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Special Events
- Invite a panel of returned college students talking about their college language experiences. The panel could be held in the language or not.
- Organize a talent show for language students that includes skits, songs, dances. Include a reception if possible.
- Bring in presentations of local theater and arts groups using grants through local arts boards.
- Sponsor a tournament (soccer, ping pong) across language classes.
- Offer a before or after school "café " with ethnic food and a special speaker in the target language.
- Hold a bilingual story hour in a local library or school.
- Co-sponsor a special event with ESL kids in the school and your language learners.
- Host a reading of books in target language.
Stakeholder Education
- Make presentations about the benefits of language learning to PTA, school board, and other key stakeholders. Take a look at our how-to manual entitled Tips for Advocating for World Languages.
- Invite stakeholders such as school administrators, parents, board members, site council members to visit your classroom.
- Make sure to send your classroom newsletter to stakeholders.
- Send letters or make personal visits to teachers in feeder programs to encourage students to enroll in the languages.
- Collaborate with teachers in other departments. Example: partner with a home economics teacher on a cooking project for your students.
Guest Speakers/Community Resources
- Invite local business speakers to talk to your students about their needs for language proficient employees.
- Ask native speakers to come into your classroom to interact with the students.
- Organize cooking demonstrations by local ethnic restaurants.
Parent Communication and Collaboration
- Create a flyer that shows how parents can help their children with their language learning. Take a look at our example flyer entitled 20 Tips for Parents of Students Studying World Languages.
- Send a short check off sheet of "what kids can do" in the way of home communication to the parents.
- Have students do homework that engages parents as well such as doing a role play for them (even if they don't speak the language).
- Create a newsletter for parents (and school administrators and college teachers in the local area) about language learning and the specific classes that you are teaching and programs offered at the school, success stories.
- Send home mid-quarter reports of students' progress in the language.
- Award certificates for special deeds done in class for students to take home.
- Host a special language open house for parents.
- Involve language students in regularly scheduled school events (e.g. song in target language at the choir concert, dances/skits at the talent/variety show)
Volunteering
- Collaborate on offering service learning projects in language classrooms in local K-12 schools.
- Create opportunities for your upper level students to do tutoring/teaching in lower level language classrooms. This can even be done in K-12 environment with high school students doing things with elementary kids.
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