Working for “Writers in The Schools”, WITS is one of the best jobs I have ever had. I love the job because it gives the writer the freedom to expand. The writer’s imagination lives without the pressures of preparing a student for the test. It lives without the demands of having the child to produce. The child grows at his/her own pace. They discover their own voice first before working towards the mechanics of writing. When a child is just waiting at the door for his class to start, one knows, one is doing something right.

Sir Ken Robinson in his book “Out of Our Minds” wrote, “Many educators want to provide a more balanced and dynamic form of education that makes proper use of their own creative energies. Too often they feel they cannot do any of this because of political pressures of conformity and the disaffection of students who suffer under the same malaise.”

When I was doing the after-school program at “The Chicano Community Center” I had kids who looked forward to coming to my class. In fact, the writing class became the opportunity, a reward for those who behaved. They would not be allowed to go into my classroom unless they followed and cooperated with the staff.

These were some of my happiest and most successful teaching years. The coordinator trusted my work and the kids loved to come to my class. So, what was different about it that helped the students and I become successful?

1. Our classroom was portable. My classroom setting could change. We had a small classroom with a few white foldable plastic tables and some heavy green plastic chairs where we would sometimes have our writing lessons. Outside the classroom was what I would call the cafeteria, with small tables and chairs which a preschool program would sometimes use. Before the children entered their classroom, I would have them sit on a bench and explained to them what we would do that day. I told them that once we entered the room they could sit with whomever they wanted, however they wanted but they had to be writing. Children made the classroom their own space. Some put their paper on chairs and wrote sitting on their knees. Others just sat on the floor. Some just like the traditional form of table and chairs.  Other times we would just go the garden. Children could sit anywhere they wanted and they had to draw with detail what they were observing and then describe it with words. Spider webs and spiders, to eggs in a nest became some of my favorite child written stories. Other times we would use the large cafeteria where children could work in groups. Some prepared their stories by arranging the furniture in the room. A table became a tunnel and children wrote of lost treasures. Others wrote adventure stories under blankets turned into caves where bears hibernate Other times we used the gym. Children were allowed to grab a couple of mats and create a private space for writing with their best friend.
2. There was no bad writing. Children who had problems were helped with their spelling. I never graded or marked the child’s paper with right or wrong. I have always felt if I wanted them to love writing they would have to feel comfortable with making mistakes and not be an excellent speller. I wanted the children to find and discover their voice first. This is a hard thing to do because of the pressure around them to excel for their own sake and the sake of others.
3. The coordinator in charge of the after-school program – Roberto Galvan- trusted, and praised the work I did. He gave us the freedom and permission to move around. He believed in the work I did and had his full support. He would observe, but it felt more like curiosity of what I was doing not an assessment.
4. He truly cared for the children. He brought in a lot of programs for them. Mad Science, guitar lessons and field trips. He was always present at all their events and when parents were unable to take them, he would find ways to bring his staff and kids with him.
5. He allowed experimental activities. He had mentioned that he was looking for a Ballet Folklorico teacher and I told him I had experience. So after my writing class, the light white plastic tables were folded and the heavy green chairs were piled up into a corner. The same room I used for writing was turned into a room for dancing. I would put away my pencil and paper, and switched to my orange practice skirt and practice shoes. I named my group “Aztlan” and loved teaching dancing as much as writing. Then I did an experimental project where I had children combine the tempo of the stepping beat with the tempo of a poem. It was so much fun that when we did our presentation there was no music. It was just percussion from the Mexican tapping combined with the words that had been written by them. We became “Aztlan”. Parents loved it and I was even surprised about the outcome.

Then one day we received the news. They were closing down the center. There was not enough money to make repairs and changes had to be made. Roberto gave me the sad news that he was quitting because he did not agree with the changes that were being made. When he told the parents, they were all in tears. I was so sad to see the ending of program that had been so successful. Children, parents everyone was crying. One came up to me and refused to write saying “I am mad and sad that this is over.”  “I will no longer write.” This was my last class and very hard to finish.

Looking back, I realized with what I know now, that I had experienced a tiny piece of the Finland Phenomena. I was given the autonomy, the trust, and a strange feeling of belonging. The parents, the children and its staff became a family, where everyone succeeded, because we all cared. The children like in Finland had been with me for several years. I worked there for five years and had the chance to see them grow from 1^st, all the way up to 5^th Grade. By knowing their strengths and weaknesses, understanding their interests and needs. I was prepared to help them better.

What do you think was your most successful moment in life? How did it mark you? What did it teach you?

In 2009 China participated for the first time ranking 1^st in all three areas of reading, mathematics and science. PISA average scores are around 500. China scored 575 in Science, a 556 in Reading and 600 in Math. United States scored 502 in Science, a 500 in Reading and 487 in Math.

Like Finland I decided to look into how the Chinese Educational system is set up and the reason behind its success. One thing is for sure they work hard to obtain the best results possible in their test scores. PISA noted the phenomena and reported the following as well: “Typically in a Shanghai classroom, students are fully occupied and fully engaged. Non-attentive students are not tolerated,” it said.

Shanghai also places great importance and care in training and nurturing their teachers who receive continuous support to improve their schools. According to Dr. Miller an observer of the Chinese Educational System points out that Shanghai invests heavily in education research and “is at the forefront of doing research to help teachers teach better,”

So, what do Chinese schools look like?

As I browse through the videos on China’s education and classroom management, you have to be prepared to see a world of discipline and organization like no other. Contrary to the freedom that the Finn’s have when they enter their classroom setting, Chinese schools are no Montessori schools. Children enter and sit at their individual desk. They are taught from the start to respect their teachers and others. But what respect looks like to you or me may be different to what it looks like to other people in different cultures. Here respect is one that is not questioned. You do as you are told, and when you do not follow through there is disciplinary action. When a teacher walks in, they all stand in a synchronized momentum and sit at the same time as if staged for their debut. Whether we agree with their style of teaching or not, they have undoubtedly achieved an academic level of perfection. Chinese as a culture are known to push to their limits and beyond. When you see their flawless gymnastics stunts, dance routines or testing skills, you wonder how they did it. How did they get there?

Did you know that a long time ago before 1949 China’s population was 80% illiterate? It was not until Mao Zedong’s rule that education became one of the government’s most important priorities. Chinese children have to attend school for at least nine years.  There are three years of preschool and children do not enter elementary school until the age of six. The Chinese believe that this is a crucial time and places lot of emphasis on training and teaching young children to play games, dance, and sing. Children from pre-school are taught here to act and uphold their values of Truth, Kindness and Beauty. Chinese discipline their children from a very young age. They do not allow waste, or any misbehavior in their classrooms. Middle school is split into two categories, they take a test to determine their vocational/technical path or another basic extension of traditional school in which students learn science and the humanities while preparing for the university. High school lasts for three years: Chinese students receive primary or elementary school education for six or seven years, but are typically in middle school and high school for three years each. Primary schools have 13 weeks of vacations and holidays, junior secondary schools have 12 weeks, and senior secondary schools have 10-11 weeks of vacation and holidays. Chinese youth (15-24 years) have now achieved a 99% literacy rate.

Children go through mandatory medical health check-ups to ensure that children are in good health. Students in high school have to go through a full physical check-up and have a great range of medical tests to make sure everything is in perfect working order before entering University. A day in what is considered the best High School can go like this:

5:45 AM    Students awake and get ready to enter school

6:00 AM   Students go into what looks like a study hall and study for 45 minutes. One can see a large group of teenagers, all focused in the book in front of them and reading out loud. It is amazing to see them concentrating on their subject in spite of the noise. Like a warm up before a symphonic concert.

7:00 AM   Thirty minutes of aerobic exercise before breakfast

7:30 AM   Breakfast

8:00 AM   Classroom Lesson till 11:30.

11:30 AM Students break for lunch time

Lunch is followed by 90 minutes of free time. Students have time to socialize and just hang out.

1:00  PM   Classes resume with a 15 minute eye exercise/massage, because Mao believed this would improve     their vision. Lessons continue till 5:00 PM.

They break for dinner and do not come back to school until 7:00 PM.

7:00    PM   Students continue with their lessons till 10:15 PM

10:30  PM   Teachers clear the classrooms and students head back to their dorm

The educational Paradox in China and Finland is that their style of teaching and learning are just totally the opposite in style, but both styles have been able to produce successful students that are successful in testing.

What is common or different among both countries?

The importance they place on their teachers. They both have a careful selection of teachers. They nurture, respect and invest in their training. Usually the principal and the assistant principal go to universities to interview college students. Like Finland they make a selection by picking out students who practice teaching in their school during their last year of college.

A big difference is that China does have an accountability system new teachers are often observed by the principal, dean and department chair and each observation lasts about the whole period (45 minutes). They can get rid of the new teachers if they don’t teach well.

There is no scholarship for good teachers, but they do have more privileges. They are the teachers that are assigned to teach the best students, which will bring them other benefits. A big difference with Finland because Finland offers a college degree, a master’s to their selected teachers.

If you are a parent, what kind of system would you like your child to go to? If you are a teacher what system do you think you would like to work in? Do you think U.S. Public Schools can learn something from these models? If you are a parent which educational system  would you like for our schools to have?

A friend of mine once shared a thought-provoking comment with me that has a profound effect on my leadership journey.  She mentioned it so casually that if I wasn’t really listening I could have totally missed it.

“There is no professional development like working for a great organization.”

Think about that for a second and you can’t help but admit it is totally true!  Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot as an undergrad and as a masters student…and of course I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how outstanding my experience was at REEP.  However, your professors don’t give you frequent feedback, constant coaching or high levels of support to actually implement what you learn…and that’s what great organizations do for their people.

Because of that reality, great organizations are learning organizations.   Everyone is constantly learning and growing from one another.  Every day in our school, the students are receiving instruction from their teachers, teachers are supporting one another and receiving coaching from the admin team, I am working to provide feedback and growth opportunites to the admin team members and of course we encourage everyone to look outside of the building for growth opportunities as well.

And as the leader of the school, I have to model this learning and growth as well…because that is what great organizations do.  Two weeks ago, I took the admin team to New York City to visit some high performing schools there in the hopes of learning from them and bringing it back to Milwaukee.  Last week, we took our entire team to a high performing local school.  Last fall I brought our team to observe at some great schools in Chicago and before that I had our admin team down to Houston.

As a serving leader in your organization you have a huge responsibility to develop and support every person in the building…and that includes yourself.  There is no professional development like working for a great organization.  If you hope to lead a great organization, you need to commit to modeling and leading a learning organization.

While checking the “Organization for Economic Co-operation and Economic Development,” OECD and looking for the “Program for International Student Assessment.” PISA results I found out the following. Finland and Asian countries were among the top ten. The United States rank 17 in reading, 23 in Science, just one notch above the average score, and dropped below the OECD average in mathematics ranking 32 in 2009.

Could it be possible that longer days and school years is a solution to our low performance? Could it be that shortening summer vacation helps children do better in school? HISD has now developed a new teacher evaluation system called EVAAS “Evaluating Value-Added Models for Teacher Accountability” which measure the growth of students at the classroom level. They also have a program called ASPIRE that helps determine teacher and campus awards based on EVAAS results and data.

Be ready to be puzzled by what the Finns do and please let me know what you think about it when you are done reading.  I was baffled by our differences.

Finland topped the first PISA test in 2000 and kept its rank in every category until the year of 2009. They believe in equality and equity for all students. Finland improves its schools not by privatizing or constantly testing its students but by strengthening the education profession and investing in teacher preparation and support. Good teachers in the teaching profession get University paid Masters. All teachers are required to have a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree and one year of pedagogical training. Most other qualifying education is free of charge for the students, including postgraduate education at universities.

Their profession in Finland is held as high as that of a lawyer or doctors. It is revered and highly valued. I was amazed to hear on an interview with Pasi Sahlberg where he mentioned that the word accountability does not exist in the Finnish language; therefore there is no accountability evaluation by outsiders on the teachers. Teachers are made responsible for their successes and can be reported in many different ways. Teachers have total autonomy in their classroom. This is what he says in his Blog “Finnish authorities, in this regard, have defied international convention. They have not endorsed student testing and school ranking as the path to improvement, but rather focused on teacher preparation and retention; collaboration with teachers and their union representatives; early and regular intervention for children with learning disabilities; well-rounded curricula; and equitable funding of schools throughout the country.”

Finnish culture believes in extended childhood. Parents have access to pre-kindergarten services but there are no educational elements before the age of 7. Parents believe in playtime and play as an important role in their child’s success with small lessons at home.

Children do not officially start school until the age of 7. School days are shorter, classes are longer and they get three months of summer vacation. Children barely get any homework and are rarely tested. Classes are longer and they allow children to stay on task as long as they need to succeed. Children learn and work at their own pace. When a student falls behind, he gets individualized teacher attention to help him progress. Students are not tested and results are only compared against their own capabilities. There can be several teachers in one classroom working on different areas guaranteeing the students success.

After viewing a video from BBC news on YouTube I learned the following. When children go to school they take their shoes off and get ready to relax. They are welcomed by their teacher who they talk to by their first names. The teacher can be their teacher for most of their school life. Here, she expresses, on how being their teacher for so long, it has helped her understand her children better. She understands the problems that they had before and what needs to be done to help them proceed to the next level. She describes how after working with the same children for 5 years, she knows what works and what doesn’t work with them, she calls herself “the school mother”.

What is the secret to Finland’s education success?

Teachers and trust. Politicians have no say. They have given the decision making back to their teachers and Principals. Schools plan their own curriculums. Teachers are respected professionals and are rarely evaluated. They quickly receive tenure and have a strong union. They have worked hard at making teaching an attractive profession and choose generally some of the best students from high school to enter their teaching program.

Pasi Sahlberg in an interview with Cheryl Jackson made the following comment on the accountability system.

He said that theory behind holding teachers accountable and intensifying the testing of students moves potential good teachers away from the teaching field. Having teacher’s salaries based on students’ success pushes them away from what matters most and that is the children.”

If you’d like to read more on this, I recommend checking “The National Board of Education” website.

Did you know that Finland has more research per capita than any other country? What could we learn from them? How much money is spent on testing? Could it be possible that we may benefit more from investing training for our teachers?

Please visit on my next Blog part II of Educational Paradox were I will talk about how Chinese Public Schools operate. They have made it also in in the top 10 and were first in 2009.

This grant will allow the MFAH to research and develop a new resource for middle school educators, Learning Through Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Middle School. It will also enable the MFAH to carry out much needed research on middle school educator’s attitudes toward and perceptions of art-based interdisciplinary curriculum and the role of museums in teaching and learning.

Teaching and Learning Through Art will strengthen the museum’s ability to support the work of middle school educators and generate research that can be used by museums across the country to develop their own curriculum resources for educators in their own communities.

LTA/MS will position art at the center of teaching and learning social studies, language arts, math, science and art. Although LTA /MS will be designed to meet TEKS curriculum objectives across subject areas, rather than presenting art solely as an illustration of a specific curricular objective, the program will help young adolescents develops the habits of mind needed for success in middle school, high school, and throughout life. Achieving this type of curriculum and concept based program –one that is created with and tested by teachers, requires a true collaboration with educators to be successful at generating educator buy-in, and achieving program credibility and longevity. LTA/MS relies on teachers’ knowledge and expertise to determine the curricular and developmental areas in need of focus, as well as format to fully engage both educators and students. To that end, LTA/MS will make the abstract idea of critical thinking skills tangible through a thinking process that can become a part of a school curriculum.

MFAH is pleased to announce the inaugural Teacher Fellows. Twenty teachers from across the Houston area and content area will work closely with education staff to identify areas of the curriculum that offer rich opportunity for arts integrated curriculum.

To learn more about the LTA middle school curriculum and the Teacher Fellows visit www.mfah.org/kfec in early June.

Some languages are less difficult to learn than others. The U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service Institute has grouped them into three categories depending on the amount of hours one needs to study to achieve a certain level of proficiency. This is based on the language learning difficulty for English speakers.

• Category I: Languages closely related to English
• Category II: Languages with significant linguistic and/or cultural differences from English
• Category III: Languages which are quite difficult for native English speakers

In Category I are those languages that they consider an English speaker will need to study to achieve proficiency and they calculated between 575 to 600 hours of study (23 to 24 weeks). In the school that I taught English in Mexico City –Interlingua de Mexico- had an Intensive Course where students would take 3 hours of English classes every day for at least 6 months to reach a conversational level of English. So in an approximate 400 hours of study in a small group of no more than ten adults many of the students who were professional bankers, doctors, or just your regular student became a fairly fluent group of English speakers. Many of these people had a good aptitude for formal language study. The school was so successful that I saw it grow from a one classroom, to multiple centers and are now in many different states of Mexico.

Four of the languages in this category belong to the Romance languages all descendants from Latin: French, Italian, Spanish and Romanian. If you speak Spanish you might be amazed to see that you may understand some Italian. If you speak Spanish, French becomes easier to learn. One thing that helps whenever learning a new language is, the alphabet is the same, with a few exceptions of perhaps 3 to 4 letters.  Also, there are words that have similar sounds in both languages and may mean the same. They are called true cognates. Cognates are words in two languages with a common etymology. They can be similar in meaning, spelling, and pronunciation. Cognates can become a connection between two foreign languages. Examples of true cognates between English and Spanish are the words “doctor, family, architect, and imagination.” In Spanish they are “doctor, familia, arquitecto, and imaginación.” I was taught a long time ago that there are at least 20% to 30% cognates between English and Spanish. This would mean that an English and Spanish speaker knows at least 20% of vocabulary from another language without realizing it.

There are also though false cognates which can make it challenging, because they may look and sound the same but the meaning is totally different. For example the word “éxito (success) in Spanish does not mean the same with its English cognate “exit”. Another word like “asistir” in Spanish may have a different meaning from assist in English, because the word “asistir” in Spanish can mean “to attend” in English. When I taught English in Mexico City we taught these differences and found that students benefit from cognate awareness and this is helpful with any language acquisition.

Other languages in Category I are Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. They also have similarities with English. They have words that are Germanic-based cognate vocabulary too: Monday Tuesday Wednesday, in Danish, are Mandag, Tirsdag, Onsdag.  Other two are Afrikaans and Portuguese where the Portuguese words “meu amigo” can be easily read as “mi amigo” in Spanish.

In Category II they have placed those languages with significant linguistic and/or cultural differences from English. It is calculated that it will take up to 1100 class hours (44 weeks). Some of the most common languages in this group are Russian, Finnish, Albanian, Hindi, Hebrew and Greek.

The Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters: 21 consonants, 10 vowels, and two letters without sound – soft sign and hard sign. Look at the following significant difference in pronunciation and the need to learn a totally different alphabet.

Now there is another chart that shows five categories. Some of its variants is that it places German in Category II with (30 weeks) 750 hours. Category III (36 weeks) 900 hours with Swahili, Malaysian and Indonesian. Category IV is the Category II in this article (44 weeks) 1100 hours and their Category V is the same as the Category III in this article with (88 weeks) 2200 hours. The point I found interesting is the amount of time one needs to invest just to be able to speak another language and how the military was the one who helped in categorizing and was somehow the brainchild for methods in language teaching.

If you speak a foreign language how long did it take you to learn it? What methods of learning a new language do you prefer? Please share your thoughts. Would love to hear how you learned a second language?

During the Summer Institute I recall leaving Brent Smith’s session, Leadership Styles: The Impact of Personality and Preferences, with a greater appreciation of how the leader really does set the tone for an organization.  Until then, I had not given much thought to how a leader’s actions and decisions can be perceived by others, let alone how they set the tone for an organization.  Yes, I had heard of campuses that always seemed to shine because of a “wonderful” principal.  However, as a result of the material presented in that session, I now understand more about the dynamics that could have contributed to their success.  What may be viewed as a “toxic environment” or a “well-oiled machine” is in part the result of not only who is sitting in the captain’s seat, but perhaps more importantly, how they are steering their crew.

Another memorable part of my year came from the interaction I had with one of our presenters, Rick Hess. He emphasized the importance of “selling yourself”.  While this may be considered as a given for REEP participants, it was very eye-opening to me because it was a stark contrast to much of my previous experience.  Hess also stressed the need to seek out and be the change you want!  It is not uncommon for educators to go over and beyond the call of duty to find a strategy to help a struggling student master a concept.  While I frequently do this in the classroom, as an aspiring school leader, I realized that there is a need for this outside the classroom also.

Finally, REEP provides phenomenal networking opportunities on a local, state and national level.  In my opinion, the REEP staff does an excellent job seeking innovative participants to make the entire program a well-rounded experience.  This year, I’ve had the opportunity to engage in discourse that has resulted in me joining professional organizations, learning about new technology and most importantly, building a close bond with like-minded educators who are passionate about kids learning and the power of power of positive change.  The best thing is that now, they are all just an email or phone call away.

Over the course of this past year, I have been given so many wonderful and amazing blessings, and I sit here grateful as I type this. My time at Rice was only one of the many experiences that contributed to my senior experience.

For all the bashing and trash talk I have towards the education system in America, I want to close by saying this: all and all, I do actually support and approve the educational foundations of America. Sure there needs to be a little body work done, but that’s only to improve an already fantastic system.

We’ve got great teachers, great resources, and great minds, all working towards the central goal of making this world a better place. Overall, America is one of the few countries in the world where a great education can get you places based on merit alone, and I stand by that statement.

Regarding my personal education and experience, I plan to attend Texas A&M University to obtain a degree in Nuclear Engineering, and am super excited to be a part of the class of 2016. It’s a crazy chaotic time in my life, but I feel prepared for it.

I’m ready to write my next chapter.

As for the readers who are reading this, I would like to close by saying this:

Thank you so much.

I would not be here without you. It’s plain and simple: If no one is reading my posts, I would not be a writer for the REEP program, and here I am writing for the REEP program, so that implies someone out there reads my posts.

You, dear reader, have been so fantastic, so supportive, so encouraging.

You have changed my life, and for that, I am eternally grateful.

With best wishes and warm regards,

Jacob Dwyer

The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center teaches foreign languages to the military.  It was founded on the eve of America’s entrance to World War II to teach the Japanese language. It was a secret school in 1941 in an abandoned airplane hangar. There were about 60 students at the time who were second-generation Japanese-Americans from the West Coast. They studied the Japanese language and military terminology. In 1942 it was known as the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS). It was the only class ever given in this building. Wartime fears had led Japanese and Japanese American expulsion to isolated camps. This was a wartime internment in post-war years, but it marked the beginning of the importance of learning a foreign language to help in wartime.

So, why is this important to note? How did this affect what we know about education in the field of teaching a second language to English speakers?

When I went to medical school, I learned that much of the advancement in the medical field especially in modern emergency medicine came about thanks to pressure in the battlefield. It seems like in times of war is when we are pressured to perfection and in the area of education this is no exception.

Did you know that in 1947 during the Cold War, Russian became the largest language program?  It was then to be followed by Chinese, Korean, Arabic, and six other languages. It was then renamed the Army Language School.

The army saw a need to include foreign language education to their military, to give them an advantage in battle and enhance the nation’s security. The military being pressed in finding methods that would be cost effective and time efficient for their military programs created programs that in 1979 won academic accreditation.

Eventually the school became known for its academics in foreign language education and was the brainchild for the audio-lingual method. To my amazement this was the same method we were teaching at “Interlingua de Mexico” in Mexico City. I started teaching English a year before I started Med School in 1980. Teachers had great support from counselors and coordinators making sure teachers knew the method well. I eventually became a counselor and taught the method to new teachers, but what was the method like?

The school would not allow students to speak in their native tongue. A brief explanation of this is given in the first class on how one will work. If students had questions, they had to wait until the end of the class to make them, unless they would try to ask in English. Teachers would use flashcards and simple commands to have students learn what is expected from them. One would start with commands that would help them communicate with the teacher. Commands such as “pass me___”, “take___” were the ones used for starters. Students were taught to ask “How do you say (Spanish word) in English? to help them get started. Errors were corrected, and students used repetition and memorization until accuracy was achieved. Students had a workbook that they would take home and practice writing what they had learned in the classroom. No writing was allowed in the classroom. Students would get a full hour of just oral practice and lessons were geared to encourage communication abilities from day one. As students advanced new vocabulary was introduced through story-telling, there was a brief explanation on the grammar mechanics. First practice was mechanical. Teachers would use the same structure while introducing new vocabulary for example they would show a flashcard of a girl swimming. Students would have to make the sentence, “She is swimming”. Teachers would cue the word with the flashcard dance and students would have to use the new word using the new structure they had learned. “He is dancing”. Level of difficulty would be increased depending on the students’ ability to understand the patterns. What I loved about the method is that it worked.

This is more or less the teaching process of the audio-lingual:

Introduction

• Oral presentation
•  New vocabulary

Drills

• Mechanical- Teacher controls one answer response
• Meaningful- Teacher controls question, student has control of the answer
• Communicative- Students get the chance to practice real life dialogues, such as a restaurant, or a bank by using the new structure and it offers them the opportunity to immerse the student in the culture where new structure and vocabulary can be used.

So, what is The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language center? It is described as one of the best and finest schools for foreign language instruction in the nation. Their teachers are all native speakers. Students are placed in an immersion program were no English is spoken. Their method is similar to the ones I learned in Mexico City. No Spanish was allowed in the classroom. Students learned vocabulary that would be useful at a restaurant, at the airport, or in a hospital. When I checked their website I was amazed by some of the similarities.

Now I only have experience in teaching English but I cannot imagine how it works with other languages.  One measure of difficulty in learning a foreign language is the degree in which it differs from the students’ native tongue. The U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service Institute has grouped them into three or four categories depending on the amount of hours one needs to study to achieve a certain level of proficiency.

If you can speak several languages, please share how did you learn them? What school would you recommend? Does learning a different language in college differ from that learned in a language Institute? Would love to hear your stories, and please follow me on the second part of my Blog on how language learning difficulty for English speakers has been categorized.

As I hurtled into May, everything seemed to be happening at once. The senior class was writing and presenting speeches, senior ex groups were creating powerpoints and most importantly groups were setting out on Social Action.

Social Action is a large component of the Senior Exhibition process. Because we have spent so much time researching social issues, our teachers challenge us to take what we have learned from that research and try and make an impact on our chosen issue. We are tasked with designing and implementing the project from start to finish, a monumental mission!

Social Action can take many forms, but the common thread between all Social Action projects is that they are driven by students. For example, a group that researched the impacts of war might develop a project which connects veterans to veteran services. This would most likely involve the group researching and compiling a database of veteran service organizations in the area, partnering with said organizations, and then reaching out to veterans and making their list/database available for veteran and public use. This project makes me think of the Ripple Effect. With every phase and piece of the project, a ripple of change is created and the ripples extend for infinity. Social Action has the potential to be this magnificent ripple of goodness which reverberates around the world.

Because of Social Action’s potential for good, I was especially excited to begin. This part of my Senior Exhibition is extremely meaningful to me because it connects to what I would like to do in the future as a possible Doctor Without Borders. For my group’s Social Action, we created an informative short documentary on an outreach program called “I’m Not the One”, as well as partnered with the Spring Branch Community Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center.

Spring Branch works to bring affordable health care to the traditionally underserved and so they have a strong focus on community outreach. Our partnership with Spring Branch focuses on three main components, monthly baby showers, corporate sponsorship, and new promotional pamphlets.

The monthly baby showers are a part of Spring Branch’s efforts to reach mothers in their area.  At each one of the monthly baby showers, between 60 and 80 mothers attend and have the opportunity to receive such necessities as diapers and wipes. Perhaps even more important, they also have the opportunity to attend a prenatal care class and sign up for a prenatal health screening. These monthly baby showers are an important tool for Spring Branch because they build trust in the community and make residents aware of the services that Spring Branch offers.

As part of our Social Action, my group organized and collected donations and made baskets for the baby showers. Additionally, we are in the process of developing some corporate sponsorship with such companies as Pampers and Luvs. With their support, Spring Branch can be secure in their ability to provide for the mothers and babies in their community.

Another essential piece of outreach which we have assisted with is the creation of a new promotional pamphlet. As a relatively new health center, Spring Branch is still establishing its place in the surrounding community. Some of the challenges they are facing in their outreach include language barriers, transportation barriers, and illiteracy. To help break some of these barriers, my group collaborated with Spring Branch and designed a pamphlet that was multi-lingual and rich in telling illustrations. By addressing some of the barriers, my group feels the pamphlets will now reach a larger audience and resonate in a more meaningful way.

Most of the work I described about my social action here had to do with raising awareness. When I think of my other classmates who are currently doing Social Action, I see a similar pattern; awareness seems to be an important part of the Social Action project. That being said, what Social Action have you done in your life? Have you found it to include awareness-raising as an essential piece? Please share your stories below.