Programs for STARTALK Teachers of Critical Languages

Second Language and Immersion Methodologies for STARTALK Teachers of Critical Languages Grades K- 16
Dates: June 23-July 3, 2020 *pending federal funding   
Location: Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minnesota

"The combination of people gathered was extremely rich. The mix of cultures and languages was just amazing!"

"The course exceeded my expectations. I got so many ideas as an instructor/teacher."

"Everything about the content of the course was meaningful and applicable in the classroom."

"I learned so much by observing what happens at CLV and talking with the teachers there."

Second Language and Immersion Methodologies for STARTALK Teachers of Critical Languages is a 11-day residential program designed for a total of 16 K-12 teachers of critical languages*. The participants enhance their understanding of best practices in teaching language through classroom-based discussion and active participation in language-learning groups and activities at Concordia Language Villages. Class discussions focus on immersion methodology and current research on second language acquisition. Through assigned readings and presentations, participants increase their understanding of current theoretical bases for second language acquisition, instruction, and assessment. The immersion model of instruction observed at the Villages is compared to second language instructional principles and helps participants define their personal instructional philosophy. Participants create lesson and unit plans that reflect experiences at the Villages and are based on the World-Readiness Standards. The major instructional themes include:

• the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages and how they are reflected in curriculum, instruction and assessment in the language classroom;
• comparison of immersion and second language methodologies with special emphasis on content-based instruction;
• integration of culture in lesson and unit planning;
• differentiation of instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners;
• Standards-based performance assessment. Participants reside at Bemidji State University and make daily trips to Concordia Language Villages. 

This 11-day course offers four graduate credits. It may be taken as a stand-alone course or as a part of the Master of Education in World Language Instruction program.

Location

The STARTALK Teachers of Critical Languages program takes place on the campus of Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minn. Participants live in Linden Suites, a residential hall on the university campus. All meals are prepared by Concordia Language Villages kitchen staff and served family style at the Newman Center on the university campus. Most special dietary restrictions can be accommodated to meet the needs of individual participants.

Dates

June 23-July 3 *pending federal funding

Participants should plan to arrive in Bemidji by late afternoon/early evening of Tuesday, June 23, to allow time to check-in at Linden Suites on the BSU campus. We will have a welcome dinner at 6 p.m. Note: the first official day of class will be Wednesday, June 24.

The last full day of the program will be Friday, July 3. Program participants should plan to leave Bemidji on Saturday, July 4. 

If you have further questions regarding this program, please contact Brandon Locke at blocke@cord.edu.

Critical languages include Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Urdu.