Lessons that Connect Communities Joanne E. O’Toole, Ph.D. Jillian Richardson SUNY Oswego

Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21 st Century: Communities Goal 5.1 Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting. 5.2 Students show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment.

Communities Standards (5.1, 5.2) Combine elements from other goal areas to… Communicate meaningfully (Standard 1) Apply concepts of culture (Standard 2) Connect to other disciplines (Standard 3) Develop insight into own language and culture (Standard 4) …within the classroom, school, and target language communities near and far (5.1) …for personal benefit (5.2)

Community within the Classroom Creates a sense of belonging, caring, and trust; Increases learners’ commitment to each other, ethical behaviors; Develops learners’ social and emotional competencies; and Increases learners’ academic motivation

Community in the Classroom Happens When Learners Have Opportunities to… Learn about each others’ identities, thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and experiences Engage in common activities The result: Shared experience, language, knowledge and culture.

One Teacher’s Approach Audience: Culturally, ethnically, and racially diverse 8 th grade, Spanish 1 learners Community Building Goals: Bring the outside community into the classroom Create community within the classroom To facilitate relationship building To build social skills

A Unit to Build Community NYS Syllabus Topic: Food and Mealtaking Learning Resources: Culturally-based texts Culminating Project: Student-created cinquain poems based on recipes from own family and/or culture –Communicate meaningfully –Apply concepts of culture –Connect to other disciplines –Develop insights into own language and culture

Community Outreach Students… …reached out to family and community members to discuss and identify a recipe or food item important to their culture …brought recipe into the classroom …integrated recipe into cinquain poem

Building Classroom Community Students… …wrote and illustrated cinquain poems …shared their poems with each through a poetry symposium …explained the recipe choice and the meaning they gave it

Some Examples

Outcomes for Learners A visibly noticeable sense of community emerged in the classroom! Improved student interactions Interest in classmates’ cultures expressed through questions and conversation A sense of unity among classmates derived from the shared experience

Food for Thought Consider… What are some ways you have or you might bring the outside community into the language classroom? What are some ways you have or you might build community within the language classroom?

Community Inclusive, celebratory Belonging, trusting, valuing Building community builds understanding. Shared culture

References Kriete, R. (2003). Start the day with community. Educational Leadership, 61(1), National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project (1999). Standards for foreign language learning in the 21 st century. Lawrence, KS: Allen Press. Schaps, E. (2003). Creating a school community. Educational Leadership, 60(6), Shrum, J. L., & Glisan, E. W. (2010). Teacher’s handbook: Contextualized language instruction (4 th ed.). Boston: Heinle.