After years of foreign language study, shouldn't you be able to speak the language?

Why is it that some people learn to communicate in a 2nd language and some people do not? What makes the difference?

Often, learners blame themselves when they don't learn to speak the language--but is it really their fault?

What works? What doesn't?

NECTFL CONFERENCE

April 1 - 4, 2011 at theBaltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, Baltimore MD! GReat new venue, same great conference...SEE: Http://www2.dickinson.edu/prorg/nectfl/ for early bird registration

New York University Selects OWL Testing Software for Online Language Assessments

NYU-SCPS chooses OWL for Language Proficiency Assessments for Two Programs within its Division of Liberal Studies and Allied Arts

PITTSBURGH, PA (September 20, 2010) Visit the OWL pressroom to read the whole story.http://www.owlts.com/news/NYU_selects_OWL_Testing_Software.html

Google adds Latin to machine translation service

Latin becomes 58th supported by Google Translate and the first dead language in its repertoire

LONDON — Google has added Latin to its automatic translation service, the 58th language supported by Google Translate and the first dead language in its repertoire, it said on Thursday...

See following link for complete article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39441923/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets

Tough Work Begins for Race to Top Assessment Winners

Most States Part of Groups Winning Federal Grants

By Catherine Gewertz and Erik W. Robelen
Published online September 14, 2010, Education Week
Published in print, September 15, 2010, as U.S. Tests Awaiting Big Shifts

In a move that could reshape academic assessment in nearly every corner of the country, the U.S. Department of Education has awarded $330 million in grants to collaboratives of states to design better ways of measuring student learning....

See complete article at:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/09/15/03assess-update.h30.html?tkn=VPSF%2F3FkJfPKtTI3uCcr39T9K4%2B4evM0BDIe&cmp=clp-edweek

Raising the Bar

September 10, 2010

...A component of the National Security Education Program, housed at the U.S. Department of Defense -- a not-insignificant detail that has been the cause of some controversy – the Language Flagship has an immodest objective: “to change the way Americans learn languages.”

Indeed, the Language Flagship programs represent a significant shift in the model for foreign language education at American universities. Each curriculum is organized around a very clear and ambitious learning outcome: that students graduate at the Superior level on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages scale or with a score of 3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable scale (which spans from 0 to 5)....

For the complete article see http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/09/10/flagship

To raise the bar, it is necessary to assess students' proficiency at benchmark levels. OWL software makes it easy!

UTK Installs OWL Testing Software

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville Installs
OWL Testing Software for English Speaking Proficiency Testing

PITTSBURGH, PA (July 20, 2010) – The University of Tennessee at Knoxville and OWL Testing Software, a premier provider of affordable web-based testing and assessment systems, announced today that the University’s graduate school has installed OWL’s language testing software as the solution for their English speaking proficiency tests.

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is using OWL Testing Software to schedule, administer and assess a well-known English speaking proficiency test. The University is using the test to evaluate the English-speaking skills of graduate school applicants for whom English is not their native language. OWL Testing Software has enabled the University to improve dramatically the efficiency of administering the test. The OWL software also allows the University’s raters to evaluate those oral language assessments online.
To read the complete article: http://www.spesend.net/CampResource/2R0QDTS1E1NWCCO3/1/text.pdf

Denver convention offers a peek at classrooms of the future

Sessions for teachers include training on such diverse topics as creating an interactive classroom, using an iPad as a teaching tool, how to incorporate student cellphone use with learning, and teaching students to create video podcasts.

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_15397573

JOLT June 2010 issue is now available

The June 2010 Issue of the JOLT is online & contains 23 papers from authors around the globe. http://jolt.merlot.org/currentissue.html

State may try to grow shared degrees

System officials cite under-enrollment at various campuses
Saturday, June 12, 2010
By Bill Schackner, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Leaders of Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities want more of their students to enroll in collaborative degree programs that would rely on courses and instructors based on more than one campus.

A report being presented in Harrisburg Monday to the faculty union is expected to include recommendations for "shared programs" in foreign languages like French, German and Spanish and in physics, said State System of Higher Education officials, including Karen Ball, vice chancellor for external relations.

Read entire article at: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10163/1065130-298.stm#ixzz0qm0muKrK

Schenley International Baccalaureate's language program honored

Monday, April 12, 2010
By Karamagi Rujumba, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The long-heralded International Baccalaureate at Pittsburgh Schenley High School gained a notch of distinction when it was named as one of five exemplary high school foreign language programs in Pennsylvania....

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10102/1049677-298.stm?cmpid=localstate.xml#ixzz0kvVGQoub

Pittsburgh Schenley assesses students' oral proficiency using OWL Testing Software...

French & International Meetups

The Pittsburgh French & International Meetup Groups is a well established group for French speakers of all ages and abilities to meet up and practice French conversation & share interests in French culture.

We have been meeting for French Conversation for the past 3 years Saturdays at the Coffee Tree on Walnut Street in Shady Side. We also meet most weeks at other locations in Pittsburgh for fun, conversation, & exchange of ideas.

This is a French club unlike any other French club in Pittsburgh. We are a group for casual French speakers looking to socialize and have a good time together. If you like meeting new, and socializing with interesting and fun people, stop reading and join this group now. We are the group for you.


The main Meetup website is here:
http://www.meetup.com/FrenchLessons/

The calendar is here:
http://www.meetup.com/FrenchLessons/calendar/

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ps. you can join us on these other groups, too!

Pittsburgh International Food, Languages and Cultures Group
http://www.meetup.com/Pittsburgh-International/

The Pittsburgh- Wexford Arabic Language Meetup Group
http://www.meetup.com/ArabicLessons/ Edit description
(read less)
The Pittsburgh French & International Meetup Groups is a well established group for French speakers of all ages and abilities to meet up and practice French conversation & share interests in French culture.

We have been meeting for French Conversation for the past 3 years Saturdays at the Coffee Tree on Walnut Street in Shady Side. We also meet most weeks at other locations in Pittsburgh for fun, conversation, & exchange of ideas.

This is a French club unlike any other French club in... (read more)Privacy Type:Open: All content is public.

How Global Language Learning Gives Students the Edge

Learning foreign languages boosts brain development, bridges cultural connections, and gives us an economic edge. So why isn't it a priority in public schools?
by Dan Fost

In the quickly evolving world of global-language learning, America is waking up to a new reality. Though we once asserted a sense of world dominance that relied on foreigners learning English, the United States is starting to hear the clarion call of a connected world in which knowing how to communicate in multiple languages is crucial. ...

To see the entire article: http://www.edutopia.org/global-language-learning

Two USDE GRANT FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Department of Education
Office of Postsecondary Education; National Resource Centers (NRC) Program for Foreign Language and Area Studies or Foreign Language and International Studies Program 84.015A
Modification 3
http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&flag2006=false&oppId=51483


Department of Education
Office of Postsecondary Education; Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships Program 84.015B
Modification 2
http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&flag2006=false&oppId=51484

Foreign Language Proficiency & Jobs

Employment Guide: Foreign language fluency offers edge on government jobs
The University of Pittsburgh
The Pitt News
By Simone Cheatham / Staff Writer
Published: Mon, 1 Feb, 2010
Experts say knowing a second language can help students find jobs in an unsteady economy.
Cheryl Finlay, the director of Student Employment and Placement Assistance, said knowing a foreign language can benefit students, especially if they want to work for government agencies, which have hired more than 1,000 language analysts and linguists since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks....
See entire article at: http://www.pittnews.com/article/2010/01/31/employment-guide-foreign-language-fluency-offers-edge-government-jobs

CIA Ups Foreign Language Requirements for Top Staff
January 29, 2010 10:43 AM
CBS NEws.com
Political Hot Sheet
Posted by Brian Montopoli

Central Intelligence Agency director Leon Panetta (left) announced Friday that the CIA is raising language requirements for employees looking to be promoted to the top ranks of the agency, the Senior Intelligence Service...
"Deep expertise in foreign languages is fundamental to CIA's success," ...
See complete article at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/29/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry6154324.shtml

Eurocall 2010

EUROCALL 2010
8-11 September 2010, Bordeaux, France!!

Please note that abstracts for EUROCALL 2010 should be submitted via the
online submission system at : http://eurocall.webs.upv.es/abstracts2010/

The final date for submission is February 15, 2010.

Award winning WL Site to Improve Proficiency

World Language Assessment – Get In The Mode! is a multimedia website that empowers world language educators to improve student proficiency through a series of full-length professional development videos. The videos demonstrate achievement testing strategies that, while they don't measure proficiency, can enhance student proficiency.

The website was created by the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board (ECB) in cooperation with the DPI. The site won the Instructional Media/Inservice Award from the National Educational Telecommunications Association.
See: http://www.ecb.org/worldlanguageassessment/index.htm

The Neural Advantage of Speaking 2 Languages

From the January 2010 Scientific American Mind |

The Neural Advantage of Speaking 2 Languages
Bilingual people process certain words faster than others
By Melinda Wenner

The ability to speak a second language isn’t the only thing that distinguishes bilingual people from their monolingual counterparts—their brains work differently, too...

See the complete article: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=bilingual-brains

Foreign Language Proficiency Bonus provides Airmen incentives

Foreign Language Proficiency Bonus provides Airmen incentives
by Kathryn Gustafson
Language and Culture Program Office

1/14/2010 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Air Force officials have recently updated the Foreign Language Proficiency Bonus policy.

All Airmen, regardless of career field, are now eligible for FLPB in a broad range of languages including those identified as "dominant in the force" such as Spanish, Tagalog, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Korean and Russian.

For Air Force Special Operations Command assigned Airmen serving in language-coded billets, the policy provides incentive for Airmen with elementary proficiency to achieve increased language capability.

"The Air Force recognizes the need to offer incentives for more languages at higher proficiency levels in an effort to meet current and future mission requirements across a culturally-complex environment," said Daniel Sitterly, the Air Force senior language authority and force development director for the deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services.

From building partnerships at the Inter-American Air Force Academy, where education and training are conducted in Spanish, to emerging Africa Command missions, where French and Portuguese are critical to operational success, the Air Force has a wide range of missions requiring near-native capability in all languages.

The new policy is transformational in that it targets high proficiency in languages critical to building partnerships and answering operational requirements.

Air Force officials are dedicated to establishing a force of language-enabled Airmen with the capability to communicate, negotiate and relate to allies and potential adversaries, Mr. Sitterly said.

"Our mission is to give our men and women the ability to effectively interface and operate in expeditionary operations," he added.

The policy takes a novel approach to enable Airmen to develop increased proficiencies across a wider range of foreign languages. While AFSOC personnel are the first to be targeted, the program is open to all career fields based on requirement and coordination with the Air Force senior language authority. The ultimate goal is to provide a focused incentive to encourage language proficiency in order to achieve a basic working level of foreign language capability.

Air Force officials have a need for specific language capabilities, and the updated policy will aid in identifying a broader range of language-enabled Airmen with the capabilities to influence mission success.

The updated FLPB policy expands language acquisition incentives and helps establish of a cadre of language-enabled Airmen necessary to meet current and emerging Air Force requirements.

For more information, contact local education centers for testing opportunities. Visit the Air Force A1DO Culture, Region and Language Force Development Web site on the Air Force Portal for the complete Air Force Strategic Language List.