Congratulations to the
2008 Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP)
Recipients :
California, Culver City —
Culver City Unified School District
Japanese
California State University, Long Beach (CSULB)
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
The goal of Project K-12 JLP (Japanese Language
Program) is to establish an articulated, sequential
study of Japanese beginning in kindergarten and
resulting in students with high levels of
proficiency by the end of 12th grade. This goal will
be accomplished by updating the K-5 curriculum,
instruction, assessment, materials, and technology
at the existing Japanese-English two-way immersion
program at El Marino Elementary School.
Additionally, JLP will improve program articulation
between the elementary immersion program and the
secondary feeder schools, Culver City Middle School
and Culver City High School with the support of our
IHE partners. By the third year of JLP, an emphasis
will be placed on two-way immersion by creating
content courses taught in Japanese at the middle
school level.
A research team from the Department of Asian and
Asian American Studies at California State
University, Long Beach (CSULB) will guide the
development of a sequential K-12 curriculum,
administer yearly student proficiency assessments,
and provide project teachers workshops and technical
assistance with practical applications in Language
Use, Culture, Pedagogy, Technology, and Curriculum.
Similarly, the Center for World Languages at
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) will
provide expertise in the areas of Language Use,
Pedagogy, Technology, and Curriculum and provide
professional development in the theoretical
foundations of second language learning.
Connecticut, Glastonbury
— Glastonbury Town School District
Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, and Russian
University of Connecticut Modern Language Department
The Glastonbury Foreign Language Initiative, in
collaboration with The American Council on the
Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), Connecticut
State Department of Education Bureau of Testing,
Public Schools of Springfield, MA and pilot
districts, will establish innovative assessment
systems that will help students move to superior
level proficiency in Arabic, Chinese and Russian by
the time they graduate from colleges and
universities. The project will demonstrate through
nationally validated assessments that the
standards-based curriculum and instruction in place,
when informed by annual testing and examination of
student work, will lead most students who study
Arabic, Chinese and Russian to the advanced level of
proficiency.
A process will be developed that is replicable
across the nation and across levels for the
collection of student work samples in an electronic
portfolio system. The collection will show the
benchmarks met in the ACTFL Younger Learner
guidelines with evidence of the Culture, Comparison,
Connection and Community standards from the national
standards.
Massachusetts, Amherst —
Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School
Mandarin Chinese
University of Oregon-Center for Applied Second
Language Studies, Chinese Flagship; University of
Massachusetts/Amherst- Department of Asian Languages
and Literatures; University of Massachusetts/Boston-
China Program Center, Confucius Institute.
The Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School
(PVCICS) proposes to establish a model Chinese
language and culture program that will demonstrate
the potential of collaborative work between charter
schools and the broader public school system in the
development and implementation of long, intensive
sequences of critical language learning. PVCICS will
use the 5-year FLAP funding to: 1) build on its
existing K-1 one-way total Chinese immersion program
by expanding through grade 6 and plan implementation
through grade 12; and 2) create a 6-9, partial
immersion program for late-entry 6th graders that
will eventually expand through grade 12.
Partnering with The Oregon Flagship Collaborative at
the University of Oregon's Center for Applied Second
Language Studies (CASLS), the University of
Massachusetts/Amherst and the University of
Massachusetts/Boston will offer PVCICS graduates the
opportunity to continue their language study through
their post-secondary careers and offer pre-service
and in-service teachers opportunities for
professional development to better prepare them to
teach in immersion, partial immersion, FLES and
secondary programs.
Michigan, Dearborn —
School District of the City of Dearborn
Arabic
Wayne State University
The proposed comprehensive plan will create an
articulated pipeline that will mesh with the
districts’ secondary course offerings and fill the
gaps so that a K-12 well articulated curriculum and
outcomes are in place by the end of the project.
Dearborn Schools propose to establish Arabic as a
foreign language in two schools: Miller and William
Ford. In addition, the current programs at Iris
Becker and Salina Intermediate will be improved.
Elementary students from Miller and William Ford
will be able to enter middle schools with
low-intermediate proficiency. Current course
offerings at the middle schools are at entry level.
Due to a revision in the current 7-12 grade course
offerings, successful students will accelerate to
the Advanced Proficiency level in high school.
The program model proposes to provide direct foreign
language instruction, seamless movement from one
proficiency level to the next, and focuses on
escalating proficiency in Arabic. Certified and
highly qualified teachers who are proficient in
Arabic and English will play the primary roles in
instruction, while classroom teachers collaborate
and support the integration of foreign language
across content area instruction. The model also
calls for integration of technology in Arabic
instruction, creating Arabic language thematic units
and lesson plans (with a focus on social studies &
science), assessments, teacher certification in
Arabic as a Foreign Language in collaboration with
Wayne State University, ongoing professional
development, and partnerships with the Arab American
National Museum and community organizations.
Michigan, Sterling
Heights — Utica Community Schools
Mandarin Chinese
Michigan State University
The overarching goal of Project CLIME (Critical
Language Initiative in Mandarin Education) is to
establish a self-sustaining K-12 foreign language
program that will create opportunity for a K-16
continuum of Mandarin Chinese learning for students
within UCS and Macomb County. This goal will be
accomplished by establishing a K-6 partial immersion
program at Oakbrook Elementary School that feeds
into a 7-12 secondary target language curriculum to
be housed at Heritage Junior High School. In
addition to being the receiving middle school for a
majority of Oakbrook students, Heritage is also
housing the Utica IB Academy, creating the
possibility of a seamless K-12 continuum for UCS
Students. Students who do not attend the Utica IB
Academy will have the option of a three-year
sequence of instruction in Chinese at Stevenson High
School.
Michigan State University will recruit, train and
support the Chinese teachers as well as offer
professional development for the general education
teachers working in the partial immersion program.
The partnership will offer UCS graduates the
opportunity to continue their language study through
their post-secondary careers.
Minnesota, Minneapolis —
Minneapolis Public Schools, Special School District
#1
Arabic and Mandarin Chinese
Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
(CARLA) and the College in the Schools programs at
the University of Minnesota
The Minneapolis Public Schools ACES Project (Arabic
and Chinese Extended Sequences) establishes
sustainable, model programs to improve and expand
the study of two critical languages for
approximately 3600 elementary through secondary
school students through five years. The ACES project
extends Arabic and Chinese programs to establish
seamless, articulated instructional pathways in MPS
elementary, middle, and high school levels to
advance students’ learning at each stage and enable
successful students to achieve superior levels of
proficiency. The project will be implemented in six
schools in Minneapolis Public Schools: Lyndale
Elementary, Sanford Middle School, and Roosevelt
High School for Arabic; Elizabeth Hall International
School, Northeast Middle School and Henry High
School for Mandarin Chinese.
The ACES project will partner with Center for
Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) at
the University of Minnesota to provide high quality
professional development and technical support to
the project on the development of articulated
curriculum and performance assessments with a focus
on language issues for Chinese and Arabic. To extend
articulation efforts beyond the K-12 and open
discussion across institutions, Arabic and Chinese
language instructors from Macalester College in St.
Paul and the University of Minnesota College in the
Schools programs will review curriculum, assessment
benchmarks and student work samples. The ACES
project will also partner with community cultural
arts organizations using an integrated arts program
model to increase awareness in the school community
of diverse Arabic and Chinese cultures, make
interdisciplinary connections to other disciplines,
increase student and school community familiarity
with Arabic and Chinese cultures, and encourage
students to learn languages that are perceived as
more difficult and less familiar.
Oregon, Portland —
School District No. 1J, Multnomah County
Japanese
University of Oregon and Portland State University
The Portland Roadmap to Superior Proficiency is
designed to create a well-articulated,
standards-based immersion program from Richmond
Elementary to Mt. Tabor Middle School to Grant High
School enabling the students to achieve Advanced and
Superior student proficiency. It will develop
rigorous new Japanese immersion courses and an
articulated curriculum for grades 8-12 that will use
performance tasks, annual proficiency assessment,
and online student portfolios. It will incorporate
technology to provide opportunities for authentic
multilingual and multicultural interaction with
peers in Japan and to support student projects and
research.
The project model will expand partnerships with
parents and employers to create community-based
language learning options, such as job shadows,
internships, and overseas research projects.
Intensive summer institutes for teachers will
improve articulation of the PK-12 program. Summer
language institutes and support from tutors/mentors
will improve proficiency at key transition points.
Partnership with the Center for Applied Second
Language Studies (CASLS) at the University of Oregon
and with Portland State University will help create
a coherent PK-16 pathway designed to increase the
number of students who are able to attain an
Advanced level of Japanese language/culture
proficiency by grade 12 and a Superior level of
proficiency by college/university graduation.
Tennessee, Memphis —
Memphis City Schools—World Languages Curriculum &
Professional Development
Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Russian
University of Mississippi (Croft Institute of
International Studies)
Rhodes College, Memphis, TN
University of Memphis (Confucius Institute)
The Memphis City Schools FLAP project addresses the
need to engage large numbers of minority students in
the study of critical languages by introducing and
expanding on current offerings in four critical
languages. By year five, the project will expand
current language programs in Arabic, Chinese,
Japanese, and Russian to include each high school’s
K-8 feeder pattern. Elementary courses will be
whole-school and aligned with national standards and
performance guidelines. Middle school courses will
become credit-bearing sequential courses which will
lead students to enroll in more advanced courses at
the high school level. Integrated performance
assessments will be developed prior to curriculum
units and lessons to ensure alignment with
instruction. External assessments, such as STAMP and
NOELLA will complement locally designed formative
and summative assessments.
Former FLAP Recipients:
FLAP 2007
Grant Winners
FLAP 2006
Grant Winners
FLAP 2005
Grant Winners
FLAP 2004
Grant Winners
FLAP 2003 Grant Winners
FLIP 2002 Grant Winners (This is a Microsoft Word
document.)
FLAP 2001 Grant Winners
FLAP 2000 Grant Winners
FLAP 1999 Grant Winners
