Free Standards-Based
Teaching Resources
from the LRCs
Title VI Directors Mtg  Washington, D.C.  Mar. 2015
Karin Larson, CARLA
Meg Malone, AERLC
Elaine Tarone, CARLA
What are the LRCs?
 The Language Resource Centers were established
through US Dept. of Education Title VI funding in 1990
 Currently 16 LRCs
 2014-18 funding cycle has just begun
 LRCs are mandated to “improve the capacity to teach
and learn foreign languages effectively” in the US
Where are the national LRCs?
Current LRCs (general)
 Assessment and Evaluation Language Resource Center (AELRC) –NEW!
Georgetown University/Center for Applied Linguistics
 Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education & Research (CALPER)
The Pennsylvania State University
 Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA)
University of Minnesota
 Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS)
University of Oregon
 Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language & Literacy
(CERCLL)
University of Arizona
(continued)
Current LRCs (general)
 Center for Integrated Language Communities (CILC) –NEW!
City University of New York – CUNY
 Center for Language Education and Research (CLEAR)
Michigan State University
 Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (COERLL)
University of Texas at Austin
 Center for Urban Language Teaching and Research (CULTR) –NEW!
Georgia State University
 National Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC)
University of Hawai‘i
 National Heritage Language Resource Center (NHLRC)
University of California, Los Angeles
Current LRCs: Regional Foci
 Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region (CeLCAR)
Indiana University
 National African Language Resource Center (NALRC)
Indiana University
 National East Asian Languages Resource Center (NEALRC)
The Ohio State University
 National Resource Center for Asian Languages (NRCAL) –NEW!
California State University – Fullerton
 Slavic and Eurasian Language Resource Center (SEELRC)
Duke University
Specific LRC Activities
 Research on new and improved teaching methods, including
the use of advanced educational technology
 Development of new teaching materials reflecting the use of
such research in effective teaching strategies, including:
 Significant focus on the less commonly taught languages
and the publication of instructional materials in the
LCTLs
 Development of materials for foreign language teachers
at the elementary and secondary school levels
 Development and application of performance testing for use
as a standard and comparable measurement of skill levels in
all languages
(continued)
Specific LRC Activities
 Professional development training for teachers on
diverse topics, including:
 Administration and interpretation of performance
tests
 Use of effective teaching strategies
 Use of new technologies
 Intensive summer language institutes of several
kinds, including:
 Training of advanced foreign language students
 Preservice and inservice language training for
teachers
Example: CARLA summer
institutes
CARLA Summer Institutes for K-12
Immersion Teachers
 One of the few places preparing teachers for K-12
language immersion education
 CARLA educated immersion teachers are now making an
impact.
 Here’s an example:: Pierre Bottineau French Immersion
School in North Minneapolis
Free Resources Categories
 Teacher Guides & Tools
 Journals, Newsletters & Blogs
 Directories of Resources, Databases, Bibliographies & Webinars
 Language Materials for K-12
 Language Materials for Adults
 Materials Series for Specific Languages
 Other Resources
Teacher Guides & Tools
More than 60 listed in LRC website, including:
 Alphabet Charts for Central Asian Languages
 Celebrating the World’s Languages: A Guide to Creating a World
Languages Day Event
 Content-based Language Instruction with Technology (CoBaLTT)
Instructional Modules and Lesson Plans
 Corpus Portal–Includes a Corpus Tutorial
 Dynamic Activity Templates
 Foreign Language Teaching Methods
 Proficiency-Oriented Instruction and Assessment: A Handbook for
Teachers
 Rich Internet Applications
 Task-Based Language Teaching: A Demonstration Video
 Teaching Heritage Languages: An Online Workshop
 Test Development Workbook and Video
 Virtual Assessment Center and Virtual Item Bank
Teacher Guides & Tools
Teaching Heritage Languages:
An Online Workshop
• NHLRC – University of
California, Los Angeles
• Self-paced online tutorials
• For world and heritage
language teachers
• Teaching strategies and
language specific issues
Teacher Guides & Tools
Virtual Assessment
Center
• CARLA – University of
Minnesota
• An interactive website
that includes
 background
information
 step-by-step
guidance
 practical resources
on developing second
language assessments
Teacher Guides & Tools
Teacher Guides & Tools
Rich Internet
Applications
 CLEAR – Michigan
State University
 RIAs are online tools
that allow teachers
to easily create
different kinds of
interactive language
learning activities.
Teacher Guides & Tools
RIA tools include:
 Audio dropbox
 Mashups
 Process writing
 Podcasting
 Character formation
 Conversations
 Jeopardy-style games
 Video repository
Journals and Newsletters
Over a dozen titles, including:
 American Council on Immersion Education Newsletter (archives for
immersion teachers)
 InterCom (weekly e-newsletter digest for language teachers)
 Heritage Language Journal (online peer-reviewed journal)
 Language Learning & Technology (online peer-reviewed journal)
 Language Documentation & Conservation (peer-reviewed journal)
 Reading in a Foreign Language (online peer-reviewed journal)
Journals and Newsletters
InterCom
 CASLS – University of
Oregon
 Weekly “Reader’s
Digest” email service
tailored to subscriber’s
language, level of
instruction, and areas of
interest.
 Includes a searchable
archive of over 12,000
articles
Journals and Newsletters
Journals and Newsletters
Language Learning
& Technology
• CLEAR - Michigan
State University &
NFLRC - University
of Hawai‘i
• Online peerreviewed journal
Journals and Newsletters
Since 2007, Language Learning & Technology has ranked in the top 20 Linguistics journals and
in the top 20 Education journals in the Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports.
Journals and Newsletters
Reading in a
Foreign
Language
• NFLRC University of
Hawai‘i
• Online peerreviewed journal
Directories of Resources, Databases,
Bibliographies & Webinars
Search our website to find these and others!
Advanced Language Proficiency Database
African Language Program Inventory
Bibliographies on Language Immersion Education
Foreign Language Assessment Directory and Tutorial *
LCTL Database *
Orient Yourself: Online Catalog of Study Abroad
Opportunities in East Asia *
 Webinars on Testing and Assessment
 Webliographies for Slavic and Eurasian Languages
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Directories of Resources, Databases,
Bibliographies & Webinars
Foreign Language
Assessment Directory
 AELRC - Georgetown
University and CAL
 Free, searchable database
 Information on more than
200 assessments in over
90 languages other than
English; also has tutorial.
Directories of Resources, Databases,
Bibliographies & Webinars
Orient Yourself:
Catalog of Study Abroad
Opportunities in East
Asia
 NEALRC - Ohio State
University
 For American students
to find:
 East Asian American
institutes that offer
study abroad
programs in East
Asia
 Scholarships/financi
al aid for study
abroad
Language Materials for K-12
 A National Virtual Language Learning Lab
(ANVILL)
 Business Language Packets for High School
Classrooms (French, German, Spanish)
 Games 2 Teach
 Language and Culture Book Kits
 Language Learning
 Video and Website for“Chinese Out of the
Box”
Language Materials for K-12
MOSAIC
• CASLS – University of Oregon
• Content-Based: Spanish,
French, Japanese
• Geography and History
• Created by language
specialists and content
specialists (HS & Coll)
Language Materials for K-12
Language Materials for K-12
Content-based
Language Teaching
with Technology
(CoBaLTT)
• CARLA – University of
Minnesota
• Searchable database for
units and lesson plans in
French, German,
Japanese, Spanish,
Russian
• Instructional modules on
content-based
instruction
Language Materials for K-12
Language and
Culture Kits
•
CERCLL – University
of Arizona
•
Resources & web
links
•
Downloadable maps
•
Arabic, Chinese,
Finnish, Japanese,
Korean, Portuguese,
Russian, Spanish
Language Materials for K-12
SpinTX: Authentic
Spanish videos
•
COERLL – University
of Texas-Austin
•
Hundreds of
authentic videos
•
Lesson plan samples
and ideas for using
the videos
Language Materials for Adults
 More than 170 sets of materials to teach languages
from Albanian to Yoruba:
 Arabic language instructional videos
 CAVO: Computerized Chinese vocabulary assessment
 The Green German Project
 Hausa Online
 Indonesian for Indonesian Heritage Speakers
 Persian Online
 Reference Grammars for Slavic/Eurasian Languages
 Russian Language and Culture Through Film
 Spanish Grammar Strategies Website
 Yoruba Ye Mi
Language Materials for Adults
Pathway to Korean:
Beginning Spoken Korean
from Zero
• NEALRC- Ohio State
University
• Free downloadable
beginning Korean
• Includes video and
simulated class
Language Materials for Adults
Aswaat Arabiyya /
Arabic Voices
 COERLL – University of
Texas at Austin
 Listening materials and
accompanying activities
 TV sources from many
countries
 Novice to Superior levels
Language Materials for Adults
Brazilpod
• COERLL –
University of Texas
at Austin
• Video scenarios
• Language lessons on
highlighting
Brazilian culture
• Ta Falado–podcasts
for Spanishspeakers learning
Portuguese
Language Materials for Adults
Korean Language
Learning Materials
• CALPER – Penn
State
• Grammar
• Culture and Media
• Holidays
• “Korean Wave”
• 17 units can be
downloaded
Language Materials for Adults
Las Voces de la Mujeres
 NFLRC – University of Hawai‘i
 Video interviews
 20 women each from Guatemala,
Mexico, Spain, and the Dominican
Republic
 For intermediate/advanced
Materials Series for Specific Languages
Multimedia
Interactive Modules
for Education and
Assessment (MIMEA)
• CLEAR - Michigan
State University
• Modules based on video
clips showing native
speakers and NNS
interacting in unscripted
situations.
 Interactive exercises
reinforce language and
cultural topics in the
scenarios.
Materials Series for Specific
Languages
Find out More!
The Language Resource Centers have a
robust web and social media presence:
• Common LRC website
• Individual LRC websites
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube and Vimeo
Common LRC Brochure
 New version coming in 2015!
 Download from LRC website
 Overview of each LRC
 Highlights of projects across
LRCs in each focus area:
 Research
 Teaching and Learning
Materials
 Assessment
 Teacher Development
 LCTL Initiatives
 K-12 Initiatives
 Outreach and Dissemination
Common LRC Website
Easy to Search!
 Links to each LRC
 Database of materials and products from all
LRCs
 Searchable calendar
 Upcoming workshops and institutes
 Conferences and symposia
 http://www.nflrc.org
How the LRCs can help you-recap
 Resources for language learning and teaching
 Assessment identification
 Best practices in evaluation
 Conferences and colloquia
 Professional development opportunities
Functionality
 Demonstration using the site to search
for resources!