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Illinois International High School Initiative Grant
In the fall of 2003 several faculty from the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures - Fred Betz, Ofélia Nikolova, and Greg Taylor – together with Usha Lakshmanan from the Department of Psychology, wrote a grant proposal which was submitted to the Illinois International High School Initiative Office at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The proposal offered enhanced outreach activities in the Southern Illinois area focusing on the organization of professional development workshops for foreign language teachers from the region.
For the year 2004 the proposal was funded at the rate of $5,000. Professor Betz is the Principal Investigator, Kitty Mabus serves as a budget officer for the grant. After the annual evaluation by the granting agency, the Department was offered and accepted a second merit-based grant for the same amount for the period April 15, 2005 – April 14, 2006. On April 23, 2004 the first workshop entitled “Foreign Languages: Doors to Opportunity” took place in the Video Lounge of the fourth floor of the Student Center at SIUC. It was a tremendous success, attracting more than eighty high school students and twelve teachers from southern Illinois. A panel of several foreign language and international educators and business people discussed the opportunities created by the mastering of a foreign language in today’s global society. See the program (with a photo).
On November 6, 2004 the second workshop “Methodological Issues in Foreign Language Instruction” took place in one of the “smart classrooms” of Faner Hall. Professors Taylor and Nikolova talked about issues in reading, listening, and group work. The fifteen attending teachers participated in hands-on activities they could later use in their own classrooms. See the program
On April 16, 2005 the third workshop “The Use of Technology in Foreign Language Instruction” was held in the New Media Center under the hospitable supervision of its Director, Professor Thom Thibeault. Professors Taylor and Nikolova talked about the pedagogical value and need for PowerPoint presentations and the process of collecting assets from the Internet. They also walked the thirteen participants through the process of creating PowerPoint presentations for the foreign language classroom. See the program, (with a photo).
Finally, a fourth workshop is tentatively scheduled for November 2005. By popular demand, its topic will be a continuation of the technology topic. The workshop will aim to refine the participants’ skills in creating PowerPoint presentations for foreign language instruction.
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