Date:
Location:
With support from the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the Dept. of NELC
Facilitator: Prof. Gabriela Nik Ilieva, New York University (gni1@nyu.edu)
In the field of foreign language education, a backward design framework recommends that lesson objectives be designed in tandem with assessments in order to adequately measure what learners know. In addition, the lesson is expected to be based on 21st Century World Readiness Standards in order to offer well structured, engaging and rich topic-based learning and practice. The discussion will focus on ways to do that through the integration of language, culture and content and will offer several examples from materials on topics such as eco justice and sustainability, recently designed through a Fulbright curriculum development program for Hindi (https://wp.nyu.edu/virtualhindi/traditional-eco-lifestyles/). They will illustrate how the choice of the theme itself can yield the design of instruction and performance assessment based on the principle of integration of language, culture and content. It is productive for the language classroom, because learners’ competencies are developed through real-life contexts from the target country and its communities. To prepare learners for communication while using their language skills and cultural understanding, they engage in investigating cultural products, practices, and perspectives, and in exploring other disciplines to make real-world connections. If needed, differentiating between heritage and foreign language learners will also be explored in terms of task, material or process. Afterall, engaging learners in appropriately tailored and cognitively challenging activities based on a variety of authentic resources about real life creates positive attitudes towards language learning as a whole.
The workshop is divided in 3 segments:
1:00-2:15pm: presentation and discussion
2:30-3:15pm: hands-on session
3:30-4:00pm: show-and-tell and wrap up