings).

"PD falls under the humanistic teaching umbrella, promoting student's intrinsic learning and activating their own knowledge. It shares the key features of the communicative method, but it takes it a step further by providing a common thread to the role plays we tend to use in L2 teaching and injecting meaning into the scenarios, making them more authentic for the students. Personally, I believe there is great potential for PD in L2 acquisition."


I learned something about Experiential Drama in Tasmania years ago and that was wonderful. Erika says this is related. We are also collecting names of school principals willing to come discuss the fate of languages education from their point of view and to hear ours. Is yours game?

Impatience in the tone of these articles? Good!

Too few keen to speak in tongues
Language studies in Australia are still struggling to attract students, despite a Mandarin-speaking Prime Minister, writes Jill Rowbotham, June 25, 2008, in The Australian Higher Education section.
"THERE is a lot of talk about language programs in Australia, but the conversation does not appear to be going anywhere. Decades after it began, we remain solidly, some would say stolidly, monolingual." Read article

We are having a break from online seminars until late July so enjoy this article, send us links to others you see, peruse the archive links below and think about who and what would make great and useful seminars for the rest of the year. Our list of speakers, dates and topics should be up here soon.

Here's a video about Education Learning to Change-Changing to Learn you may wish to check out. I am a bit suspicious of this computer-world salesmanship even though I love muoltimedia and web-based languages learning possibilities. Someone mentions people "needing to be multi-disciplinary, multicultural, multilingual" in it. Only five minutes 36 seconds. Please post comments there or here.

Matthew Absalom - Primary school languages - our primary failing

Matthew Absalom, lecturer in Italian at the University of Melbourne, has advanced his thoughts on languages education in media articles over the last few years, most recently Languages: our primary failing by Matthew Absalom - 30/05/2008 on www.onlineopinion.com.au. See also Stop minding your language April 02, 2008 in the Australian.


On 26 June Matthew Topic will present "a critique on our approach to languages education in primary school, ie any old speaker will do, and anyway all they have to teach is numbers and colours. Primary school languages - our primary failing."


We believe there is the will and the opportunity to vastly improve languages education at all levels. The AFMLTA points out in its recent communication to the Federal Minister that the Commonwealth's current plans seem to focus instead on secondary schools only. Is this giving into those "jurisdictions" whose "insufficient commitment" is identified as a cause of the failure of current endeavours? Primary schooling is in the hands of state governments some of which truly dropped the languages ball during the Howard government's xenophobic and tight-fisted tenure. Come join in democratic debate (not bureaucratic obfuscating) with Matthew Absalom to celebrate the International Year of Languages 2008.
ARCHIVE OF MATTHEW ABSALOM ON PRIMARY LANGUAGES http://callisto.usc.edu.au/p28091296/

19 June Online Seminar. Lia Tedesco: Developments on the National Scene

The next IYL Online Seminar will be led by Lia Tedesco "Australian Languages Education: What is happening at national level?"


19.30 AEST 19 June 2008

Lia Tedesco, Principal of the School of Languages in South Australia, President of the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations (AFMLTA) for the last several years and closely involved with the eight National Projects which aimed to implement the National Strategy and Plan for Languages in Australia. Tune in via http://callisto.usc.edu.au/languages. Lia is that combination of acutely informed policy administrator, passionate languages teacher and tireless networker. For the latest developments, there is no better source. See Lia Tedesco's recent article Languages education in Australia in 2008 in Curriculum Leadership Volume 6 Issue 18. The archive for Lia's address is at http://callisto.usc.edu.au/p33901877/

11 June Online Seminar: Oj Rugins on the Accelerative Integrated Method (AIM)

This IYL Online Seminar will be held at 7.30 pm AEST on 11 June 2008. The first presenter will be Ojar Rugins who teaches French at Eumundi and Cooroy State Primary Schools in Queensland, Australia. Oj will report on his use of the Accelerative Integrated Method (AIM) originating in Canada and the reactions of his upper primary school students during the last year. Jen McKinney from Melbourne and Tim Girard from Brisbane will demonstrate some of the famous "gestures" of this method. Jen's enthusiasm about this approach is enough to make us all rush to enrol in her classes. For a two page explanation of this incredibly successful approach, also called the Gesture Method, see the founder's Theoretical Perspective on the Program The Accelerative Integrated Method - A holistic approach to the teaching of French as a second language by Wendy Maxwell. This method is really winning over parents, not just students. Have a quick read. Languages teachers, teacher educators, pre-service teachers, parents, all interested are welcome to logon and practise the Adobe Connect system before the 11 June via http://callisto.usc.edu.au/languages.

The 11 June AIM archive (Oj Rugins, Jenny McKinney and Tim Girard) http://callisto.usc.edu.au/p63699123/

National conference for AIM

There will be a National conference for AIM - The Gesture Approach to learning 2nd Languages held in Melbourne at Ivanhoe Girls' Grammar, on the 4th and 5th September 2008. Teachers from all States, NZ and Singapore are attending. Info courtesy of Jenny McKinney at www.hearsaylearning.com or www.aimlanguagelearning.com
Pour vous qui comprennent le Francais, va a radio-canada.ca. Vous serez convaincus.

The education of languages teachers

Listen to and view the archive of our latest audio-conference on 14 May when Lesley Harbon of Sydney University presented "Over-enthused and under-prepared: pre-service languages teachers in the spotlight." Lively discussion followed. [Give the archive a full minute to load.] This is the future of the languages teaching profession at stake. In 1996 an investigation into 'Languages Other than English teacher supply and quality' produced a report for the Federal government entitled "Language teachers: The Pivot of Policy" (available as pdf). Sound analysis; sound recommendations. Then we went into the decade of decline. Now a brand new “Review of Teacher Education for Languages Teachers” has been handed to government (available as pdf - link at bottom of page). Is this the same old policy cycle, or is there hope of real action and results in languages teaching and learning?

Languages at school

Languages at school special feature articles for May at OnlineOpinion.com.au Languages: our primary failing by Matthew Absalom - 30/05/2008 - 12 comments Languages and music: natural partners in education by Stephen Crabbe - 29/05/2008 Multilingualism and multiculturalism by Karen Woodman - 28/05/2008 - 8 comments Squandered worlds by Nicholas Ostler - 23/05/2008 - 20 comments Repairing languages education by Phillip Mahnken - 16/05/2008 - 27 comments Languages at school by Jane Orton - 15/05/2008 - 4 comments Reversing the trend by Peter Jones - 13/05/2008 Ignorant of the fact of being ignorant by Paul Doolan - 12/05/2008 - 39 comments What’s the point of teaching languages? by Brian Manning - 12/05/2008 - 18 comments Tapping the reservoir: languages at school by Joe Lo Bianco - 9/05/2008 - 8 comments A universal language by Henriette Vanechop - 8/05/2008 - 15 comments A world of understanding by Claudia Mainard - 7/05/2008 - 28 comments Language learning by Penny Vos - 6/05/2008 - 17 comments

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