Professional Development

Foreign Language Courses     Study Abroad      Teaching Resources    Professional Publications  
 Message Boards and Online Communities   National Foreign Language Resource Centers   
National Organizations    State Foreign Language Associations    Other Organizations of Interest

Top Pick

Immersion programs make tots comfortable with new languages
Many parents welcome foreign language immersion for their preschoolers as a means to promote bilingualism and enhance their children's native language skills. Few states mandate foreign language instruction at the elementary level, however, due to the costs and the NCLB-driven emphasis on developing math and reading skills.   Education Week (free registration) (3/24/04) From ASCD SmartBrief.

Foreign Language Courses 

Deutsche Welle  This renown German broadcast company has online courses, and streaming audio and video broadcasts of their news service in many languages. FREE.

German Online Distance Education Network   An interactive on-line teacher development program of study for teachers of German.

Integrating Technology into Foreign Language Education  This course is designed to introduce middle and high school teachers to the integration of technology into foreign language education. It is open to teachers of all foreign languages and will be taught in English.

Language Learning Net  Provides information to all interested in learning or teaching foreign languages.  The site includes the Language Course Finder, a free online directory of language schools comprising more than 5300 institutions in 77 countries that teach their country's native language to foreign students. 

UCLA Extension   Look up education and check out the  6-10 courses on Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages each term.

Study Abroad

Language Study Abroad  Marty Levine has compiled some excellent starting points for studying language abroad. He is a Professor with California State University in Northridge. 

GoAbroad.com  A comprehensive on-line source for study abroad, language schools, overseas internships, international volunteer positions, teach abroad, jobs abroad, US Universities, Eco-Travel around the world, and a whole lot more! 

IIE Passport  A great site that provides students with information needed to plan their learning experience. 

InterEdu  Offers news, country profiles, living conditions, databases, etc. relating to study in Europe. 

Fulbright Web Page  If you're interested in learning about the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program, here are several links for information. 

National Registration Center for Study Abroad  Evaluates, selects and pre-registers people online for study abroad in a wide range of subject areas.

Scuola Leonardo da Vinci-Italian Language School  The Leonardo da Vinci School is the leading Italian institute for Italian language & cultural courses. Study Italian in Florence, Rome & Siena, among the most beautiful Italian cities.

Spanish Abroad, Inc. Learn Spanish  Spanish Abroad offers Spanish language programs with some of the best language schools located throughout Latin America and Spain. 

StudyAbroad.com  Provides thousands of listings for study abroad programs in more than 100 countries throughout the world and includes hundreds of links to study abroad program home pages. 

Study Abroad Directory  An excellent gateway to all aspects of studying abroad.

Teaching Resources 

Applause Learning Resources  Supplementary resources for FL classrooms including software, video, audio, books, realia.

Barron's Foreign Language Books

Continental Book Company-Spanish

German Language Texbook Links

Holt Rinehart and Winston Search this destination site for texts in French, German, Spanish. Another benefit are the teacher newsletters.

Teacher Comments on German Textbooks How teachers rate the various textbooks available for use in the German classroom.

McDougal Littell  Click on their online store or search for a textbook title. 

MEP School Online  (Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian, Latin, Portuguese,  ESL, Bilingual)

Powells Children Foreign Language  A treasure of language books is found in this Portland, Oregon bookstore.

Prenctice Hall School Division  Contact the publisher at this site for high school and college level materials in Spanish, French, German, ESL, and Italian.

Santillana USA  Santillana USA publishes K-8 Spanish-language materials and ESL supplements and resources.

Serbian Language Textbook Recommendations

Thomas and Heinle  This specialized publisher lists texts in world languages, ESL, and professional publications.

Professional Publications  

ADFL Bulletin The journal of the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages lets non-members  view the table of contents of the Bulletin, get information and request a copy of the Bulletin.

Calico  This site for language learning and technology has current issues, reviews of FL software and e-dialogs.

Center for Applied Linguistics   Many online and/or downloadable products developed by the former ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics can be found here.

Edutopia Online  The Website for the George Lucas Educational Foundation offers some excellent resources for the language and ESL teacher.  Stories include success stories from the ESL classroom, digital divide and using technology to motivate students.

FLTEACH online articles  A collection of syllabi for foreign language methods courses.  

Foreign Language Annals The official journal of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Foreign Language Annals is published 6 times a year.

Foreign Language Immersion Programs  An article published by ERIC which provides an overview of immersion.

Guidelines for establishing an Elementary Foreign Language Program  Written by Marcia Rosenbusch, this ERIC article provides do's and don'ts for establishing a program. 

Language Learning and Technology  This refereed journal was one of the first on-line journals and continues to maintain a high standard of excellence.

Modern Language Journal   At the MLJ site, you can see samples of articles, and use an electronic index of issues from 1916-2002.  Click on 'Other Professional Journals for an exhaustive list.

National Capital Language Resource Center Newsletter The purpose of the newsletter is to provide practical teaching strategies, share insights from research, and announce professional development opportunities for elementary, secondary, and post-secondary foreign language educators.

The Canadian Modern Language Review / La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes  The Canadian Modern Language Review publishes peer-reviewed articles on all aspects of language learning and teaching. 

Message Boards and Online Communities

EnglishCLUB.net Teachers' Room Discussion Area  Forum to ask and answer questions, give your views and opinions, make announcements and generally communicate on mainly TEFL-related issues worldwide.

ESL Discussion Center  Includes 20+ message boards for learners of ESL and 20+ message boards for teachers of ESL. Each message board focuses on a field of interest.

FLTeach   The Foreign Language Teaching Forum is an integrated service for FL teachers.  Its topic is foreign language teaching methods for all levels and all languages including school/college articulation, training of student teachers, classroom activities, curriculum, and syllabus design.

Teachers.Net  Teacher Chat boards offers a number of message boards for teachers at all levels and in various fields including three that are directly pertinent to second language teachers

National Foreign Language Resource Centers

The following foreign language resource centers, funded by the US government offer materials, proven assessment tools, and excellent summer training workshops.

• Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS) (University of Eugene) CASLS is a research and development center supporting teachers of Japanese and other languages in their efforts to help students meet high proficiency standards.

• Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) (University of Minnesota)
  Among the nine research initiatives are  articulation of language instruction and second language assessment.

• National Foreign Language Resource Center (University of Hawaii at Manoa)
  This center focuses on the teaching and learning of the less commonly-taught languages of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.

• Center for Applied Linguistics Foreign Language Resource Center (Georgetown University) Their activities include research, teacher education, development of instructional materials and more.

• CLEAR: a National Foreign Language Resource Center (Michigan State University) CLEAR'S primary objective is to promote collaboration in foreign language research and teacher education across college, departmental, and institutional boundaries.

• National African Languages Resource Center (NALRC) (University of Wisconsin) The Center's mission is to serve the entire community of African language educators and learners in the United States by sponsoring a wide range of educational and professional activities.

• National East Asian Language Resource Center (NEALRC) This FL Resource Center specializes in the East Asian Languages.

• National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC) Their mission is the improvement of student learning of foreign languages at the elementary and secondary school levels.

• Language Acquisition Resources Center (San Diego State University) LARC uses innovative techniques and strategies and advanced technologies to enhance language learning.

• Slavic and East European Language Resource Center (SEELRC) (Duke University & University of North Carolina) The cardinal purpose is to improve the national capacity to teach and learn the languages of our world region through teacher training, research, material and technology development.

Search Foreign Language Resource Centers  The United States Government search engine will help you search all or some of the Foreign Language Resource Centers.

                             

National Organizations
Note: Organizations for specific languages are found in the Language by Language section 
of the World Language Center

• ACTFL - American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
• CASLT - Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers
• CIEE - Council on International Cultural Exchange
• JNCL-NCLIS  This advocacy organization for the learning of Languages by Americans has research results, and important addresses such as Congressmen and women.
• LCTL - Less Commonly Taught Languages Project--University of Minnesota
• MLA - Modern Language Association of America
• NCLIS - National Council for Languages and International Studies
• NCSSFL - National Council of State Supervisors of Foreign Language

Regional Foreign Language Associations

• Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages  A longstanding outstanding regional conference invites you to sign up for their free newsletter promoting language education and discussion.  Conferences alternate between DC 2003 and NY 2004. 
• OMLA Ontario Modern Language Teachers Association / Association ontarienne des professeurs de langues vivantes
• SAMLA  -South Atlantic Modern Language Association
• SCMLA  -South Central Modern Language Association
• SCOLT  -Southern Conference on Language Teaching
  

State Foreign Language Associations

• Arizona Language Association
• Florida Foreign Language Association
• Iowa Foreign Language Association
• Central Jersey-Pennsylvania Foreign Language Academic Alliance
• Kansas World Language Association
• Massachusetts Foreign Language Association
• Michigan Foreign Language Association
• Minnesota Council on the Teaching of Languages and Cultures
• Foreign Language Association of Missouri
• New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers
• Foreign Language Association of North Carolina
• Foreign Language Association of North Dakota
• Ohio Foreign Language Association
• Oklahoma Foreign Language Teachers' Association
• Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association 
• Tennessee Foreign Language Teaching Association
• Greater Washington D.C. Association
• Wisconsin Association of Foreign Language Teachers

Other Organizations of Interest

• CAL (Center for Applied Linguistics)
• CALICO (Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium)
• IALLT (International Association for Language Learning Technology)
• ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education)

Note: Organizations for specific languages are found in the Language by Language section of the World Language Center

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