World Language Department Outlook Bringing the Best in Second Language Acquisition to the Students at Lab Compiled by Allison Weiss ([email protected]) with input from the World Language Department, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. Last revision: February 20, 2008. NOTE: As a department, we are fully aware that many of our requests will not be feasible or even fit into the Master Plan. However, we felt it appropriate and timely to describe the kinds of conditions in which Lab students would have better opportunities to learn a second language, in the hypothetical case that resources were not a determining factor. If the planning committee decides to incorporate any of these ideas into future learning spaces we request that they inquire as to our priorities and preferences before making final decisions (i.e. We can implement only one of x number of feasible ideas. Which is the most important to you?). Please be in communication with us and we will work together to make an informed decision that best represents the interests of the students and teachers in the department. Top Five Priorities As we begin the planning process, our first and most pressing priority is to have adequate classrooms that are dedicated to language instruction. If nothing else is accomplished, this one change would have a dramatic impact on the quality of instruction for all language students across the Schools. Our second priority is to have a dedicated performance space where students can rehearse and perform for each other and their parents. Our third priority is to have small meeting spaces, not necessarily dedicated to the department, that can be reserved for one-on-one tutoring, parent- teacher conferences, student projects, and Independent Study courses. Our fourth priority is to have adequate office and storage spaces. Our fifth priority would be to have access to a kitchen space where teachers and students could learn about the culture through food. Addressing the needs of these five areas would have the greatest impact on the quality of language instruction at Lab. 1. Classroom Spaces • Rooms need to be big enough to truly accommodate 23 students. This is especially true than when we are working in groups or rehearsing plays. Currently, students have to speak louder to compete with other voices in the room and can’t find quiet places to study or rehearse plays. • The Lower School needs dedicated rooms for language instruction that are closer to Lower School students’ homerooms. Lower School students miss out on upwards of 30% of the possible contact time with students due to long transits between homeroom and instructional areas. • Each language (Spanish, German, French, Latin, Chinese) needs one or more dedicated language classroom with storage space for that 1
Transcript
World Language Department OutlookBringing the Best in Second Language Acquisition to the Students at Lab
Compiled by Allison Weiss ([email protected]) with input from the World Language Department, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. Last revision: February 20, 2008.
NOTE: As a department, we are fully aware that many of our requests will not be feasible or even fit into the Master Plan. However, we felt it appropriate and timely to describe the kinds of conditions in which Lab students would have better opportunities to learn a second language, in the hypothetical case that resources were not a determining factor. If the planning committee decides to incorporate any of these ideas into future learning spaces we request that they inquire as to our priorities and preferences before making final decisions (i.e. We can implement only one of x number of feasible ideas. Which is the most important to you?). Please be in communication with us and we will work together to make an informed decision that best represents the interests of the students and teachers in the department.
Top Five PrioritiesAs we begin the planning process, our first and most pressing priority is to have adequate classrooms that are dedicated to language instruction. If nothing else is accomplished, this one change would have a dramatic impact on the quality of instruction for all language students across the Schools. Our second priority is to have a dedicated performance space where students can rehearse and perform for each other and their parents. Our third priority is to have small meeting spaces, not necessarily dedicated to the department, that can be reserved for one-on-one tutoring, parent-teacher conferences, student projects, and Independent Study courses. Our fourth priority is to have adequate office and storage spaces. Our fifth priority would be to have access to a kitchen space where teachers and students could learn about the culture through food. Addressing the needs of these five areas would have the greatest impact on the quality of language instruction at Lab.
1. Classroom Spaces
• Rooms need to be big enough to truly accommodate 23 students. This is especially true than when we are working in groups or rehearsing plays. Currently, students have to speak louder to compete with other voices in the room and can’t find quiet places to study or rehearse plays.
• The Lower School needs dedicated rooms for language instruction that are closer to Lower School students’ homerooms. Lower School students miss out on upwards of 30% of the possible contact time with students due to long transits between homeroom and instructional areas.
• Each language (Spanish, German, French, Latin, Chinese) needs one or more dedicated language classroom with storage space for that
language’s visual aids and project materials. Currently, teachers are doing a lot of traveling between departmental storage in UH207, their offices, and their several classrooms across the schools. This arrangement will also allow each language group to decorate the room with appropriate visual materials that motivate students and greatly enhance the learning experience.
• We would like to see small performance and rehearsal spaces built into the language-themed classrooms and/or the lower school language classrooms.
• The ideal classroom space has:
1. iCart laptops or desktops in a lab environment that are easily accessible to Lower School students,
2. 1:1 laptop program for all students in Middle and High Schools,3. adequate sound proofing (real walls unlike Judd 207),4. climate control and good ventilation,5. overhead projector (unlike BD159, UH301, UH219, UH217, Judd
207d),6. document camera,7. amplified sound in every classroom strong enough to amplify 1-3 lapel
or handheld microphones,8. natural light as well as the ability to quickly close the blinds and turn
off the lights for movies or projecting the computer on the screen,9. enough space to allow for multiple configurations in the same room so
teachers don’t lose time setting up the room for different activities (part of the classroom with desks, another part with a rug for stories, and an open space for dancing),
10. closet space for storing props and materials between classes, 11. magnetic white boards for writing on as well as quickly hanging visual
prompts (a huge part of language pedagogy), 12. at least two permanent display installations (i.e. wall space and cork
strips for hanging heavy tag board), 13. carpeted corner for storytelling, rehearsing plays, and playing games
on the ground, 14. at least 23 stacking chairs that do not roll (no arm rests),15. 23 individual desks that do roll easily with a braking mechanisms, 16. a long table for the teachers to set out props and lesson materials,17. a rolling (magnetic) white board about 4 feet wide to move written
instructions to where the students are.
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2. Performance Space
• The department is regularly rehearsing and performing plays. Second only to adequate classroom space, they would like to have a theater at their disposal with adequate A/V equipment and lighting, clip-on microphones, and excellent acoustics for young voices. This space could be reserved and reservations could be worked out between the teachers well in advance to avoid conflict, since most of these plays occur annually. An ideal space would have a seating capacity of at least 60, ideally 100. Parents and students from other language classes regularly attend these performances and struggle to see their children or schoolmates, because either it is done in a cramped classroom or because it is done in a large meeting space like Judd 126.
• While some classrooms will hopefully have their own mini “performing spaces”, what the department envisions here is a more functional, larger performing space that could be shared across the schools, or perhaps dedicated to the Middle and Lower Schools.
• This separate performance space could also double as a “Culture Room” where multiple classes in the same grade level could meet for immersive conversation, celebrations, food displays, marketplace activities, and academic bowls. This space could also be used for student travel abroad meetings and special guest speakers. One teacher has suggested that we look at implementing the idea of a “Language Café” where students go to eat and speak in the target language with each other or native guest speakers.
• One possible implementation of a performing space/immersive environment might look like an indoor amphitheater with carpeted steps on an incline in one half of the room and an area at the top level outfitted with eating booths, high counters and bar stools, access to a kitchen, and wall spaces that were easily decorated in the target language or culture.
3. Meeting Spaces
• The department recognizes a real need for spaces where they can meet or retreat to when they need to concentrate (since the office is so busy).
• Spaces for teachers to hold their small (2-5 person) classes and independent studies. Right now the lab is used as a space for independent studies because it doesn’t work very well to teach in Judd 210 or at the teacher’s desk.
• Spaces for teachers to hold parent/teacher conferences
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• Spaces for teachers to assist students with their unique needs in public, where students can feel safer and teachers do not have to worry about other students hearing confidential information.
• Spaces for students to collaborate on projects during or outside of class
• Spaces for teachers to go and grade or plan in silence
• Small dedicated non-classroom spaces where we can display and/or store foreign language materials for public display (i.e. books, objects, clothing, etc.)
4. Office Spaces
• It is very difficult to work with 12 other people in a single room. We can’t eat, talk, or collaboratively work without disturbing the entire group. We’d like to see two or three people max per office space.
• This is not always possible, but it would be great if offices for a particular language were somewhere in the vicinity of the dedicated language classroom(s) (i.e. Spanish teachers’ offices are somewhere in the vicinity of the Spanish language-themed classroom(s).
• It would be nice if all of the language faculty offices were in the same vicinity, instead of divided between U-High and Belfield.
• It would be great if the language offices were closer to a photocopier.
• In our dreams, we’d like to see office space with plenty of natural light.
5. Kitchen Spaces• The department does a lot of in-class cooking. Cooking is a great way to
teach culture and interact with language. Currently, the teachers bring their heating elements, pots, and pans from the storage in UH207 to the individual classrooms and cook there from start to finish. There are a variety of solutions to this: create a culinary classroom just for language (and other subject area) use, build small kitchenettes into the dedicated language classrooms (this would be ideal) with half-size fridges, ample cabinet storage space, and a place for garbage, or build a kitchen space near to the world language offices, so that there is a safe place for faculty to prepare food. A separate kitchen space and eating area could serve both teachers and classes of 23 if it were big enough, could double as an informal departmental meeting room, and could alleviate the lunch-time noise problem, since teachers would have a separate place to eat and converse. If the departmental kitchen space or lunch room had an serving window, then faculty students could easily prepare and serve food to each other and the outside community.
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Space Requirements
A small group of faculty met on Tuesday, February 17 to further discuss how the needs and wants discussed in our first meeting with the architects could be implemented in a cost-effective fashion. We discovered during the course of our discussion that there are three types of “bonus” environments: a small kitchen access, enhanced technology, and performance spaces. We also wondered whether we might not create different rooms that feature one or more of these “bonuses”, to be shared across the department. If these spaces were dedicated to language only, the department could work internally to ensure that the features available to us in each of the spaces were used in the best possible way, however the final schedule looked each year.
Not all of the language classes can be scheduled in dedicated language classrooms. The logistics involved in scheduling a school this large and space availability would make that nearly impossible. However, we do believe that we could use space more wisely within the Schools and within the department to maximize the chances that teachers and students could meet in language-dedicated spaces.
During this school year (2008-2009), there were a total of 84 sections of language and, according to our Departmental Chair, approximately 10 Independent Study courses scheduled across the Schools. Figure 1 shows how sections were distributed across the Lower, Middle, and High Schools as well as how they break down across the five languages we offer. Obviously, a more detailed study would need to be done that takes into account the actual number of students registered as well as the effects of growth over the next five years. Still, by looking at the number of classes that we accommodate today, we can begin to make some informed decisions about space requirements.
Spanish comprises close to half of the World Language program, with a total of 39 classes. All other things being equal, the schools will benefit the most from creating dedicated Spanish classrooms where the majority of Spanish language classes can be scheduled. If there were 4 dedicated Spanish classrooms, even with the schedule changes pending in the high school schedule and taking into account student population growth, I estimate that at least 75% of the scheduled Spanish sections would be able to be scheduled in those rooms, filling them to capacity throughout the school day.
The same would be true for Chinese, French, and German. To ensure that the dedicated language rooms were filled to capacity throughout the day, given the scheduling demands as they now stand, French would fill 2 dedicated language classrooms and German and Chinese 1 room each, for a
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total of 8 dedicated spaces. Latin and the remaining 25% or more of the sections (likely High School sections) in each language would continue to rotate in the “shared space” pool, as all of the language sections do currently.
Keeping these numbers in mind and the projected growth of the schools, I recommend looking seriously at the possibility of setting aside 8 dedicated language classrooms. This would represent a significant logistical and pedagogical benefit to the Schools as a whole.
8 16 15 39 46%5 French (Vankataraman)5 French (Venkataraman)4 French (Venkataraman)3 French (Venkataraman)3 French (Romanelli)4 French (Collet)
6 French (Venkataraman)6 French (Collet) 8 French (Farver)8 Adv/8 French (Romanelli)MS Beg French (Romanelli)8 French (Jackson)7 French (Jackson)7 French (Jackson)
French 1 (Beck)French 4A (Beck)French 5 (Joseph)French 6 (Joseph)French 3 (Collet)French 3A (Collet)French 5A (Collet)French AP (Farver)French AP (Farver)
6 8 9 23 27%4 German (Zemil)3 German (Zemil)5 German (Steinbarth)
6 German (Steinbarth)7 German (Steinbarth)8 German (Grauman)
German 3 (Grauman) German 4 (Zemil)German 5 (Zemil)AP German (Zemil)
3 3 4 10 12%3 Chinese (Sun)3 Chinese (Sun)4 Chinese (Liang)4 Chinese (Liang)
5 Chinese (Liang)5 Chinese (Liang)
Chinese 1 (Sun)Chinese 2 (Liang)Chinese 3 (Sun)
4 2 3 9 11%Latin I (Spaltro) Latin 2 (Spaltro)Latin 3/4 (Pelliteri)
3 3 4%21 29 34 84
25% 35% 40%
Figure 1. How World Language classes are distributed by School and language.
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Technology
With respect to the creative potential of technology, teachers find that the ability to record audio clips in GarageBand, to design and post learning materials or assignments on their blogs and websites, and to edit short video or audio clips for use in the classroom are the main advantages of multimedia technologies. From the student’s perspective, the ability to write screenplays, film them, write and record audio interviews, design comics in Comic Life, or put together presentations in Keynote and PowerPoint make working with language and culture more fun and engaging. The desktop computers in the lab and the laptops currently available on the iCarts currently also give students to access the internet, multimedia software, web-based course materials, and the department’s web-based subscriptions (i.e. Quia, LinguaScope, and Yabla).
None of these potentially motivating activities guarantee learning transfer, however. As was reiterated in a training session I recently attended, technology is rarely, if ever, the limiting or enabling factor when it comes to learning in general or language skills development in particular. It is always more about how teachers design learning experiences for their students, the willingness and readiness of students to learn, what a teacher’s specific objectives are, and how they go about achieving and assessing those objectives. In other words, technology will never replace good pedagogy. The reverse is also true. Technology will never cover up for bad pedagogy. Rather, technology left to itself is merely a tool that, as noted above, allows teachers and students to express themselves, facilitates communication that is more authentic and wide-ranging, enables the storage and retrieval of large amounts of useful information, helps teachers and learners to do more with less time, and provides a means whereby students and teachers can express themselves in media that are appropriate for our day and age.
Thoughtful language pedagogy and computer technology intersect in a number of different ways in our department. As described on our wiki (http://worldlanguagelab.wikispaces.com/DiLL+Activities, http://worldlanguagelab.wikispaces.com/projects), technology has been observed to have the greatest effect on learning transfer when it has fulfilled the following pedagogical functions:
This list points to the fact that Digital Language Learning Lab (DiLL), the networked language learning solution we currently use in our World Language Lab, is one of our most valuable tools. Other tools and software can fulfill and enhance one or some of these pedagogical functions, but only DiLL addresses them all. An informal survey conducted on our wiki also illustrates that DiLL is, by far, the technology that is most frequently learned, adopted, and integrated into teachers’ lesson plans across the department.
Figure 2. An informal survey of which technologies were most frequently integrated into the curriculum from mid-August through December 2008. DiLL is the area in green. There were 216 responses.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to run DiLL over a wireless network since DiLL requires wired-in (ethernet-connected) desktop or laptop computers and a server. However, desktop or laptop computers in other language classrooms could potentially operate on different DiLL “domains” if classroom networks shared the same subnet. In other words, it would be possible to make DiLL accessible to other language classrooms. This would allow teachers to utilize DiLL more frequently and more effectively in their own classrooms. For example, they could assign level-appropriate work to subsets of students in their classes or efficiently move through several different classroom activities to include a DiLL activity without going to the lab. It would be difficult to manage and maintain this distributed DiLL
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scenario if it were not set up in dedicated language classrooms, close to each other and close to the Lab.
Tech-Focused language classrooms could function at a high level if every student had a laptop at their disposal. This could be accomplished by assigning one iCart to each classroom with Lower School students and implementing a 1:1 program in the Middle and High Schools. The set-up and take-down time required to utilize laptops from an iCart, as well as the extra time required to reserve an iCart in Middle and High Schools, greatly limits the impact that computer technology could have on a Lab student’s language learning experience. With a laptop always at their disposal, teachers would need to learn new classroom management strategies, but the benefits of being able to quickly search for answers to questions, project images on a classroom screen, compose in the target language on classroom wikis, and collaborate with other students via email and the shared “Classes” servers, would make possible a whole new level of technology integration in language classrooms.
Teachers count as essential to their daily practice access to an overhead projector and external speakers. Ideally, teachers would like to see a mini PA system with more than one input in each dedicated classroom for amplifying teacher and student voices. A big time-saver would be an automated way to open and close blinds, quickly turn on and off overhead lights, and raise/lower the projector screen (examples of this kind of technology can be found in Cobb Hall on the U of C campus).
Teachers find it easy to incorporate the durable Flip cameras into their curriculum. They also frequently use a digital camera for capturing still shots of their students and their projects. These technologies, along with the software already licensed to the Schools and other amenities available in the Lab, would allow for a language teacher to create a great many engaging learning experiences.
It may be interesting to look further at wireless projectors and/or rotating projectors for increased flexibility on the part of both teacher and student. This could free up the teacher and allow students to quickly share with the class what they have on their computer screen.
I have not evaluated SMART Boards for their pedagogical value nor have I seen good examples of best practice in language classrooms. I would need to look into it further and it might be worth installing it in one or more of the Tech-Focused rooms, but my sense is that this might be less important to the department than magnetic white boards on which to hang colorful visuals. One experience with the SMART Board in Belfield 260 has been that it can shorten prep time and transition time between different activities, compared to using overhead projectors installed in the classroom or on
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rolling carts. However, SMART Boards may slow down your computer’s response time resulting in a number of quirky behaviors. Smart boards would also bring with them a significant level of professional development and training. My current opinion is that professional development efforts could be better spent learning and integrating the tools we already have at our disposal.
World Language Hub
Taking all of this into account, I have designed an idealized “World Language Hub” where the eight dedicated language classrooms could coexist with faculty office spaces, independent study spaces, conference spaces, socializing spaces, and study spaces. The purpose of this exercise was to try and flesh out exactly which aspects of the learning environment were most important to teachers. We first determined that kitchen areas, performance areas, and technology were the three main “bonus” features and decided that these features could be shared between classrooms (i.e. not every classroom needed to have every bonus feature). The two types of classrooms that have emerged, and which are represented in this idealized layout are “Performance/Kitchen” classrooms and “Tech Focused” classrooms.
The following list is meant as a guide to the idealized layout. Items are not listed in any particular order. The layout is not drawn to scale.
What does this idealized layout accomplish?
1. Performance Corners, carpeted in a different color in the corners of each of the outer 4 Performance/Kitchen classrooms are the same level as the floor and demarcate a place to read, tell stories, rehearse plays, and play games (“C”). Spotlights overhead create a stage-like atmosphere. Speakers installed on the wall with a 3-input amplifier make it easy to hear students when parents come to see plays and presentations.
2. Lockable and mobile storage cabinets are available in each of the classrooms (“S”) for the teachers in that share the room. Mobile storage in the classrooms by itself would not be enough, however. There would need to be additional space for teachers to store curricular materials.
3. Adequate storage space for teacher materials exist between each set of faculty offices (“S” on salmon color). These storage closets include sturdy shelving and a place to hang costumes, coats, and other materials used in class.
4. Adequate storage space for rolling carts, A/V materials, office supplies, peripherals for check out, the document camera, the laminating machine, and other resources shared across the department (“A/V”).
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5. Isolated studio for recording DiLL clips and interviewing other students on video without background noise. Audio and video editing stations (“Studio”).
6. Office space for Lab Coordinator with an indoor window view of the WLL. Table just outside for one-on-one consultations with teachers (“Tech”).
7. Overhead projectors and speakers in every classroom and two in the World Language Lab for more sophisticated presentations (“P”). Wireless technology would allow the presenter can be anywhere in the room controlling projected visuals.
8. Two bathrooms (“B”) and one drinking fountain (“D”).
9. Kitchen for faculty to store their lunches, prepare food and to support small community events (“Kitchen”). If this kitchen were shared with another department, it might also house a photocopier.
10. Office spaces large enough to accommodate two to three faculty (“2-3”). Each office would have its own black and white printer. One color printer would live in the Kitchen and the other in the WLL. Teachers would save money and enjoy the office spaces even more if the ceiling had access to natural light.
11. Large conference rooms with capacity for 8 people (“8”). Conference rooms would be a shared resource across the Schools and might include a flat screen monitor for collaboratively discussing information on one individual’s screen, or for viewing satellite TV (The Graduate School of Business has excellent examples of these types of spaces on the lower level).
12. Mini conference rooms large enough for 4 people (“4”). Ideal for the numerous parent-teacher conferences that occur throughout the year or for Independent Studies.
13. Study “booths” would be ideal for working on laptop, working in groups, individual study, and socializing (“5”).
14. Gathering places with soft seating ideal for informal socializing and discussion-based learning with smaller classes (“6”).
15. Round tables for students to talk with teachers, take Independent Study courses, or socialize (“3”). Natural light overhead. Floor underneath these tables (on either side of the WLL) should be carpeted to keep conversation at a moderate level. These spaces create ample opportunities for teachers to interact with students. The department has not discussed flooring in particular. For ease of cleaning, I might think about some kind of laminate or tile flooring for everywhere except the performance corners (“C”) and the round table gathering area (“3”). This would make it easy to roll carts, tables, and chairs in and between rooms.
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16. Lockable glass display cases or bookcases with glass doors near the round tables (“3”) for displaying objects, artwork, student projects, and language books. Hallways also give ample space for bulletin boards to display work.
17. Enough ethernet jacks in Tech Focus classrooms to accommodate 23 students with laptops (Maroon dots) and an effective way of distributing ethernet cable in the classroom without presenting a safety hazard (i.e. ethernet hubs that can be connected to the middle areas of the classroom and place underneath a desk).
18. Desktop computers in the language lab with screens large enough to work on multimedia projects (Maroon dots).
19. Small kitchenettes in the four outer Performance/Kitchen classrooms with half-size fridge, ample cabinet storage, and counter space for preparing food (“K”). Medium-high counters could be designed with bar stools.
20. One desk per classroom, relatively easy to move, for teachers to set out props and supplies for the incoming class (“T” on yellow).
21. Twenty individual desks with braking wheels, or that are relatively easy to move on floor surface (blue rectangles). Each desk would be accompanied a durable, stackable chair (not shown).
22. Closet in World Language Lab (“WLL”) for server (“X”).
23. Indoor windows (floor to ceiling when possible) allow visitors to peak into classrooms or World Language Lab without disturbing class or obstructing flow of traffic in the outer hallways. Windows are also bring in natural light coming from outer hallways (“W”).
24. World Language Lab (“WLL”) doubles as a conference room and meeting room for the entire department. 3-Desk configuration in the middle is relatively mobile and can be pushed to the front of the room against the wall and under the projector screens. Additional seating can be brought in for a maximum occupancy of 60.
25. Most of the larger rooms have two entrances both for safety and ease of entrance/exit. Neither entrance will disturb performances in progress in the Performance Corners.
26. Spaces are multipurpose. If the Schools should decide to reconfigure or rent out any of the classrooms, conference rooms, or the Lab, they would be readily usable for other purposes (i.e. conferences, small group work, faculty, staff, and committee meetings, or small gatherings requiring a kitchen).
27. Where there isn’t a window (marked with a bold line and a “W”), there are tall white magnetic boards, cork strips, bare wall, or bulletin boards
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permanently installed and suitable for hanging visual laminated images, tag board presentations, and large posters.
28. Tech-focused rooms feature flat screen TVs for viewing movies in smaller groups and accessing satellite TV (“TV”).
29. If the WLD Hub was positioned adjacent to Early Education classrooms, it would address the need of Lower School teachers to be closer to Lower School homerooms. Middle and High School students would not mind walking to another building for their language class. Depending on the layout, perhaps this area could be situated in a place equally accessible by students en each of the three Schools. This is particularly critical with Lower School classes, since the short 25-minute sessions are regularly shortened by long transit times between homerooms and classrooms.
30. Sturdy and portable whiteboards with braking wheels, about 3 feet wide are ideal for bring written instruction to wherever students are working or are seated, instead of having to move students to where they can see a permanently installed whiteboard. These portable surfaces can also be used by students to show what they know.
FINAL NOTE: As stated before, this was an exercise in our creativity and joint vision for what language learning spaces could look like if... We are in no way suggesting that this should be a part of the Master Plan. We are simply setting the highest standard we can for the spaces in which we might conceivably teach and work. Anything that is done in the Master Plan to move in the direction of those standards will help to energize the atmosphere, boost morale on the part of students and teachers, and improve the quality of language instruction at Lab.
