Pascale Abadie, OFLA Recruitment and Retention Chair Associate Professor, Wright State University
Learners cannot learn French only because they want to become a chef in France. In order to learn proficiently, it is necessary to know how the French live, what their beliefs are, and what they stand for. Knowing and understanding those points will allow learners to get a new perspective on the language, facilitating the learning process. Culture and humor are not the only tools available today to increase language learning; images are also a key point, and comic books offer a visual clue on what a word means. Topics from different comics, will lead to valuable discussions, involving not only giving one’s opinions but defending it as well. Learning a foreign language goes past memorizing words and basic grammar rules, learning and understanding the culture is essential.
Ryan Wertz and Kathy Shelton, Education Specialists for World Languages and Cultures Ohio Department of Education
Credit Flexibility
In this installment of Around the State, we’d like to focus on the topic of credit flexibility, or “credit flex,” as it is more commonly known. Ohio law requires each school district and community school to adopt a credit flexibility policy which complies with the state plan to award units of high school credit based upon a demonstration of subject area competency or learning expectations. The outcomes of this provision of the law are clear:
Students can demonstrate what they already know for course credit and move on to higher-order content they are ready to learn and have not yet mastered; and
Students can learn subject matter and earn course credit in ways not limited solely to “seat time” or the walls of a school building.
Alondra Pacheco, AATSP OH Buckeye President Spanish Teacher, University School, Hunting Valley
AATSP is committed to support its members nationwide. With ever-expanding programs, AATSP seeks to provide its members with professional development opportunities and to spotlight its members’ successes.
Registration for the National Spanish Exam, the National Spanish Challenge, and the National Portuguese Exam will end on February 10. Teachers and students who take the NSE are eligible for a shoutout on NSE’s social media platforms. If you know a colleague or a student who deserves recognition, please send a nomination to NSE. Also, don’t forget to apply for AATSP Annual Awards. Winners will be recognized at the 105th Annual Conference in Salamanca, Spain. The deadline for the Kevin Cessna-Buscemi Global Citizenship Scholarship is due on February 12.
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Dr. Roger Anderson, Assistant Professor of International Languages & Cultures Central State University
*Views expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of OFLA.
Who are the people at the US-Mexico border, and what languages do they speak? After one week of volunteering at the southern border, I can provide some snapshots to my fellow language instructors.
Brownsville, Texas is separated from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico only by the Rio Grande River that snakes through both cities.
The Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) with whom I was volunteering provide basic sanitary kits, snack bags, legal documents to complete, and whatever clothes and shoes were in supply. Most importantly, I suspect, they offer a kind face along with a simple orientation.
Arisandy, Department of English, Kent State University
Editor’s note: Articles appearing in The Cardinal are not peer reviewed and only edited for grammar, spelling, and message.
Introduction
Table 1. Information about the target learners of ‘in order to’
Target learner
Middle school students
First language
Indonesian
Age range
15-16
Grade
9
Proficiency
Novice high – Intermediate low
In 9th grade, students need to be able to use more complicated forms of language. One of the targeted competencies is to use phrases and clauses of English (Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 2018). Regarding nouns and verb phrases, the students need to be able to produce basic sentences with proper form, use, and meaning of the phrases in the sentences. In the level of clauses, the students need to understand and use the main and subordinating clauses in complex sentences. According to Engelkamp and Rummer (2002), “syntactic factors serve to transport meaning” (p. 354). When the students deal with a complex sentence, they have to be aware that the selection of the subordinating conjunction determines the semantic aspect of the sentence. For example, “I will come to your party because you invite me” means more like reasoning than conditioning because of the subordinating conjunction ‘because’. When we change the subordinating conjunction ‘because’ into ‘if,’ the meaning will be conditioning and reasoning. Therefore, seeing the important needs for this knowledge, students should be taught to properly use subordinating conjunctions in many domains.
THE BENEFITS OF INCORPORATING SONGS IN L2 CLASSROOMS
Maha Azzazi IELP Instructor, The University of Findlay
Editor’s note: Articles appearing in The Cardinal are not peer reviewed and only edited for grammar, spelling, and message.
Connecting sociocultural and cognitive approaches in teaching L2 literacy can be done by implementing songs as a pedagogical tool in the L2 lesson structure. This connection will ultimately benefit the L2 learning development (Davis, 2011). Using songs and music in an L2 classroom, as Shin (2017) and Davis (2011) state, is one of the best ways to incorporate language learning pedagogy that increases motivation, scaffolding, and meaning by culturally connecting the learning environment (Samar & Dehqan 2012). In addition, practicing responsive language techniques can benefit vocabulary recall and the development of the L2 sentence structure, grammar and improve the metacognitive process for L2 learners (Giouroukakis & Honigsfeld, 2010; Abbot, 2011; Werner, 2011; Davis, 2011; Stygles 2013; Shin 2017). Werner (2018) correlated the connection between learning from physical experience and the brain’s cognitive processing of information. This relationship is also embodied in language learning, where students can relate meaning to the teachers’ physical gestures and have better memorization in connecting such gestures (Werner, 2018). Similarly, it will be beneficial if songs accompany L2 teaching with hands-on activities and body movements, especially when teaching young L2 learners (Shin, 2017). Davis (2011) also emphasizes the role of gestures when teaching language through songs. As he highlighted in his study, combining songs and teaching with total physical responses (TPR) helps to enhance learning and vocabulary recall in L2 learners. Students could connect certain gestures to the meaning of words, and making this connection helped them associate words and sentence structure with movement to the song (Davis, 2011; Shin, 2017).
Marlene Bassil Spanish Teacher, Cardinal Mooney High School & Kent State University Adjunct Faculty
As a language teacher I believe the awareness of inclusion and diversity is a vital part of a learning curriculum and should be implemented throughout the classroom. Students at Cardinal Mooney High School have been carrying out these practices for many years. Especially in the Foreign Language Department, students have been given the opportunity of a lifetime to travel abroad to countries such as Costa Rica, Spain, Italy, and France. While traveling, they were able to get a first-hand experience of the cultural shifts among these diverse countries. Students also went to cities such as Cleveland and Pittsburgh to attend Latin-American Cultural Folkloric performances from 22 countries. As they continue experiencing more diverse cultures and getting more involved, students become more aware of the traditions, celebrations, and holidays from other Hispanic cultures. By embracing diversity within the classroom environment, students feel inspired to continue learning a language and will be more prepared for the exciting challenges of today’s diverse society.
Re-envisioning projects to increase engagement and highlight student talent.
Tricia Becker Spanish Teacher, Lakota West High School
Are you a fan of a restaurant with a large menu or a food truck with 3 items to choose from? In the language classroom, there is a balanced way to provide students with options in how they demonstrate their learning while still not overwhelming them with too large of a menu. Student choice is a valuable way to increase student engagement in high school, which is notably the most likely time that students become disinterested. The first and hardest step in doing this is to let go of the notion that all of the products created by students will be uniform and easy to assess. Once you’ve released that control, set the students free and watch creativity bloom!
Hind Haddad Arabic Teacher, International Academy of Columbus
Teaching world languages and cultures is a vital part of schools’ courses. Ohio’s schools have recently witnessed a huge demand for Arabic, one of the main languages in the world. With the increase in Ohio’s Arab population and 50% increase in native Arabic speakers (ODE), parents are empowered by choosing schools that fit their cultural needs. Therefore, the demand for the Arabic language has increased.
One of the world language elements to teach is culture. In Arabic, it becomes more important to teach the culture, because understanding the cultural context of the Arabic language will lead to understanding the language. Gaining comprehensive skills in Arabic is related directly to Middle Eastern culture. In schools, the cultural element of any language should be taught by simplifying it to the students’ level, especially elementary and middle schoolers. According to one of the ACTFL 2016 studies, students who had the opportunity to be exposed to cultural content related to a foreign language performed better than students who learn languages without cultural contexts. In addition, teachers are supposed to simplify the complex cultural concepts according to the students’ backgrounds, age, and areas of interest. For example, teaching elementary students using hands-on activities about food or clothes in Arabic will be helpful to them to relate the language in its context. Teachers can choose aspects from Arabic that are likely to catch the students’ attention to make the learning process relevant and relatable.
Paulina Montaldo Spanish Teacher, Ursuline High School, Spanish Teacher Adjunct Faculty, Youngstown State University
A beautiful dragon decorates the hallway of the Department of Modern Languages at Ursuline High School in Youngstown, Ohio. We celebrate the Chinese New Year, despite not offering the language, to enrich ourselves by learning about the extraordinary Chinese culture. Before the Covid pandemic, our school had a group of exchange students from China who attended our school during the school year. The program has been discontinued for now, but we still have several local Asian families who send their children to our school. As it has always been in our interest that students learn about different cultures as a way to encourage them to respect diversity whatever it may be, we celebrate Chinese New Year. We started by decorating with Chinese lanterns that we made ourselves. The instructions for folding and cutting the paper gave us the opportunity to review formal and informal commands. Despite this being the year of the rabbit, we check the Chinese calendar so as not to forget the names of all the animals. We were lucky enough to enjoy a very delicious Chinese meal provided by the parents of a student who owns a restaurant in the city of Youngstown. It was fun to watch the students learn how to handle chopsticks.
The Cardinal 