National Foreign Language Resource Center

Are you a new or developing Project-Based Language Learning (PBLL) practitioner looking for support and guidance as you plan and incorporate PBLL in your classes? Then consider joining our Mentoring PBLL Teachers Program as a mentee. The Mentoring PBLL Teachers program leverages the experience and expertise of a skilled cadre of veteran PBLL practitioners as resources supporting the professional learning of the rising generation of new PBLL practitioners. The mentors will be ...world language teachers who have completed an NFLRC PBLL Summer Institute, professional development offered by the Buck Institute for Education / PBLWorks, or other extended professional learning, and have implemented PBLL in their classes. The mentees are world language teachers who are interested in learning about PBLL and how to implement PBLL in their classrooms. One mentor will be paired with one mentee through a semester to provide support and consultation about PBLL. Mentors will also share their personal experiences and knowledge in adopting PBLL. Mentors and mentees will use open educational resources (OERs) on PBLL developed by NFLRC as supporting materials. The mentoring will be conducted virtually via email, phone, or videoconferences with at least 5 meetings. The NFLRC invites prospective mentors and mentees to sign up as part of the mentorship database. The NFLRC performs mentor-mentee matching based on requests submitted by mentees. Mentor-mentee matches are based on mentees' preferences to the extent possible. See our webpage for more information or to sign up: https://nflrc.hawaii.edu//nflrc-mentoring-program-for-pro/ #langchat @GoGlobalED

Why defining bilingualism can be a challenge: https://theconversation.com/what-makes-someone-bilingual-th

How to help students build biliteracy skills: https://www.languagemagazine.com//the-science-of-reading-/

Spanish-language networks debut multilingual programming for kids: https://www.nytimes.com//telev/mundo-kids-hispanic-tv.html

Multilingualism helped by culturally responsive teaching: https://www.languagemagazine.com//creating-a-culturally-r/

REMINDER: Register for the Launch Event for our 2021 OLP Series: "Supporting Students in Online Language Learning: Voices of Experience." We interviewed 14 online language educators who shared their tips for onboarding, supporting students, and assessment in online courses. Registrants will have first access to all episodes and their TED-ED lessons. All for free! Registration deadline: April 21. For more information, visit https://nflrc.hawaii.edu/events/view/6160/ https://w...ww.facebook.com/events/185926023140611 #LangChat @GoGlobalED

ONE DAY LEFT!: The April 1 registration deadline for the second offering of our Envisioning Project-Based Language Learning (PBLL) MOOC (April 5-May 7, 2021) is coming up fast! Sign up today! Envisioning Project-Based Language Learning (PBLL) is designed as a 5-week open-enrollment course (self-study) for language educators beginning to learn about Project-Based Language Learning (PBLL). Successful learners will be able to describe essential features of high quality PBLL and ...to generate high-quality ideas for projects using the Product Square. Registration and the content for this MOOC (massive open online course) is FREE. However, if you wish to earn the optional digital badge for completion afterwards, you will need to meet the badge criteria and pay a nominal fee ($25) to have your submitted materials evaluated by NFLRC staff. For more information or to register: http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/events/view/126/ #PBLL #LangChat @GoGlobalED

The April 2021 issue (Volume 33, Number 1) of the electronic journal Reading in a Foreign Language (RFL) is now online and can be read at: https://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/ In this issue of RFL, we have five regular articles. Two of these report studies of online extensive reading, a mode of reading that is likely to increase over time. In the first of these, Tuan Bui and John Macalister report on its use with university students in Vietnam, with a focus on fluency changes and pe...rceptions. In the second, Jing Zhou and Richard R. Day report on how EAP students in an American university experienced online extensive reading. Both studies point to the feasibility and acceptability of this approach, though not without some caveats. Extensive reading is also the focus of the article by Ya-Han Yang, Hsi-Chin Chu and WenTa Tseng. They look at the effects of the text difficulty on the reading comprehension and reading motivation of English as a foreign language (EFL) vocational high school students in Taiwan. They situate their study within Krashen’s input theory and Samuels’ automaticity principle and contribute to our understanding of both. In his article, Ethan M. Lynn explores unassisted repeated reading with attention to intensity, treatment duration, background knowledge, and individual and text variations on reading rate. This is the first study looking at the use of unassisted repeated reading in a post-secondary ESL setting, and the results in terms of reading rate gains may surprise some readers. In the fifth article, Say Phonekeo and John Macalister look at the effect of implementing a ‘culture of thinking’ approach in reading instruction in a teacher education programme in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic; in another first, we believe this is the first time the Lao PDR has featured in RFL. The authors find that principled changes to the format and presentation of coursebook material can significantly affect student learning. In this issue we also continue with the new feature we began a year ago, New Directions in Reading Research. In this feature, Stuart McLean raises important questions about the ways in which researchers address text difficulty in what he calls the Coverage Comprehension Model. McLean examines two major assumptions: the threshold for mastery that is applied when using a levels test, and the nature of the word counting unit. One possible conclusion readers may draw from this is a questioning of the existing research literature RFL is sponsored by the National Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC). There is no subscription fee to readers of the journal. It is published twice a year, in April and October. Detailed information about subscription to Reading in a Foreign Language can be found at https://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/subscribe/.

NFLRC/CLT Graduate Assistant position available for qualified University of Hawai‘i at Mnoa graduate students. Application deadline June 7. For more information or application form, visit: https://www.governmentjobs.com//graduate-assistant-nationa NOTE: Please do NOT send application forms via Facebook. Please use the official application form on the webpage linked above.

D.C. museum explores the world of words, languages: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/a-new-mu/5896434.html