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Community-Based Heritage Language Schools Conference

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2024 Community-Based Heritage Language Schools Conference The Role of Community-Based Schools in the Language Learning Landscape

Conference Program | October 4 & 5, 2024

 

Bios of plenary speakers can be found here.

 

Friday, October 4 – 1:00 to 6:15 p.m. Eastern time
  
Conference Opening - 1:00-1:30 p.m.  

Plenary Speaker - 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.

Community and Heritage Language Schools Transforming Education: Research, Challenges, Teaching Practices, and Next Steps
 Ken Cruickshank, Professor of Education, University of Sydney, Australia
 
Community-Based Heritage Language Schools are a key component of the language education sector. They have been running in the United States for well over a century, and they operate in every country around the world where there is migration or minority languages. Over 2 million students attend the schools each week. In this session I will present recent research into what we know about the schools and the challenges they face. More importantly, I will look at changes and future trends in the schools: tea scher supply and training, the shift to 2nd and 3rd generation learners, challenges in technology, the role of schools in building communities, and how the schools are becoming more visible to the mainstream society. Many schools, however, remain fragile, depending on parent support. Finally, I will look at ways to strengthen schools and gain financial support for them.

  
Break- 2:30-2:45 p.m.  
Workshops - 2:45-3:45 p.m.
  
Administrators

Helping Parents to Engage More with Their Children in the Language

Antonella Cortese, PhD, Co-founder and Director, Comitato Promotore della Lingua Italiana - CPLI Italian Language School, Canada

Daniela Silva, Executive Director, ABRACE, Brazilian Portuguese School, Washington, DC area

Jennifer de Lima, Founding Board Member, ISLA (Immersion for Spanish Language Acquisition), North Carolina
 
This workshop addresses the processes that three different community-based HL schools employ to support parents in their children’s HL learning, while creating invested involvement for parents to maintain/learn the HL their children are learning. Participants will take away from the workshop specific ways that these schools educate, involve, and support parents of HL school students and give them strategies to advocate for their children in public school. There will be time for discussion and sharing of ideas.
 
Teachers

Engaging Teenagers in Community-Based Schools

Ken Cruickshank, Professor of Education, University of Sydney, Australia
 
High school students make up only 12% of learners in community-based heritage language schools, and they have high dropout rates. There are often different ages, interests, and levels of language fluency in the one class.

In this workshop, we will first discuss the issues you face in your classes and programs and approaches you have tried. We will then look at some solutions that have worked in different schools in the UK and Australia and consider how they can be used in the U.S. Participants will receive handouts and URL links for these strategies.
  
Break- 3:45-4:00 p.m.  

Panel and Networking Session – Collaborations - 4:00-5:45 p.m.

In the large room - 4 presenters from schools on 4 different topics

Collaborations Between Community-Based and Public Schools
Anjela Hasheva-Piette, President, Association of Bulgarian Schools in America
Yalda M. Kaveh, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Bilingual Education, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University - Persian language schools

Working with the State Department of Education
Ayumi Stockman, World Languages Education Specialist, Minnesota Department of Education
Ema Shirk, Dual and Heritage Language Program Supervisor, Multilingual Education, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Washington

 
In this session, the first two presenters describe the ways that their community-based heritage language schools – Bulgarian and Persian – collaborate with public schools and universities as well as the benefits that it brings to the students and their families, including building a strong community, promoting a cultural identity, and being awarded the state Seal of Biliteracy.

The second two presenters, who hold positions in the state Department of Education in Minnesota and Washington, describe how they identify, document (in the Coalition school database and map), support, and collaborate with the community-based heritage language schools in their state, including helping the students be awarded the state Seal of Biliteracy. 

There will be time for questions and discussion and a networking time, where people can work in groups to talk about the types of collaborations they are involved in and would like to undertake.
  
Friday Closing - 5:45-6:15 p.m.
  
Meet and Greet at a Local Restaurant – 6:30 p.m.
  
   
Saturday, October 5 – 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. Eastern time  
Opening and Review of the Day – 10:00-10:15 a.m.
  
Plenary Speaker – 10:15-11:15a.m. 
Expanding Heritage Language Education in the U.S.: Historic Immigration & Renewed Opportunities
Richard Brecht, PhD, Co-Director, American Councils Research Center; Co-Founder & Chief Language Officer, Jeenie Augmented Interpretation

Community Based Heritage Language Schools (CBHLS) have, for well over a century, demonstrated how new immigrant communities can successfully integrate into U.S. society and continue to develop the language and cultural knowledge of their children. Their efforts to produce an appreciation of ‘difference’ between others’ and one’s own culture, through ‘Third Place’ awareness, is especially welcome in these times of political, social, and racial division. Multilingualism, one of our richest and most productive characteristics, can bind us together as much as tear us apart. However, the path is not completely clear, particularly regarding interactions among heritage, immigrant, and formal language education communities. After reviewing the current situation, we will consider questions like: How active are current CBHLS in working with new heritage communities? How aware are new immigrants of CBHLS and their focus on providing language and culture instruction for their children? Do PreK-16 educators see this opportunity as increasing language enrollments and advancing social justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals in language education? In sum, we will attempt to discern from heritage, immigrant, and language education participants in the conference whether suggested advantages of collaboration among them are recognized, accepted, and achievable in community-based heritage language schools as well as in PreK-16 public and private school classrooms.

 
  
Break- 11:15-11:30 a.m.  
Workshops – 11:30 -12:30 p.m.  
Administrators

A Checklist for Program Establishment and Evaluation

Shuhan Wang, PhD, President, ELE (Excellence in Language Education) Consulting International

John Chi, PhD student, Applied Linguistics and Language Education, University of Maryland
 
Developing and sustaining strong programs has always been challenging for community-based heritage language (CBHL) schools, as most of them function independently as non-profit organizations and rely primarily on parents and volunteers. In this workshop, we introduce new CBHL program guidelines that are adapted from a checklist for world language, immersion, and dual language programs (Wang & Peyton, 2018). The goals of the workshop are for participants to familiarize themselves with the guidelines and provide feedback on them so that they will serve as a useful tool for program evaluation. Participants will walk away with essential elements for exceptional CBHL programs that they can use to develop new programs or sustain and ensu

Teachers

Transformative Pedagogy for Heritage Languages: From Cross-Curricular Projects to Social Action

James (Jim) Anderson, PhD, Visiting Research Fellow, Goldsmiths, University of London; Co-director, Critical Connections Multilingual Digital Storytelling Project, at Goldsmiths

Engaging heritage language (HL) learners in using and building their language, particularly in the teenage years, has been a challenge, and it has also led to a better understanding of needs and of possible directions. It is important to see beyond rationalist and instrumental perspectives and see beyond binary and fixed notions of culture and heritage. Taking account of action-based and critical pedagogy, there has been a growing emphasis on learner agency, empowerment, and voice as well as on outcomes that involve presentation to and performance for genuine audiences. In this workshop we reflect on initiatives and perspectives that have gained attention in recent years, including:

  • (Technology-Enhanced) Project-Based Language Learning
  • Arts-Based Language Learning and Collaborations With Museums and Galleries
  • Intercultural Citizenship Education (ICE) and Community Service Learning (CSL)

We then examine research-based examples of innovative work that has proven effective in community-based HL schools in the UK and the US, involving a range of languages, and ask participants to make notes related to the following:

 1. What for you are the most striking features of the projects described?
 2.  Have you seen or been involved in similar projects?
 3.What are the implications for HL pedagogy and for teacher professional development?

The second half of the workshop will be devoted to feedback from participants and further discussion.

A list of relevant references will be provided.

 
 

  
Lunch – 12:30-1:30 p.m.  
Panel and Networking Session – 1:30-3:15 p.m.

What Schools Are Doing 
Jitka Sebek – Czech and Slovak School, Twin Cities, Minnesota
Negar Mansourian-Hadavi, PhD, Director, Chicago Persian School
Benita Wojciechowski, Director of Cultural and Educational Programs, Piast Institute, in Michigan - Polish schools
Christina Pikhmanets - Saturday School of Ukrainian Studies in Manhattan, NY

 In this session, four presenters describe the unique and successful activities and instructional practices that are implemented in their community-based heritage language schools – Czech/Slovak, Persian, Polish, and Ukrainian – as examples for other language schools. There is time for questions and discussion and a networking time, where people can work in groups to learn more about these activities and instructional practices and talk about the unique and successful activities and instructional practices implemented in their schools.

 		  
Break- 3:15-3:30 p.m.  
Workshops – 3:30 -4:30 p.m.  

 

Administrators

Revitalizing and Strengthening Heritage Language Education by Cultivating Teacher Agency

Heike Feltes, MAT, Director, Bay Area Kinderstube; NorCal Chapter President of AATG (American Council of Teachers of German)

Shahnaz Ahmadeian Fard, PhD, Director of Programs, San Diego State University's Language Acquisition Resource Center

It is essential to recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to teacher professional development and support. Educators have diverse needs based on their unique backgrounds, experiences, and teaching contexts, which necessitates nuanced and tailored approaches to professional development. Heritage language programs can significantly enhance their professional development offerings by catering to the unique needs of their educators. Within the context of community-based heritage language schools, the feasibility and practicality of implementing specialized teacher professional development cannot be overlooked. Administrators must navigate a myriad of constraints and considerations, often necessitating compromises. This workshop delves into two distinct approaches employed by the Iranian School of San Diego and the German Saturday and Language Schools of Northern California in response to their unique circumstances, emphasizing the importance of considering language teachers' educational backgrounds, teaching experiences, and other factors. There will be time for discussion among the participants

Teachers

Practical Applications of AI Technology in the Heritage Language Classroom

Frederick Poole, PhD, Core Faculty, Assistant Professor, Center for Language Teaching Advancement, Michigan State University

Samir Patel, Founder and CEO, KidsLipi Inc. 

In the last few years there has been an explosion of AI tools, due to the release of ChatGPT in 2022. There is both fear and excitement around the possibility of these tools and what they mean for language educators. In this workshop, we explore practical applications of free and readily available AI tools for the language classroom. For example, participants will learn how to use AI for lesson planning, designing activities, generating images, and for assessment purposes. In this interactive session, participants will apply examples to their own context in their target language and provide feedback to fellow participants on the outcomes. By the end of the workshop all participants will have several examples of how AI can be used in their community-based language classrooms.
 

  
Break- 4:30-4:45 p.m.  

Embassy and Foundation Leaders - 4:45-5:30p.m

We welcome all of the Embassy and Consulate officials who are able to join us. We will have the opportunity to hear about the ways they are engaging with students learning their language and with community-based heritage language schools. We will have time to interact with them during the closing reception.

  
Conference Closing – 5:30-6:00 p.m.  
Reception – 6:00- 7:00 p.m.