2011 Pre-Conference Workshops

                      

Pre-Conference Workshops 2011
Professional Development Opportunity
Thursday, April 7, 2011
 
 Four Professional Development workshops are on offer this year on Thursday, April 7, 2011 before the start of the ALTA Conference. You would need to pre-register to attend any of these workshops. Brief abstracts of the individual workshops are listed below to help you with your choice>

New Technologies and Language Learning

 This workshop will bring together those who want to expand their understanding and exposure to technological options in teaching and learning and those who want to share their findings. During the session, Dr. Du Plessis will do a show and tell of diverse technologies that can support language learning and teaching. Any conference attendees interested to share their discoveries and experiences with new technologies are encouraged to contact Dr. du Plessis () ahead of the conference. He plans to shape the workshop into a collaborative sharing of new tools, best practices, and reporting of results. Contacting him in advance will also help to prepare materials and plan the session. Workshop attendees are encouraged to bring their own laptops for this session since a lab environment will not be an option. After the workshop, the discussion will continue on the technology page of the NCOLCTL Google Group (). You are encouraged to join the group.

Developing Strong Proposals for the Fiscal Year 2012 Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) Program

This workshop will be geared toward potential applicants interested in applying to the Fiscal Year 2012 Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program grant competition.  Topics to be covered will include the application process, program guidance, eligibility requirements, selection criteria, and financial provisions.  Information will be provided on both the multiyear GPA Advanced Overseas Intensive Language Training grants and the eighteen month GPA short-term project grants as well as the International Research and Studies (IRS) Program.  Special emphasis will be on designing projects with a focus on LCTL and priority language training.    

Towards a Project Based,Deep Approach to Language Learning

GOAL: Providing training to language instructors such that they can start exploring deep, project-based learning in their courses.

The deep approach to LCTL learning is project-based.  Projects engage students in interrelated activities of individual or cooperative nature to accomplish tasks that are both open and concrete. They facilitate interpersonal exchanges thereby increasing motivation and creating environments that are rich in meaningful second language use. Real-world themes, issues, problems and actions stimulate intrinsic motivation and create reflective situations in ways that respect the autonomy of the student and are conducive to proficiency.  Using a deep approach to language learning implies a paradigmatic change in the way instructors teach. The new approach is transdisciplinary and transformative in contrast to transmissive education. The deep approach is significantly related to an intention to understand deeply. It defines a situation in which the teacher is not the only source of inspiration and knowledge. The learners become curriculum builders. How can we adapt our normative teaching environments to such meaningful experiences? The workshop will attempt at finding practical answers to this question. After an exposé, language groups will brainstorm applications that match the principles of Tochon’s deep approach. Along the way, questions will be raised and answered to. The instructors will be organized as a participatory action research team with a forum for them to help each other creating solutions when problems arise all along the semester.

NCOLCTL/ALTA  2011 Workshop Schedule

  • Deep Education as a Conceptual Framework
  • Tochon’s Deep Approach to language learning
  • Deep Teacher Planning - Organizing Deep Projects - Examples: Instructional Modules created for Turkish
  • Project building and negotiation - Interrupting instruction to facilitate deep language learning – Deep assessment.

Implementing an Integrated Approach to Teaching Arabic

(Details Coming Soon)