The use of language for real communication is of primary importance in bringing a foreign language to life for students. Native speakers can make a class come alive, and teachers should explore the possibilities for bringing exchange students and teachers into the school. Realia and foreign language children's books are also interesting to…

The use of the cloze procedure by classroom teachers who are not extensively trained in testing in general or language testing in particular is discussed. Focal points are material selection for cloze; some technical aspects of construction and administration; insights about testing language students naive to cloze; reliability of cloze…

Eighteen model syllabi are presented for teaching Spanish to native speakers of Spanish. The syllabi were produced during a summer institute, entitled "Teaching Spanish to Native Speakers of Spanish," in order to meet the unique language situation of U.S. hispanophone students. Traditional lower division Spanish-as-a-foreiqn-language courses are…

The main purpose of this videotape and guidebook is to familiarize pre-service and in-service teachers of Japanese with the "five C" goals (communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, communities) of the Japanese National Standards and the concept of learning scenarios. The first half of the videotape explains the standards for…

It is proposed that student motivation can be maintained and enhanced when teachers combine authentic oral and written language with activities leading the student to identify with sympathetic individuals in the target culture. Suggested activities, emphasizing language training at the intermediate level, include interviewing native speakers, work…

This document shares a vision for a 4-year curriculum for Heritage Speakers of Spanish (HSS)/Spanish for Native Speakers (SNS), describing a course developed for SNS students within Mercy High School in San Francisco, California. The vision foresees an ever-increasing number of HSS and SNS students completing college level degree programs then…

The materials status report for Portuguese is one of a series intended to provide the nonspecialist with a picture of the availability and quality of texts for teaching the language to English speakers. The report consists of: (1) a brief narrative description of the language, the areas where it is spoken, its major dialects, its writing system,…

The guide is intended for classroom teachers and school district personnel to use in planning and implementing bilingual education and native language instruction for Yup'ik populations in Alaska. Focus here is on the linguistic and sociocultural characteristics of the Central Yup'ik dialect and its speakers, especially as they relate to the…

This guide accompanies a videotape that can be used as a tool to help prepare refugees for their life in the United States. The trainers who use this guide can help refugees to process the information that is presented in the video and relate it to their own lives. The activities suggested in the guide focus on the content of the video as well as…

The instruction of both native and foreign-born persons in the essentials of the English language, numbers, civics, geography, and history is an important task. The United States Bureau of the Census reports that in 1920, nearly 5,000,000 of our population over 10 years of age could not write in any language. The number who need instruction in…

Children are born with an impressive ability to learn language, therefore the educational process is able to build on a dynamic that is already present. The principles that apply to the development of English language are equally applicable to all language learning. Good nursery education provides a microcosm of effective language development.…

A discussion of pronunciation instruction in English for business communication focuses on raising learners' awareness of how English is spoken by various language groups around the world. It is argued that phonological consciousness-raising is an effective approach for limiting breakdowns in communication. The approach assumes that developing…

The guide provides adult literacy teachers with background information in adult learning and the performance-based approach to literacy education. The first section reviews theory and research on adult learning, including the factors affecting learning (language background, expectations, gender, learning styles and modes, age and health,…

This teacher resource manual is designed to guide development of a high school curriculum in Canadian Native languages. It outlines the main features of such a program, clarifies the responsibilities of partners (teachers, administrators, community, native elders) in the implementation of a community-based curriculum, presents pedagogical…