"To promote the love of humanity through love of language"

The goal of our program is to show primary school students how to acquire foreign languages easily, and to inculcate a sense of adventure and a love of  language learning. Our program is designed to give children the linguistic tools necessary to make discoveries and share those discoveries with fellow classmates, teachers and family.

Our program focuses on Uncommonly Taught Languages, and makes use of community resources available in any area with an immigrant community.

This is a web based report, and it seeks to expand with reader input. We urge all of you, no matter what your perspective, to contribute to this site . As of February 25, 2001, it is the work of one man. This one man hopes that it does not remain so. The program will be promoted to school districts in Ocean County, NJ, but may be used as a template for programs around the world.

Dedication-

I have initiated this program, and if it proves successful, I wish to dedicate this program to Jackie Hester, a woman of great courage, who served in the 82nd Airborne Division in Italy. She was a single mother,  who managed to find time not only for her military career, but also to raise her two sons, who both learned Italian, to learn Italian herself, and to become a fashion model in Italy in her spare time. She saw action in the Gulf War, suffered from chemical exposure which has come to be known as Gulf War Syndrome, and after a long struggle, died. She insisted upon staying on active duty almost to the end of her life. To date, no monument or memorial has been dedicated to her, but I cannot construct any better tribute to this remarkable woman and her family than a program which promotes peace and understanding, individual pride and self discipline. The day this program is initiated, it will become the Jackie Hester Memorial Heritage Program, and I ask that any who use its content remember its inspiration.

Index
The Main body of the Report- The whole main body of this report is presently contained on this web page, and are coded. I have coded the document to make printing and navigating the site easier.
ALL CAPS- the link is under construction and leads to a dead end.
Normal Text- The link is to a targeted area within this document- print this document and you'll print the linked area as well.
Italic text- The link is elsewhere on the gatherer.org site
Bold text- The link is not part of the gatherer.org site, and we do not guarantee that it is active. If you follow such a link and find it inactive, please e-mail me or send any comments you like to: ev@gatherer.org, and I will correct the error. If you are reading this document beyond February 12, 2002, please assume that this project has died, and feel free to take the information and do with it as you wish. I will not contest the copyrights if I have made no revisions by then

.I. Table of  Links and Contents
This report is divided into the following sections:

II .Heritage Class: The Report
This report has a fivefold purpose:
1. It  describes the Heritage Class, and explains the pedagogical theories and precedents which demonstrate its potential.

2. It seeks to show the district that this is the best approach to accomplishing the goals for FL and Foreign Culture (FC) specified in the NJ State guidelines, and further, to convince the district that such a program is in the best economic interests of the students and the district at large.

3. It seeks to establish the groundwork for the program, and to create a template and a level of planning which would allow any third party to duplicate the program. It will also allow the district to establish the program with a minimal amount of guesswork.

4. It establishes standards and a system of record keeping in order to chart the project's successes and shortcomings. (still incomplete)

5. It serves as a resource for grant proposals and fundraising related to the implementation of Heritage Class programs in our district, specifically, but also nationwide.

Heritage Class
III The Vision
ABSTRACT
 Uncommonly taught languages such as Arabic,  Russian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean are also known as "Critical Languages"; and identified by the State Department as vital to national interests. If the United States hopes to remain competitive, the ability to communicate with the emerging economic powers these languages represent is crucial. Yet school districts nationwide dedicate 95% of all language teaching resources to  languages spoken by only 8 to 12 percent of the world marketplace.  A school district which offers critical languages as part of the foreign language curriculum gives its students a powerful resume item. A few visionary school districts nationwide are seeing the need for instruction in these critical language areas, and are opting to instruct in some foreign language at a grade school level, and then allowing children to take Spanish in high school, thus offering students the opportunity for exposure in two languages rather than one.

No matter what the language chosen, few   districts provide the linguistic tools necessary for students to become self directed language learners. Language is traditionally force-fed. It is not the system of  inquiry and discovery that every child enjoys when learning his/her first language. The aim of the Heritage Class is not only to introduce a wide variety of languages to the K-12 language curriculum of the  school system, but to promote the love of learning a foreign language and the means by which a child can do this on his/her own. The program complies with the intent and spirit of the NJ State guidelines for language learning. It  will cost no more than any conventional language program, will create the possibility of generating revenues, and most importantly, allow students to be able to communicate in the language of their choice, thus improving the possibility of employment upon graduation.  The Heritage Class has the built-in ability to expand as technology improves, and to build resources in many languages.
 

The secondary aim of the Heritage Class is to expose  school students to a second culture of their choosing. Study of a Target Culture (TC) will fulfill requirements set forth in the New Jersey state curriculum guidelines. The methodology used is a combination of several successful techniques already at work in private and public Foreign Language (FL)  instruction worldwide. Unusual, but certainly not unique, are the use of community resources, homework telephone calls by native informants, culture clubs and language fairs and competitions.

 Lastly, the multi-cultural approach to language learning may have positive ramifications which would indirectly address the aims of the state guidelines in subject areas not specifically associated with TL learning, such as Social Studies, English, Music and Art, and Performance.

The average Heritage Program graduate will, by the twelfth grade, have had a long-time exposure to a foreign language and culture. He will be able to read a newspaper and communicate in the target language. S/He will have tasted the food, sang the songs and been exposed to the art and customs of a foreign culture. Beyond this, he will have had direct contact, via internet link and the resources of the immigrant community, with the culture itself, and will be able to bring these unique cultural resources to the job market. The study of the commonly taught languages, especially Spanish, does little to position a graduate in the job marketplace, since so many students throughout the country already study Spanish, or speak it natively.

 The school district itself will be able to boast an innovative model approach to language and cultural instruction. Our school system will represent the cutting edge- the program to be imitated, not only throughout New Jersey, but also nationwide. As such, we may be able to attract grant money and private donations, especially from the communities whose languages are being taught in our school system.

The entire model need not be implemented, however. If an uncommonly taught language is studied in the primary years, and Spanish is then studied formally in the High School, Heritage students will have the advantage of a commonly  spoken second language as well as a facility for an uncommon one. Studies show that the study of one foreign language facilitates the learning of another, and it is hoped that because of liaisons formed as a result of studying the first language, a child upon entering high school will be able to continue to practice his first foreign language either formally or informally. For this reason, the focus of this report is on grades 1-8. It is a work in progress, and as such will continue to expand as the timetable explains.
 

IV. Overview
Andy is a second grader at an elementary school which has implemented the Heritage Program. Today, Andy has Language Lab class, a weekly special. Andy is unaware of the revolutionary nature of his language class. With a short preparatory course, Andy's elementary school teacher has been trained to facilitate his language learning experience, and this lab is a supplemental weekly treat. Andy enters the lab through a "magical door" decorated with the art and symbols of many cultures. This week, the Japanese Culture Club has decorated the classroom. Sweet, calming Japanese music plays softly in the background. A sixth grade student, who has studied Japanese, bows and greets Andy at the door. Andy is encouraged to respond.
The children can sample a Japanese sweet as they watch a five-minute video prepared by children in the Japanese Culture Club.

 Andy and the other students find their corresponding Action Folder. Andy has colored his folder red, white and green, and festooned it with pictures of Italy- At the end of kindergarten,  Andy and his parents decided he should study Italian. This is his second year in the program. In Andy's folder this week, is a print-out of a letter, mostly in English with some Italian phrases, e-mailed to him by a second grade class in Italy which adopted Andy, and other members of the Primary Italian Culture Club.He also finds his Italian DVD disc, a cassette tape, and an Italian comic book.

 As one of his regular class homework assignments, Andy will be required to e-mail a response in to his Italian friends in English, all except the salutations and the good-byes, and whatever other Italian phrases he might want to include. The teacher encourages the use of the target language, but does not insist. Andy is encouraged to make BIG mistakes in the TL, so he doesn't feel intimidated about answering correctly. After he has spent five minutes looking at the letter, he moves to the Listening Station. He listens to a taped dialog in Italian, and he practices responding. As he listens, he follows a text set in front of him. Next, he moves to the Comfort Section, where he sits in a cushioned chair and leafs through the Italian comic book. He moves on to the next dialog section, and the teacher comes by to listen. The teacher asks Andy to teach her and other students seated in the "Sharing Section" what he is learning. (Please see the physical layout section for clarification) Andy is, after all, the expert on Italian in this class. Two or three minutes of interaction suffice. Andy then records the dialog he's been practicing in the Languageoke section of the lab. Finally, he watches a short cartoon on TV in Italian, or plays an Italian computer game.  On other days, he's colored pictures from the great Italian Renaissance painters, or listened to Italian stories, told in English and Italian.

 The children are bid farewell in Japanese, and take their leave in a customary Japanese way.

The language lab is fun, and is often reinforced  in the evening by a one minute homework telephone call  from a member  of the Italian community in the area. Today, Signora Rizzi, a senior citizen in Holiday City calls Andy, asks him how old he is, how he is feeling, and what he is doing now. Signora will provide positive reinforcement for Andy. On the days that he does not have a telephone call, he can count on a special pre-recorded message directed especially to Andy.

 In the same classroom, Jolena, Andy's classmate is immersed in a Korean Heritage Class experience. Once a month, she and her family attend the Korean Room on Cultural night at the Elementary school. At the club, Jolena has the opportunity to have a wide variety of Korean cultural experiences, enjoy the music, dance food and camaraderie of the Korean community. Down the hall on the same night, Andy and his parents are having a similar experience, but immersed in Italian culture.

 The set-up of the program is decidedly non-academic. The emphasis of the language program at this level is on fun and discovery. The goal is to promote a love of language which will inspire a child to "own" a target culture. By the time Andy is in high school, he will have completed college courses in Italian Literature via the internet, and Jolena will have spent a year as an exchange student in Korea, at the home of a girl she met via classroom to classroom contact back in the  first grade. Eventually, her knowledge will make an impressive addition to her vitae. Even if she learns only rudimentary Korean, this will look more impressive on a resume than a corresponding level of Spanish or French study.

 The idea of individualized language instruction and the utilization of community resources is not new at all. The All Heritage Class Program combines many proven approaches to language learning. Approaches such as independent study of an uncommonly taught language, use of language lab, community outreach and distance learning are each available separately in school districts across the country. In Half Hollow Hills School District, for instance, children can study Hebrew, Dutch, Greek or Finnish, relying on native informants within the community to provide the teaching. In Indiana, an innovative state program nicknamed DIAL links remote elementary school districts via computer to live language teachers. In New Brunswick, NJ, the Chinese community runs a Saturday Heritage school for children regardless of national origin, offering K-12 courses in conversational and written Cantonese, as well as instruction in Karate, painting and music, all conducted by certified teachers.

 The innovation of the All Heritage Program is to combine these proven methods of language learning and transpose them, from extracurricular activity to classroom subject. Though all of these methodologies have proven successful, no program has as yet combined all of these approaches. Yet, as we near the 2004 deadline to compliance with state mandates, this Heritage Class Program is an ideal solution, especially in grades K-6, for a district which may have difficulty finding enough foreign language instructors.

 Culturally, the program gives all the school children in the district the opportunity to be exposed to many cultures, not one or two others. Economically, the design of the program perpetuates the creation of standard materials in uncommonly spoken languages. Such materials can be copyrighted and are a potential source of revenue. In fact, the program could conceivably help subsidize itself. At the very least, the use of materials created in our school district add to the prestige of the school system.
 

V. State Guidelines

a. Introduction:
 Of all the arguments to study a foreign language, one is the most immediately compelling: The state mandates it. The state has set a number of clear, measurable guidelines which the program is designed to address as an absolute minimum. In fact, we hope to surpass many of these guidelines. Interestingly, not all of the guidelines enumerated under the auspices of Foreign Language study relate directly to the learning of a foreign language. Other standards are strictly behavioral, Pavlovian responses to set phrases. Beyond that level, some requirements may be seen as one-way communication, or "monologues"- The student is speaking without eliciting a response that could vary, or one that requires little cognitive skill. Finally, some points do require true comprehension and an ability to communicate.

 The Linguistic or Meta-Language requirements are those which include knowledge of linguistics, but not necessarily require the study of a foreign language. These can be addressed in English, in a regular classroom setting by regular elementary school teachers, with a minimum of preparation. The behavioral responses can be addressed in a language lab setting, utilizing tapes, computers and other independent resources.  Similarly, the monologues require some feedback, ideally by native informants. However, only the skills that require true comprehension demand the direct intervention of a native or knowledgeable informant (in some cases a native informant is unavailable, or in the case of languages such as Latin, nonexistent).

 The program design takes the state guidelines to be the minimum standard of achievement. In other words, fulfilling these guidelines is the least  the program will achieve. However, this section concerns only those goals specified by the state and illustrates how these goals will be achieved by the Heritage Class Program.

1. Language- In studying the framework document provided by the state, the language of intent is clear. The state accepts as given the necessity to learn a second language. Any arguments to the contrary, while arguably well-founded in Ocean County, are rendered moot. The framework document is entitled "World Languages", and is meant as a blueprint upon which local districts might wish to base their language curriculum.
 Within the rationale for language learning itself, much may be gleaned about the intent of the state in the study of foreign language. "Offers enrichment opportunities for those whose heritage language is not English . This is certainly true for almost all of us, at some point in our personal family history. Many other reasons are cited, which can be broken down specifically into economic and social justification for studying a foreign language.  It also stresses the cognitive advantages of learning a Second Language (L2) which are  transferable to other disciplines. Interestingly, the framework fails to highlight the most important advantage of L2 learning- The fact that it provides a separate context by which an individual is able to identify himself, not only in terms of the marketplace, but also in terms  of individuality.

   a. Overview
 Having established some justification for the study of L2 throughout a school career, The state marks out guidelines to measure success at three crucial levels: At grade 4, at grade 8, and upon leaving High School in grade 12. Each requirement is enumerated here, with commentary concerning how individual goals will be met.
 The blueprint emphasizes the need for communicative proficiency, rather than grammatical ability. While the argument may be made that communicative proficiency is defeated by the stated goals, such an argument is not up to this program to judge. The goal of the Heritage program is certainly also communicative proficiency, and beyond that, the increased ability to acquire any language, such as an L3 or an L4. This being the case, we believe that linguistic awareness, language learning strategies and communicative proficiency are not mutually exclusive.
 The Framework document claims it "Embraces the belief that language learning is an innate human capacity and that all students  who speak one language can successfully learn another." This program wholeheartedly concurs with that claim.
 It further "focuses on meaningful communication with increasing accuracy of expression in an authentic, real life context." This is often difficult to provide in a conventional classroom environment, especially when NL is already a successful means by which to communicate basic needs. This means that the opportunity to communicate with individuals outside the context of the classroom is essential. Our program provides more of this type of exposure than any other, short of full immersion or international exchange.

A component of a successful program is that it is delivered in a student centered curriculum based on inquiry, problem solving and application of concepts. This is a difficult task to accomplish in a textbook based teacher-student language classroom. The Heritage Class program is based implicitly on inquiry, problem solving and the application of concepts. There is no other alternative. The teacher is a facilitator of the process, but is usually not the direct resource for answers in TL. The student must establish herself as the expert, and seek input among native informants, precisely the method utilized in the natural process of learning NL.

 The curriculum in language learning must "Explore themes and issues across content areas and make(s) connections to the multicultural world of the 21st century, thereby fostering a greater understanding of and appreciation for world cultures" This, in fact cannot be done very successfully in any school that only offers a single choice, such as Spanish for students to learn. Students will inevitably see American culture as representative of "us" and Spanish culture as representative of "otherness". The Heritage Program exposes children, in depth to a wealth of sounds, sights and tastes from languages all over the world.

Time Management

 One of the most exciting parts of reading the framework document was to see how closely the ideas co-incided with the pedagogy of the the Heritage Class Approach.  The blueprint suggests several strategies for the management of time, and suggests that students should  "move through their learning individually instead of in lock step". Yet, none of the strategies it proposes addresses this problem: Block timing, that is, the practice of allotting large chunks of time to a specific subject over the course of fewer months, is not sound in terms of second language learning, especially on the elementary school level. Children need dynamic, short, intense exposure to a given subject. Intensity, Duration, Application and Repetition must be present in sufficient amount for any data to be retained.  Six day structure is also suggested, but this is not realistic. Another possibility is to restructure what is known as non-instructional time such as lunch period or recess. This would compromise the very important elements of social interaction which are as crucial as any instructional subject.
 The blueprint does suggest that the curriculum should find ways to build interdisciplinary bridges across subjects. Foreign language learning is an ideal bridge. Any subject can theoretically be taught in a foreign language, and culturally rich subjects such as music, art and even literature and social studies can find cross-curriculum applications with foreign language study. This utilization of time is called content-enriched curriculum,  and as will be observed, it comprises a large part of the Heritage Class program.
 Coincidentally, the blueprint emphasizes use of community resources on a high school level, and encourages community outreach. We concur, however, we believe that this should begin immediately, as soon as the child begins to learn, because it provides an immediate practical use for the skills s/he is acquiring.
   b. K-4 Core Curriculum Standards: 7.1.5 By the end of grade 4, students provide and obtain information on familiar topics. (In TL, I assume)
 Cumulative Progress Indicators: These progress indicators will be addressed through a materials template that stresses the typical day for  a child in TC. By the end of the third grade, the child will have progressed through a typical day of a child of corresponding age in TC three times, with spiraling levels of difficulty and plenty of reinforcement. Four periods of the day will have been covered: Morning, and family activity, such as meals (if any), school or work (depending on the culture), afterschool or play time, evening time and bedtime. These points are emphasized by the use of songs, stories, foods, and in short every available bit of material that can be used to reinforce the communicative skills inherent in the dialog during each part of a typical day. By the end of the third grade, probably, but definitely by the end of the fourth grade, the student will be able to fulfill the guidelines:

 1. Respond and initiate simple statements and commands such as greetings, introductions and leave-taking
 This is a rote, behavioral response that can easily be learned in the language lab. Twelve greetings and leave-taking phrases are more than adequate in any given language at an elementary school level. Introductions require a bit more communicative skill, since they provide information, such as name, age, and a general description of the individual. Still, this is limited in scope to perhaps another ten or so phrases. Again, this type of skill may be easily acquired in the language lab and reinforced by the native informant. Homework tapes and "Languageoke", jazz chants and other means may be used to communicate these concepts without constant direct intervention of a native instructor. Beyond this, any language learner should be able to recognize that a greeting has taken place, or a leave-taking in whatever language happens to be spoken. The child must learn to search for contextual clues, body language, tone, to discover these things. See the sample language template for more details. These things are easily incorporated into the "typical day" scenario.

2. Express attitudes, reactions, and courtesy using short phrases and simple sentences.
 Attitudes are culturally sensitive. It is not enough to express an attitude. It is important to understand that it is not always culturally appropriate to express a given attitude. Attitudes are also very different than opinions. They are often non-explicit, conveyed by tone of voice, facial visual clues, body language. It is very important for the language learner to understand that such clues do exist and that s/he must take note of the reactions- and understand that responses may correspond to factors such as relative age, gender, or relationship between the listener and the speaker. This is addressed in the classroom b y the language text (see LINGUISTIC.HTML ADDENDUM) Students should know another dozen or so phrases that deal with emotions.
 Reactions are a means of eliciting data based upon student input. They may require an informant. Basic reactions are either negative or positive and proceed from there. Good, Bad, difficult, easy, boring, exciting, Here, a wealth of data can be gained through the use of adjectives. Simple questions such as "Do you like?" "Do you think it is good?" Are important. Again, while these seem to require the constant input of a native informant, there are exercises and games which can substitute for a full-time native informant, or allow for a remote informant. These materials will be covered in the addendum.
 Courtesy: This varies greatly from language to language, and even subculture to subculture. Certainly, the minimum a student needs to understand is how to recognize the tension that may be caused by a social gaffe, and how to use courteous phrases to request, thank and greet. Other culture specific courtesies, such as dress, physical distance and physical and eye contact taboos, are just as important. Words and addresses of courtesy vary widely from culture to culture, but for our purposes will not exceed twelve by grade four.

3. Express likes, dislikes and preferences.
 This is as easy as saying "I like, I love, I hate, I dislike" or saying "this is tasty, this is disgusting" Preferences are not much more complicated. They introduce the concept of "good, better, best". Again, no more than a dozen phrases will suffice in these situations at the third grade level.

4. Describe people, places, things and events using short phrases and simple sentences.
 People- aside from adjectives, relationships are important, i.e.. friend, teacher, doctor, father, mother, grandmother, sister (younger or older in some cultures), various cousinly relationships, courtesy uncles, Mr. and Mrs. These type of relationships are important, and often numerous. Difficult to pare down to an even dozen. Some simplification will be necessary on the elementary level. Adjectives describing these people must also be utilized. Another dozen or so for now. What is important is an awareness that different forms of address exist and vary from culture to culture.
 Places  at this early age can mean locations, such as rooms in a house and their content, school, home and other culturally important places, such as the Mosque for Arabic speakers. All that may be found in those rooms is also important, although I must emphasize that the child should not be inundated with too much material. As difficulty levels spiral, details will become more focused. Still, this is a vocabulary-intense section, requiring perhaps at most 144 new words. The use of mnemonics, special memory techniques, are part of the Heritage curriculum and will come in handy in vocabulary-intense situations.
  Describing things using short phrases and simple sentences. This will necessitate the understanding of adjectives, the cultural boundaries that we make in color perception, nouns that speak of materials such as wood metal or cloth. By the end of third grade, 60 such words will have been retained.
 5. Provide and obtain information on familiar topics
This relates to the dozen or so ways to form questions. Familiar topics are what has been stressed here, so besides the formation of question words, this should not be difficult to achieve via materials.

Express basic personal needs-
These are structured to be included as natural parts of the typical day. In the  morning, a child might feel sleepy or hungry, or feel in a hurry. These needs can be expressed in terms of adjectives, i.e.. "I feel..." or in terms of requests "May I please have..." What is important to metalanguage is the ability to formulate strategies for communicating these needs based upon what the child is already able to communicate. This is truly cognitive and requires the intervention of a native informant. Luckily, the program provides for just such a need.

Identify some common and distinct features, such as parts of speech and vocabulary, among languages

This is not specifically a language skill. It will be addressed in the Metalanguage section of the approach. It is not enough to recognize these differences. It is important to be able to utilize these differences to gain insight into any TL, thus making the individual a better language learner.
 The means of achieving these ends, the utilization of a language lab, distance learning, classroom teacher, and native informants from the community, are all mentioned as individual strategies for achieving the program goals in the framework document. The Heritage program simply combines all the approaches recommended in the framework.
   c.4-8 By the end of the  grade 8, students, will express details of their everyday lives and past experiences
 Cumulative Progress Indicators:
8. Create and respond to simple phrases, questions, and sentences.
 This is simply a continuation of the concepts already covered in grades 1-3, and reviewed and expanded upon in grade four. At this level, the program shifts from focus on everyday life, to focus on human interaction, and the learning of specific subjects in TL. Students will be better able to ask for directions, tell time, begin to master written expression, understand concepts relating to shops, visiting, understanding the neighborhood, and asking questions related to specific cultural events. At this point, the student begins to direct his/her own study priorities, identifying his/her own interests and expressing these interests in TL. Use of a dictionary is now encouraged, and the student is expected to gain a greater understanding of the processes by which s/he can grow in TC and tL, such as the way to ask questions.

9. Describe people, places, things and events with some details.
 This general concept is also included in the earlier  points, but is expanded here to include a wider variety of topics, especially relating to people and relationships. Places are covered in the direction taking units, and include the immediate outside world, beyond school and home. These include culturally germane locations, such as marketplaces, places of worship, squares or plazas, harbors, lakes and rivers, but as yet do not address the geography of TC specifically.

10. Generate and respond to short messages such as invitations, directions and appointments.
 This is done in the unit relating to visiting, and direction taking. Since telling time and calendar skills are introduced here, appointments are also studied. Certainly as interaction with TC increases to include chat, in-lab telephone calls and other scheduled activities, scheduling ability in TL becomes crucial.

11. Interact with appropriate responses in limited social setting and basic situations.
 This is also covered through native informants, telephone calls and long distance learning. This is culturally sensitive, and though covered in the k-4 section, is expanded here. This is still behavioral in nature, and can be successfully practiced in the language lab.

12. Express details of their everyday lives and of past experiences. This is simply a review of the first units of study, and should present little challenge to the student who has gone through three or four years of Heritage Classes.

13. Engage in original and spontaneous conversation in the language studied.
 This is the plum, the true measure of success in any study of foreign language. The Heritage Class uses several strategies which allow this to happen- 1. The one-minute homework phone calls now become spontaneous chats with native language informants. The special Heritage nights are increasingly conducted in TL, and the students interact with each other in TL, more and more. In the labs, the time is less structured, as students meet online via internet phone and other means to communicate directly with the target culture.

14. Organize thoughts into coherent oral speech.
Along the way, students will be expected to memorize songs, dialogs and short plays. These are crucial to the acceleration of the language learning process. Interestingly, what constitutes "coherent oral speech" varies from culture to culture, just as what constitutes "Coherent written discourse" varies. It may come as a surprise to some that what constitutes coherent in English is not necessarily acceptable in Chinese. This distinction  is not often made even when a good language teacher is present. Indeed, the average native informant may not be able to discourse very coherently outside of spoken dialog. For this reason, we will call upon the resources of TL universities to provide us with answers to the set questions we will have that define the boundaries of the discourse.
  Speech, debate, and created dialogs will all be showcased at the county-wide Language Fairs, held once a year; This will provide incentive to improve these skills, and involve members of the community in coaching students. In addition, our program requires that by the end of grade 8, the student will have completed a language template on a subject which is of interest to him or her, and added that template to the TL DVD. Program sponsors of TL can offer "take a student to work" days for exposure to TC and TL.

15. Explore employment opportunities where languages are advantageous. This can be done in the classroom and does not need to be facilitated by a language teacher. Nevertheless, the internet makes it possible for students to read the newspapers of TC and explore work possibilities abroad. As part of the Culture days, each culture may offer a career day to explore such possibilities in TC.

16. Identify common and distinct features, such as prepositional phrases and clauses, among languages.
  This will be covered in Metalanguage study, and allow students to form intelligent hypotheses which will lead to a facility in any language learning situation.

 d. High School By the end of grade 12, students communicate orally with increasing logic and accuracy.
 As the students approach the high school levels, opportunities for exposure to TL via direct internet contact, conferencing, and cultural exchange will increase. The contacts formed as the child grew will now expand to include the larger TC community, including access to the community in the NYC area, longer telephone calls, and special field trips. This section is not developed in detail, since TR schools already have a secondary FL language curriculum. If this system is implemented at the elementary level, the high school program will be developed as an alternative to the current program. In addition, if a student wishes to study a commonly taught language, the facility for learning languages which has been acquired can accelerate the process.

VI. Pedagogy- Educational Philosophy
The educational philosophy of the program is consistent with the stated objectives of the state curriculum. Indeed, we find the NJ State guidelines to be enlightened and worthwhile. They complement our own educational philosophy.
The Pedagogy addendum  is a brief review of different language learning methodologies. The Heritage Program takes advantage of most of these methodologies, thereby creating the most effective system possible.

Our approach is called "A knowledge Spiral".
 Given a subtitled movie, my own experiments show that children as young as seven can already glean written meaning in TL from Native language movies with TL subtitles. In similar ways, a child will be able to construct an increasingly complex understanding of an unfamiliar language situation by a rapid and repetitive deductive process. In our program, the introduction to TL  is made via an identifiable language situation directly related to the language learner's present life (i.e.. going to school, waking in the morning). The context of a foreign country may not initially provide enough context for the learner to quickly understand meaning. Therefore, the initial knowledge spiral is set in the context of an immigrant family speaking TL but living in the US. This way, many cultural points are still recognizable. In the second cycle, starting with grade four, the students will begin to explore the language from the perspective of TC. Listening to dialogs, and via deduction, students are invited to draw clues from body language, voice tone, and visual stimuli. Students then receive reinforcement in the fundamental points of the lesson by applying the language discoveries they have made.

Goals: Students not only learn a language, but learn how to learn a language quickly and easily, acquiring "tools" of process and shortcuts, while applying language to achieve cultural assimilation, and a sense of belonging in a new culture. The hope is that a child achieves the "Gulliver Effect", a feeling of standing out becuase of his unusual knowledge of TL.

Role of Teacher/Learner: Classroom teacher is a counselor, a source of enthusiasm, asking the student to feed them the information the student has acquired. The resource Director is something else entirely. His/her approach is definitely along the lines of "teacher as Willy Wonka" and the language lab is a magical place set apart. The classroom teacher can provide linguistic information via the use of the linguistic textbook. The student is a detective, solving a mystery through the magnifying glass of linguistic knowledge. The student communicates his/her theories to the class and the teacher. The native informant provides a bridge to TC and also provides the modeling and output necessary for language competence. The Resource Director also provides the research to fill the templates in TL, creates and provides materials, and is a liaison between community and teacher. His/her job is to keep students motivated, interested, stimulated, and confident, by providing engaging materials and good informants to the lab.

Characteristics of teaching/learning process: student hears a fluent dialog-initially representing a typical exchange between a third grader and the rest of the world. Student is asked directed questions which lead to increased levels of comprehension (the text is color coded to indicate increasing levels of difficulty) student then must lock in the knowledge acquired via the use of mnemonics and other methods, and then use drill to further lock in the knowledge. Students keep returning to the same dialog, weeks later, using new information to glean increasing levels of knowledge.
 Students practice with native informants in a short one-minute homework phone call twice per week.

Student-teacher interactions: Linguistic knowledge is taught in a conventional classroom setting. Teacher is a co-learner, asking questions of the student "expert". Informants provide positive reinforcement. Director and assistant provide materials and motivation.

Learner feelings: The role of all instructors is to make the student feel comfortable and enthused. The informant must make the child feel a sense of community with TC.

View of language/culture: It is an exploration, a means to communicate. Culture is an extension of this, and each student contributes to the culture just as much as the culture enhances each student.

Role of L1: Important at first, but all the time less so. No taboo about using L1, but TL is preferable. Students must learn how to conduct internal dialogs in TL.

Language areas and skills stressed: Verbal ability and cultural assimilation are equally important. The rest will follow. Development of regionalized, recognized accent lends credibility and further identification with TC.

Evaluation: Portfolio type progress assessment, low stress type feedback, cultural projects, homework phone calls.

Learner errors: Necessary in strategizing and forming language hypotheses. Must take pride with the progress and sophistication of errors.

Techniques: This methodology borrows many techniques from diverse approaches. For elaboration on any of these techniques (Except mnemonics and speed drill, which are unique to this approach) see addendum on pedagogy.

Techniques:
1. Mnemonics (forming silly associations relating sound to meaning)
2. One- minute Speed drill (lightning fast exposure to word, (visual and written), spoken and translated, all one element at a time)
3. Translation of passages
4. Use of antonyms/synonyms
5. cognates
6. deductive application of a rule
7. fill-in-the-blanks
8. use words in sentences
9. composition
10. Q&A exercises
11. conversation practice
12. map drawing
13. paragraph writing
14. dialog memorization
15. jazz chants
16. expansion drills
17. substitution drills
18. role plays
19 teacher as student
20. picture charts
21 phrase books and dictionaries
22. secure classroom ambiance
23. peripheral learning
24. learner assumes new identity (expanding ego boundaries)
25. positive suggestion
26. visualization
27. role-play
28. recurring concepts
29 primary, secondary activation
30 diachronic secondary activation (dialog is viewed weeks later)
31. tape recording student conversations
32 reflective listening.
33. role reversal
34. authentic materials
35. scrambled sentences
36. Picture strip story
37. special presentation
38 multi-sensory learning (including food and movement)
39. use of commands
40 games and contests
 

VII. Curriculum
Initially,. the curriculum will follow the addendum as a textbook. The text will cover metalanguage (linguistic awareness) as well as a study of TL, as per state mandate. At the beginning of the program, we will concentrate on the language learning, and the linguistic aspects will be taught peripherally, that is away from the language lab.  As the materials are developed, the linguistic aspects will be fully incorporated into the program in classroom activities which students can do with regular teachers.
In the onset of the program, students will spend several weeks covering topics such as mnemonics, pronunciation, role-playing, and strategizing for language learning. Although not directly implied, the language text contains all these elements. Cycles will last one to two weeks each. There are  seven elements, each of which will be cycled through nine times, for a total of sixty-three lessons of increasing sophistication. The average student will be able to complete all the cycles by the beginning of the third grade, at the latest. By that time, they will have the skills necessary to function on a typical day in TL, and be proficient enough to fulfill state requirements. M uch of the study will be broken up by periods of enrichment work, special projects, and field trips. Language will not be tested and graded per se. Students will compile a portfolio and interact with community members. This must be sufficient proof of language proficiency.
VIII Staff: Staff

The qualifications for staffing the program shall be as follows:
1. Director
The director shall have a minimum of three years administrative experience, a
Master's degree in Linguistics, and experience writing and developing teaching
materials. S/He shall have good interpersonal skills, experience dealing with many
cultures, good organization skills. Classroom experience a plus.
Duties will include developing linguistics and culture awareness texts, supervising
the intake and development of new TL materials, identifying 3 new foreign
languages per year, asessing the success of the program, finding resources and
interacting with the TC communities, help organizing language fairs, culture days,
field trips and other special activities.

2. Teacher
NJ Certification in Elementary education, if required by the district. MA. Foreign
Language or ESL. Ability to help create materials and manage paperwork. Ability
to handle scheduling of volunteers, appreciation of foreign cultures. Some
knowledge of foreign languages, including non-Indo- European language a
plus.Must be enthusiastic, energetic, and creative.
Duties will include being a resource person for classroom teachers in the
instruction of foreign languages, administering the language lab, updating
assignments for students, keeping files on each student in order, making sure that
contact is maintained with schools abroad via e-mail, and of keeping track of the
homework telephone call schedules. The teacher will also make sure that the
student is progressing in the development of his/her language portfolio. The
teacher is also a "learner", recieving the input in several languages, of lessons
learned by the students.

3. Teacher's Aide:
Good disciplinarian, good organizational skills, familiarity with languages and
cultures other than English/ American. Enthusiasm, and willingness to learn.
The teacher's aide must assist the teacher in the language lab, make sure the
students are progressing from one station to the next, make sure that all the
students have their corresponding folders, that the classroom is decorated, the
ethnic treats are distributed, and that the classroom is neat and orderly. The aide
will also participate in learning from the students, contacting the homework phone
callers, and generally facilitating the teacher.
4. Secretary:
Must have excellent filing skills, must be able to understand English spoken with a
wide  variety of dialects, must be willing to type documents that are not in English,
must be willing to work summers.
 
IX. Physical Set-up:
Ideally, the language lab has its own space. It is equipped with twenty-eight work stations, including seven computer stations, seven tape, headphone and mike sections, a comfortable couch and lounge chairs, and a workstation with art materials, a camcorder, and props. Some of the computer stations are equipped with an internet hookup with audio and visual streaming. There are two stations with telephones. The lab has a hot plate, and a table at which to eat. The stations (except the lounge, workstations and dining table) are isolated one from the other by some sort of visual barrier. The director has a desk and his/her own computer station and telephone. There is ample filing space to hold the folders for each of the language classes. A printer is available. There is at least one television, and speakers that are capable of playing music for the whole classroom. The class is painted colorfully, to create an atmosphere of excitement. The door, the knob the whole entrance must convey a sense of wonder and otherness.

X. Resource Intake
In order to make this program a success, the Resource Director must form liaisons with the ethnic communities in the area. This must be done through contact with churches, civic groups and service organizations, depending on the target language. The Director must contact the community and get a commitment of support from native speakers. The winning formula must be one informant per three children studying target language. Via remote resources, such as internet contact and networking with embassies and sources in cities such as New York and Philadelphia, the Resource Director will follow the intake procedure and complete the template for several target languages. This will include videotaping the dialogs and transferring the videotape to computer. Once this is accomplished, with the help of institutes specializing in the promotion of teaching uncommonly taught languages, the materials will be reviewed for accuracy, and incorporated into the program via the use of special software. The Resource Director will also acquire authentic materials for each lesson, based on native informant resources, the internet, film, music, television, and educational software. The students of TL will have a simple phrasebook which they will utilize to fill gaps in communication. Working within the curriculum template, the Resource Director will fill the gaps, and when a 1-3 program is complete, it is immediately made available to students. The template is very specific, and is included here. Of course, it is a point of departure, and through trial and error, it can be perfected.

XI. Special Programs: As the program expands, It will begin to introduce not only school-wide assemblies, tasting parties and monthly cultural evenings, but will also begin to include language fairs . These fairs will not only provide motivation for students to do a little "something extra", such as memorize a song or poem, or write an original composition, but will also give older children a means of contributing to the program by adding these performances and cultural tidbits to the TL curriculum. The communities themselves will be welcome to participate in the language fair, creating a "mini world's fair" with pavilions representing the diverse cultures of the language groups represented. This will add to the quality of the curriculum.

XII. Community- This section is under construction. It will be a list of resources available in our area in ethnic groups with a focus on uncommonly taught languages. If the program is approved, I intend to use this list as a point of debarkation. It also includes possible sources of funding.

XIII. Addenda.
This is, specifically, the hand-outs used to promote the program, the curriculum template, outreach letters of inquiry to various organizations, list of software, and other resources, a mock-up of the language lab, and other germane documents.

XIV. Timeline

XV. Budget
This section is now contained in a separate document. The budgeting procedures are to be discussed there.

XVI. Supporting body of literature
Under construction

XVII. Outside commentary on the program
Under construction

XVIII. Measure of success + Program data.

XIX. My Qualifications-
While the ideas in this document must stand on their own merit, the author's qualifications for designing this project may convince interested parties that a high level of expertise in the arena of foreign language instruction has been brought to bear upon its creation.

Frank Domenico Cipriani
BA, Linguistics SUNY Stony Brook
BA Hispanic Languages and Literature, SUNY Stony Brook
MA TESOL, SUNY Stony Brook

Language experience:
Speaks several languages, including English, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, German and one Endangered Tribal language. Has studied Japanese, Chinese and Russian.
Authored one book in Spanish, Quien va a Escribir Este Libro, published by Tu Llave, Argentina- Buenos Aires, 1987
Included in a compilation of the best short stories of 1988, Para Todos Bs. As. Argentina.
Founder and CEO of LILAS, a language service company providing translation and instruction services in most world languages, and operated the business in Buenos Aires from 1983-1988.

1981-82 President of the International Student's Dormitory Stage XII-Stimson Dorm.

Attended High School in Buenos Aires, Berlin, and US, by creating his own informal international exchange student program.

 Language-Related Program experience-
Helped create a special program for At-Risk high school students, and provided bilingual GED instruction and job creation for the program

Taught AP spanish as long-term substitute in the Hastings-On-The-Hudson UFSD, successfully applying mnemonics and Learning Community approach to the study of Spanish.

Organizational Experience:
As Evening Administrator for the LI Educational Opportunity Center in Hempstead, LI, created a certification program for at-home daycare providers, at no cost to the EOC

Created a library for LIEOC, at no cost to the center

Created an Entrepreneurship program for the LIEOC. Although the program was never fully implemented by the director, the networking brought the Small Business Development Administration on-site.

Taught Accent Improvement to University Professors through the Learning Center at SUNY Farmingdale.

Editor-In-Chief of the pulication, El Aleph 1983-84, published by SUNY Stony Book.