In the past, language laboratories were utilized to drill students and teach by rote example. While this is certainly an important and underrated aspect of language learning, it is by no means the only means by which today's technology can be utilized to support the language learner.

Several applications of technology will be covered in this section of this report, and will be linked to our language spiral. This document is designed to iititiate discussion about the use of these technologies and study how these may be applied to the Heritage Program.

The goal of the program is to provide an interface to the actual Target Speaking Language world as soon as possible. Armed with the tools of language acquisition, the program seeks to expose the student to an exciting version of the everyday life of the target language and culture.

We create a family and follow that family through a typical day in TL. Through inference, guesswork and directed questions, the children form theories and acquire language. Through the use of mnemonics, the information is easily stored.

The goal of this section is to explore the best way to utilize technological resources to deliver TL within the methodology specified in the pedagogy section of our report. In order to do this, we must revisit that methodology.

We will utilize all aspects of technology to create an interactive textbook- A DVD which gives situational films, jazz chants, and other assignments (see template and intake) All assignments and work can be stored on this DVD, the work can also be subtitled in TL and in English. Assignments will be written to the DVD and printed on paper when appropriate (comic books, coloring, booklets may be better viewed on paper)

The languageoke section will necesitate the ability to listen and record information, that a remote informant can play back and correct.

A third use of technology will be sessions which use remote access to classrooms in other parts of the world to set up "visits". In order to do this, our technology must enable us to have real-time videoconferencing.

All the language templates and materials will grow as the program grows. All materials generated in the course of study will be filed and utilized by sucessive classes. Here the input of the community is very important. They will need to be able to supply us with enrichment materials (food, games, songs, stories and artwork) which we can include (presumably except for food) on the DVD.

Specifics-

If you view the classroom structure, you will notice a series of round tables-six, each measuring 6' in diameter, and diameter, and partitioned to accomodate four workstations. Each workstation contains either a computer, recording device, or paper and pencil.

The student enters the room and finds his/her corresponding pendaflex folder in the folder cart (a) .
In the hanging folder, they will find a dvd and the paperwork for the day. It would be better if all the information on the dvd were stored on a separate computer and networked to the individual station, and the student could simply be directed to the next workstation by the master computer. If the computer could track the student and store the information for him/her in an appropriate file, and that the files for a given language could then be sent to a native informant for correction, so much the better.

If this were the case, even paperwork could be scanned into the computer and stored so that each student would have a complete portfolio.

In the folder, each student is told which station to proceed to. Each time the child enters the lab, s/he is sent to a different table-rotation, since each table rotation emphasizes different special activities. Inside the chld's folder, they will find a color which represents the table at which they will sit. After the teacher has dispensed with the preliminaries, each child will be guided to his/her table.

Theoretically, it does not matter where a student begins, because time will allow the child to rotate through all six sections in a class period. This may not always be the case, however, and it is useful to have some technology that could track the time students spend at each section. Otherwise, the child will have an individual sticker sheet in the folder, and will affix a sticker to the sticker book at each section. The sticker could be the child's name in the language of the week, the flags corresponding to the language he is studying, anything, so long as the sticker has the child's name on it.

The student is, for example, assigned to the blue table (marked b on diagram 1) He is told to sit in a specific seat in the section (the seats are also color-coded). There, he begins his assignment. In our example, he is sent to the light blue seat (c). At this station, he puts on his earphones, and watches the first dialog (see addendum). This takes about a minute. Then he is asked questions orally about the dialog, and must answer those questions orally. The questions are designed to illicit information which will allow the student to figure out what certain words mean. The actual exercise is not as important as the outcome it should yield: the target word and its translation. Once the chld captures the word, he is instructed to press a key which will then test him on his theory, and finally give the child the answer and allow the child to compare his answer to the actual translation.  After ten minutes, the computer instructs the child to move to the next station d. The station would allow the child to listen to the dialog with a certain number of the words in English, and a certain number in TL.

After ten minutes, the child would be asked to move to the purple section e, and this section does not require the use of technology. In this section, the children bring the words they have learned, and share them with fellow classmates and with the teacher. The discussion goes on for ten minutes, after which time the child moves on to the remote communication center f. Ideally, the student will be able to communicate what s/he has learned to a remote native informant in TL, or at least leave a message highlighting what s/he has learned. This station would be well served by a video hook-up to a remote location. This hook-up could be as simple as a window in the corner of someone's screen in NYC, and when the worker sees the child approach,s/he will interface with that child. The child would return to the computers to play a computer game in TL. As technology expands, perhaps even more remote native experts can join the circle.

The student then moves to section g, in which an interactive video game in TL can be played. These are downloaded from the internet, or purchased in the country of origin.

Finally, the student comes to section h, which may be listening to a jazz chant or recording a cloze passage orally - "languageoke".

Each time the student enters the classroom, s/he rotates to a different color startting station. Each has several common features, such as the hearing of the dialog, and inferencing questions. Each also has special stations.  Section i is a stage. Students can record themselves acting out a dialog, and watch themselves on a computer monitor. Examples of these skits are saved on the TL DVD if they are successful.
section j is a drawing table, where a child can delve into the art of TC.
Section K is a puppet theater, where children can interact in TL via the use of puppets.  Section L is a video simon says, where the students put on headphones and listen to Simon Says instructions, each in his own TL.
Section M is the suggestopedia couch, where students can listen to culurally-pertinent music while listening to taped versions of their dialogs with English translation. This is designed for students who find other areas stressful, and in this case the student can be directed here more than once per rotation.

Clearly, as much of this that we can do in a cost-effective manner through the use of technology we would want to do. Certain aspects of the program may not allow the interfaces now, but will at some future date, and for now tape recrders may suffice. For other areas, such as artistic expression, movement and interaction, the primary child is optimally served with low-end technology, or the use of technology as a peripheral aid.

I hope to explore exactly how much of this can be done easily and efficiently and develop an in-depth cost analysis. Until then, the budget reflects all that which is available now according to rudimentary research.