Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum

1. Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum Jane S. Smith, University of Maine Maine Chinese Conference October 26-27, 2012 Husson University, Bangor

3. Objectives • Introduce participants to Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum (CLAC), providing examples of its implementation at colleges and universities • Relate CLAC to the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning (ACTFL’s 5 C’s) • Application to PreK-12: Brainstorming, sharing group conversations

4. An Overview • Brief history: LAC (late 1980s) ⇒CLAC (ca. 2005) • Who is involved? • Binghamton University, Skidmore College, University of Iowa, Baldwin-Wallace College, UNC-Chapel Hill, Drake University, University of Richmond, Portland State University, (University of Maine) • www.clacconsortium.org

5. What does CLAC look like? In practice, CLAC may include but is not limited to: • Linked language and content courses or courses with specially designed language modules • Co-taught courses in which content is infused with an international perspective • Large lecture courses with break-out or discussion sessions that are conducted in and include the use of materials in a variety of languages • Study abroad programs that actively and reflectively link together linguistic and cultural experiences from the classroom to social life. CLAC can take many forms, depending on specific content and curricular goals within a discipline. Among areas of interest to CLAC educators are: • Alternative models of education that foster the acquisition of cross-cultural competences • Frameworks that serve to build connections between comparative literature, cultural studies and area studies • K-16 articulation models • Content-based language instruction and the development of new content-based foreign language textbooks and discipline-specific learning materials and technology • Study abroad including programs focused on professional studies • Heritage learner programs (The CLAC Brochure, http://clacconsortium..org)

6. Research-Focused Language Course Hadrian's Wall - Housteads, Northumberland, England http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevenlaw/3595112131/ Skidmore College (slide courtesy of Dr. Suronda Gonzalez, Binghamton University)

8. Research-FocusedLanguage Course at times may translate http://academics.skidmore.edu/blogs/ff-220-s-10-cevans/presse-et-medias/ (slide courtesy of S. Gonzalez, Binghamton University)

9. Research-FocusedLanguage Course Outcomes • Build specialized vocabulary. • Reinforce language. • Enrich non-FL content. • Moving beyond American centric view – and asking questions about own culture! • The capacity of language to reveal culture. • Build language confidence.

10. IBUS 311World of Business IBUS 311Introduction to Int’l Business discusses managerial challenges arising from different cultural, socio-economic and political settings; modes of entering foreign markets and the rise of the global corporation;

11. Side-by-Side = New Ideas ! • Check out various sources, being sure to document them, as to the meaning of “cimarron.” (Consider asking native-Spanish speakers about the word!). • Is there something uniquely Latin American, or Caribbean about this term? • How does new information about this word shape your thinking about slavery in a Latin American context? In the U.S. context?

12. Language-integrated Recitation Outcomes • Bringing languages together brings intercultural, intertextual understandings. • Language is not transparent. • History is interpretation, and that interpretation is based in language/sources. • Regionalization of language – Spanish is not homogeneous. • ________________ • ________________

13. CLAC at UMaine Present • Tag-on modules in French and Spanish • Embedded research in Spanish in a course in Latin American history …And … • A small pot of money … Future • Research courses in language department • Embedded research in other disciplines • Discussion sections with native speaker resources • ?

14. What level of language is necessary to do CLAC?

15. Comparing web pages • University of Maine • Husson University • Univ. de Bretagne Occidentale • Central China Normal University

16. National Standards for Foreign Language Learning

17. Communication • Cultures • Connections • Comparisons • Communities The five C’s Can you identify each C?

18. Communication • Audience response:

19. Cultures • Audience response:

20. Connections • Audience response:

21. Comparisons • Audience response:

22. Communities • Audience response:

23. Communication is at the heart of second language study, whether the communication takes place face-to-face, in writing, or across centuries through the reading of literature. Through the study of other languages, students gain a knowledge and understanding of the cultures that use that language and, in fact, cannot truly master the language until they have also mastered the cultural contexts in which the language occurs. Learning languages provides connections to additional bodies of knowledge that may be unavailable to the monolingual English speaker. Through comparisons and contrasts with the language being studied, students develop insight into the nature of language and the concept of culture and realize that there are multiple ways of viewing the world. Together, these elements enable the student of languages to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world in a variety of contexts and in culturally appropriate ways. The five C’s http://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/StandardsforFLLexecsumm_rev.pdf

24. CLAC’s Guiding PrinciplesBased on the “CLAC Manifesto” and adapted by H. Stephen Straight, Binghamton University, courtesy of Suronda Gonzalez, Binghamton University • Key words: • Connections(CLAC’s primary focus among the 5 ACTFL Standards: 1) • Cultures (2), Comparisons (3), Communication (4), Communities (5) • Meaningfuluse(rather than further language instruction) • CLAC is not a mere exercise in translation or vocabulary-building. • Content-enriching (esp. with regard to cross-cultural perspectives) • CLAC doesn’t simply present the same content in a different language. • Student-empowering • The CLAC course instructor need not know the language. • What CLAC is not: • Content-Based Language Instruction • Language-learning outcomes, though likely, do not motivate CLAC.

25. Discussion Where can we go with CLAC?

26. Are Connections already being made? If so, how?

27. What potential do you see for your school?

28. Implementing CLAC How might you need to change your own thinking?

29. Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum Jane S. Smith, University of Maine Maine Chinese Conference October 26-27, 2012 Husson University, Bangor

30. Implementing CLAC How might you need to change your own thinking? Who would be your allies? What disciplines could be involved? What resources are needed? • Library? • Internet? • Foreign language textbooks? • Study guides and glossaries? • Other?

31. Discussion outcomes • Audience responses to implementation questions:

32. Challenges to implementation? • Audience response:

33. Expected benefits? • Increased cross-cultural understanding • Increased understanding of one’s own culture • Reinforces content in new ways • Enriched language skills if using a language other than English • Validation of home culture for heritage learners • Better integration of exchange and international students into school community • Integration of returning study abroad students • Increased collaboration among colleagues

34. Acknowledgements • Maine Chinese Conference participants • Dr. Suronda Gonzalez, Binghamton University (SUNY) – Binghamton University, Skidmore, UNC-Chapel Hill slides, CLAC’s Guiding Principles (slide) • Jing Zhang and the Chinese Culture and Language Center of Maine (photo of students in China)