BOONE—Public school students in Burke County will soon have expanded foreign language options, thanks to a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Matching funds from Appalachian State University and Burke County Public Schools brings the budget for the three-year project to more than $1 million.

Foreign language teachers in the Burke County Public School are part of a project with Appalachian State University to expand foreign language options in all grade levels. The project is being coordinated by Beverly Moser, second row, left, an associate professor of German in Appalachian’s Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. (Photo courtesy of Beverly Moser)

The grant, a collaboration by educators from Burke County Public Schools and professors from Appalachian, will enhance the existing Spanish program and help the school system expand its offerings in French and German, putting those languages on par with current offerings in Spanish. The grant also gradually extends foreign language instruction in all three languages into the county’s elementary schools.

Dr. Beverly Moser, an associate professor of German in Appalachian’s Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, and Dr. Pollyanne Frantz with the Office of Grants and Sponsored Research, developed the proposal for the DOE’s Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant in collaboration with lead teachers in the schools.

Moser said Burke County’s diverse population and their commitment to foreign language instruction make it a logical choice for the collaborative project.

“Burke County has a very large Hispanic population, making it clear to people why it might be important to learn Spanish,” Moser said. “It also has a very large Hmong population for which the foreign language of choice is French, and it has a very engaged German contingent from the German-based companies that have located in the area with individuals who speak German. There was a strong interest in each language.”

The grant has the potential of reaching 7,424 Burke County school students by its third year.

“It has been quite a few years since we have taught foreign language in the lower grades. I hope we can do more of that with this grant, said David Burleson, superintendent of Burke County Public Schools. “We see the need for foreign language instruction at all grade levels, especially with the emphasis of the state’s new core curriculum. To graduate from high school, a student must have at least two years of a foreign language.”

A goal of the project is to systematically expand and improve the quality of foreign language instruction in a model that can be replicated in other rural counties across the United States.

The project is divided into three phases. The first year will be spent planning the program with involvement of all foreign language teachers in the county, and building supportive partnerships for the language program with parents and community businesses. Funds from the grant also will be used to hire six middle school teachers in French and German who will begin teaching in August 2008.

During the second and third year of the project, all foreign language teachers, including the newly hired teachers, will extend foreign language instruction in all three languages to the county elementary schools that currently have no foreign language instruction. By the last year of the grant, middle school students will enter high school having studied one of the three languages.

To support teachers in this work, Appalachian will host a summer foreign language institute for the foreign language teachers, from 2008-2010. In one graduate-level course each summer, they will work on the county’s curriculum and learn new teaching and assessment techniques. They will also take an additional content course in the foreign language they teach. The grant will cover all expenses and pay the teachers a modest stipend.

“The opportunities this grant provides for training for our present foreign language staff were very enticing to us,” Burleson said. “We realize the need for foreign language teachers to come together and share strategies.”

The teachers will spend three weeks at Appalachian, speaking only their target language while in their residence halls or classrooms.

“We know that for the best practices in foreign language instruction, you need instructors who are comfortable in the target language,” Moser said. “Most people who teach over time need language maintenance. And even teachers who are native speakers benefit from the exposure to new teaching techniques and ways to reach an American audience.”

The Foreign Language Assistance Program is one of the few federal programs that allow use of funds to pay teacher salaries, Moser said. “Foreign language instruction is expensive. In order to be a good foreign language instructor you really have to master the language, and very few Americans master two languages well enough to teach both of them. You have to have people dedicated to each of the foreign languages you want to offer. And, you have to have enough contact hours with students each week for learning to be optimal. This means you have to hire more language teachers to do this work.”

Moser said Burke County school officials are committed to continuing the program when the federal funding ends. “In Burke County, there is interest in some day offering Arabic or Chinese, but for now, it’s most important to establish high quality foreign language programs in languages that can be staffed over time.” When new programs in Chinese or Arabic are available, Burke County will have students who already know how to learn a foreign language, she said.

“In this day of globalization, Americans need to become good foreign language learners, period. And by learning another language, students learn about another culture and participate in being a citizen of the world,” Moser said. “Burke County is really committed to internationalizing their students. At Appalachian, we are delighted to be partners with them.”

Contacts:

Beverly Moser (828) 262-2303

David Burleson (828) 439-4312