It's time to renew your IEFLA membership for 2013.

IEFLA is sending you this complimentary issue of The Polyglot. Memberships expire on December 31, 2012. If you haven't already done so, it's time to renew your membership for 2013 now. Download a membership renewal form at http://www.iefla.org/. Membership is only $15 for a whole year. Memberships are complimentary for student teachers and first year teachers.

Renew now.

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The Digital Polyglot

A publication of the Inland Empire World Language Association since 1985

January, 2013

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Bonne Année!

IN THIS ISSUE:

  • IEFLA Calendar
  • IEFLA Survey
  • Honors Reception
  • Summer Teach English in China
  • CLTA Conference, Orange County Hyatt Regency
  • Tech Corner
  • Latino Education and Advocacy Days
  • Teaching Preterit/Passé Composé
  • Stereotypes and Attitudes
  • Penpals
  • Language in the News
  • Free Books!
  • Merci Professeur
  • Gateaux Régionaux
  • Dear Poly
  • Free World Travel for 15 Teachers
  • Exhibit of Chicano Murals

 

 

calendar

 

IEFLA Calendar of Language Events

Notre Dame Academy (West LA)
January 30, Thursday, 4:30 p.m., FREE Technology Tutorial to Enhance Language Learning. The topic is Google Docs and Google Sites. The goal is to help our members learn about these technology tools and demonstrate through hands-on experience how teachers can use these tech tools to enhance both teaching and learning a new language. Register online here.

CLTA Conference, Orange County
January 31, CLTA Conference Pre-registration Deadline. 25 pre-conference workshops, Thursday, March 1 and Friday, March 2. 100 conference interest sessions, Saturday and Sunday, March 3 and 4. For information and registration go to http://www.clta.net/conference/.

China
February 1, Now accepting applications for Summer Teach English in China. Teach English for 12 days and receive airfare, hotels, meals, transporation, and tours of five cities. Non-profit organization to promote intercultural understanding. For information and applications go to http://www.sctntp.org/. Application deadline is February 25.

Cal State, San Bernardino
February 1, IEFLA Begins accepting nominations for IEFLA/CASLA Honors Reception. Nominate your top five students online. Participation is limited. Nominate early.

China
February 25, Deadline for applications for Summer Teach English in China. Teach English for 12 days and receive airfare, hotels, meals, transporation, and tours of five cities. Non-profit organization to promote intercultural understanding. For information and applications go to http://www.sctntp.org/.

CLTA Conference, Orange County Hyatt Regency
February 28 - March 3, CLTA Conference Pre-registration Deadline. 25 pre-conference workshops on Thursday, March 1 and Friday, March 2. 100 conference interest sessions on Saturday and Sunday, March 3 and 4. For information and registration go to http://www.clta.net/conference/.

Henderson, Nevada
March 4 - Registration deadline for SWCOLT Conference, April 4-6, Presenters from the 8 southwest states plus national presenters.For information and registration, go to http://www.swcolt.org/.

Cal State, San Bernardino
March 16, Deadline to nominate students for IEFLA/CASLA Honors Reception. Nominate your top five students online. Participation is limited. Nominate early.

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Honors Reception

On Wednesday, April 24, 2013, IEFLA and the Cal State San Bernardino Center for the Advancement of Second Language Acquisition will be sponsoring an Honors Reception to recognize outstanding foreign language students.  The reception will be at 5:00 p.m. at California State University, San Bernardino.

IEFLA members are invited to submit the names of students of any level whose world language achievement they would like recognized at the Honors Reception.  No more than five students may be nominated per IEFLA member. 

You can mail in a paper nomination form or now you can submit your nominations online! Submit your nominations here.

Survey

Please take the IEFLA Survey.

What can IEFLA do to make your job easier and more effectiver? IEFLA is eager to get your feedback.

Click here to take the IEFLA Survey. There are only 11 questions and it will take about 2 minutes.

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Teach English for 2 weeks in China this Summer.

Application deadline is February 25, 2013.

In late June, 2013, 47 American teachers will leave for China to participate in a cultural exchange project teaching English in a Chinese summer camp and touring five cities. The program director of this project to promote international understanding, Sally Lowe, started this program 7 years ago. A teacher of Chinese in San Diego, she coordinates the program with two schools in China and accompanies the group. The focus of the program is oral English.

The American teachers teach for 12 days and in return, they get airfare, hotels, meals, transportation and tours of five cities. The tentative dates for the program are from June 23 - July 20. Teach and Travel in China is a non-profit organization to promote intercultural understanding. Lewie Johnson of Apple Valley has participated in the program for five years. If you have any questions, you can contact him at lewiejohnson@gmail.com. For additional information and applications go to http://www.sctntp.org/. Application deadline is February 25, 2013.

CLTA Conference 2013

Hyatt Regency Orange County

CLTA is pleased to announce the registration form is now online for the 2013 CLTA Conference in Orange County.
We are proud to host our members at the Hyatt Regency Orange County. Follow the link and register for your room, now!

For conference information and registration go to http://www.clta.net/conference/

Tech Corner 

Each month we will explore a different aspect of technology that can help you in your classroom.  This month:  Remind101. Remind101 is a free, and easy way to send text messages to your students.  Stay in touch with parents and students. 

How to use Remind101:

  1. Go to Remind101.
  2. Create a your free account.
  3. Create a class and distribute the code to students.  Students text to sign up.
  4. Start reminding students of important events!

Latino Education and Advocacy Days

On Wednesday, March 27, Cal State, San Bernardino will be hosting the Latino Education and Advocacy Days from 8:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Visit LEAD webpage for all of the information. The program will include an array of interest sessions on a variety of topics. A few of the many speakers at this conference include members of the team that developed, "Dora, the Explorer," Julian Castro, Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, Rep. Raul Ruiz, U.S. House of Representatives. There will even be live music and Aztec Dance.

Teaching the Preterit/Passé Composé

Link to a song to help students remember the preterit in Spanish as well as a list of questions to spark conversation when you get to the imperfect and a whole web page of ideas, songs and activities. 

Use the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day as a conversational spark.  Have students read the book in Spanish and then give the students clues to have them recount what happened on certain days; a happy day, a sad day, etc. 

Have students list five things that they did the day (weekend) before.  Three should be true and two should be false.  Students guess which ones are false and giving their reasons why that can’t be true for the other student.

Make a class set of cards that have a location and something you could do at that location.  For example:  library/study or library/read or library/surf the Internet.  They can even be a bit unconventional library/talk to pretty girls.  Pass one card out to each student.  The student says where s/he went and his/her partner tries to guess what they did there.  “You went to the library?  Huh, did you study?  Did you read?  Did you eat the books?”  Once the student guesses his partners activity they switch cards and go to a new partner.

Pierre Plat (Flat Stanley)- Give students a Pierre Plat template and tell students to color him (or make their own.)  Students then will take pictures of Pierre Plat wherever they go.  (This makes a great project for vacations!)  Students make a presentation of their pictures using Powerpoint, Google Docs, or Voicethread and tell where Pierre went and what Pierre did.  If you’re studying the imperfect add in some requirements about what was going on or what he was wearing.

Incorporate some culture into your passé composé unit with this complete lesson using Les Choristes.

 

Stereotypes and Attitudes

The film Cliché is available with une fiche pédagogique.  Follow the link to download the film or to watch on youtube.  Hilarous. 

Neplanta:  Between Two Worlds is the story of a woman trying to choose between two worlds.  Follow the link to lesson plans.

penpals

Pen Pals

No longer do you have to send letters through the mail and wait weeks for an answer.  Here are some sites that you can use for pen pals.  See which one best matches the needs of you and your students.  Some sites allow the teacher to preview messages before they are sent or received.

Languages in the News

Free Books!

Do you have an e-Reader or an iPad or tablet?  There are plenty of resources out there to get books in the target language.

Merci Professeur

If you find yourself answering “Parce que c’est comme ça” to students’ questions of “pourquoi?” to obscure grammatical rules then Bernard Cerquiglini’s Merci Professeur is for you.  He knows why it’s un cheval et des chevaux and why you say une fille but une ville. 

Gateaux Régionaux

TF1 presents a series of reports on regional gateaux.

 

Dear Poly

Every month Poly responds to your questions.

Dear Poly- I have a student who never has a pencil or a pen.  This is a student with obvious means to get a pencil he is just irresponsible with his school supplies.  He is constantly interrupting me or other students to ask for a pencil.  What should I do?  -Pencil-less in Redlands

Dear Pencil-less in Redlands,
School supplies are a constant struggle with students.  You can try several techniques.  Purchase a pack of golf pencils at Staples and hand them out freely.  Students dislike having to use the small pencils and usually show up with their own pencils.  You can offer a pencil in exchange for something else; for example, the student’s shoe.  Students generally find pencils rather quickly.  If your student clearly has the means, but just is not motivated to keep track of his school supplies you can even try contacting the parents and asking them to send a box of pencils to school for him that you will keep in your classroom just for him.  Let the parents know that you want to help the student by offering a pencil.  Then, a week later when he’s gone through that box, contact the parents again.  Sometimes parents are unaware that their little ones lose things so readily.  Good luck!

Do you have a question for Poly?  Submit your question by filling in the form here.

 

Hilton HHonors Teacher Treks

Competition offers 15 teachers the chance to travel the world and share their experiences with students

http://www.iie.org/en/Who-We-Are/News-and-Events/Press-Center/Press-Releases/2013/01-22-2013-Hilton-HHonors-Teacher-Treks

Deadline to apply: March 15, 2013

Exhibit on Chicano Murals

Exhibit on Chicano Murals Opens January 26, CSUSB, Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art.  January 26 – May 25

http://news.csusb.edu/2013/01/exhibit-on-chicano-murals-opens-jan-26-at-csusb/

 
The Polyglot is a publication of the Inland Empire Foreign Language Association. For questions or comments, contact Bethany Thompson, editor, bethany_thompson@avusd.org or Trini Avalos, Trini Avalos, trios327@gmail.com. Would you like to help with the Polyglot? Contact Bethany Thompson, editor, a bethany_thompson@avusd.org.
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