Meeting 17 • 29 May 2012 • Tuesday

Version:
5/31/12

People (√ = present; strikeout = absent; e+strikeout = excused absence): √Fischer; eChapman; eChoate; Couture; Hinsinger; Hunter; Idrissi; Looney; Moore

(X') = anticipated time in minutes (to total 100 minutes + 10-minute break)
(0001) etc.=item in document collection (will be explained in class)
Key to notes added AFTER the class meets:
√ = topic / activity that was adequately dealt with during the class
+ = topic was begun but needs more attention & will be resumed at next / subsequent meeting(s)
- = a topic / activity that was proposed but not carried out - will be taken up later
Struckthrough text like this = a topic / activity that was proposed but is not going to be taken up after all
Italic green text like this = comments after the meeting
Week 9: More about the projects; special presentations; further examples

new materials:
handout: PPS Standards (0010), p. 45, example of language levels; McCoy (2012 CIBER Conference) "Designing Effective TBI for the Business Language Classroom"; 0436 (on CBI disk) "Mathematics in Partial Immersion", p. 4; Gullah creole, African language influences on English, and rice cultivation in the American coastal South, from The Secret Life of Words, by Henry Hitchings (NY: FSG, 2008), pp. 302-3; draft abstract of 2011 (unused) proposal for CFDA 84.016A grant

upcoming reading: 0070 Olsen, "A Plea to Graduate Departments"; 0056 "Reaching for PASS: Proficiencies, Indicators, Experiences, Assessment"

√

(05') warmup: "My most difficult subject in school, and why it was difficult for me." We listed at least half a dozen factors that hindered our learning.

+

(30') Discussion of projects - hope people have brought something to the table; importance of a concept of curriculum and of developing specific stages of a larger activity

I haven't forgotten the request for videos of CBI in action.

+

(20') The discussion we have been putting off about the @#$% rice cultivation / science ed articles (0725, 0082). If necessary, collect basic info (plenary, small groups) from people who have read the articles. Possibly divide into two groups to outline units for STEM (see 0436 on disk / handout) & social studies. Relation to Reaching for PASS (1995) project, model thematic unit / course about "Discovery / Encounter". At the next meeting I'll finish the topic (off) in fewer than 10 minutes.

(10') Break: Go get your coffee or your snack.

+

(15') The modest proposal for an immodest culminating event of a subversive nature: What would we want to accomplish with our target audience? Maybe combine CBI empathy with this discussion by outlining, SpeakEasy style, the course of the gathering 30 minutes, actually, and a lot of progress

+

(10') just announced but long expected: a similar grant - US DOE CFDA 84.016A Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Programs RFP. See today's handout for draft abstract.

-

(15') If time (see next topic first): General discussion on what, if anything, languages can add to a person's/ citizen's/ nation's/ civilization/s education, cultivation, employability, pleasure, decency, hope for salvation. See below, paragraph beginning "I think we need a discussion…"

-

(5') If time: more about grants - COFLT Mini-grants; little/medium grants that might support the Humboldt Project or similar (see especially Wells Fargo)
Upcoming class meeting(s) (#18 • 31 May 2012)

1) Finish Stryker/Leaver

2) The culminating event: if we're doing it, then let's get on with the serious planning.

3) Proposed next major topic of general discussion: specific examples of CBI on the level of thematic units (=Project 2); suitable reading: 0176 Lear, "Spanish for Working Medical Professionals" & 0815 "Pet talk: To meet a growing demand, more veterinarians trying to learn Spanish" (example of missing the point: 0813, "Scrubbing In: It's critical to speak patient's language"; 0356 Bueno, "Creating Community…A Content-Based Approach" (art & film); 0436 Armengol, "Developing the Language of Mathematics"; 0115 "Designing a Standards-Based thematic Unit"; 0304 "Integrated Thematic Unit: House"; work samples 0707a, 0707b

There was some interest in the following areas, which will receive attention as time allows: the various content areas; literature; culture; changing the curriculum; business; grants.

4) Topics to be covered incidentally next week: charting your education as a professional language teacher; learning what employers want

Below here are notes for myself; read them at your peril!

grant info: ••PSU grants; ••small-/medium-scale external grants & a sample application; ••large-scale external grants & a sample application; ••conference ideas & sample proposals

••how to assess CBI activities (the projects; in general);

••Portland Public Schools "Recommendations for the Second Language Minimum Performance Standards" (#0010a)

••Drake

I think we need a discussion about what we (ourselves, our learners) want language teaching and learning to accomplish, so that we can examine the pros and cons of CBI (and other teaching methods or tools). Example: Some people prize language courses for what they contribute to the development of students' intellectual rigor (logic, clear thinking, understanding of system, rules, principles); such people may also say: "…especially Latin" or "…but of course they can get the same things from a stiff geometry course". To what extent is that view / goal compatible with CBI? What if the students' goal is to… [name several different goals]?
Upcoming assignment(s)

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