Spanish 490: Internship at the Spanish for Heritage Learners After-School Class at Arlington Traditional School Winter 2007 January 10-March 9 2007 Class Description: In your work with the children at Arlington Traditional School you are participating in a unique program that focuses exclusively on heritage learners of Spanish and helps them attain literacy in their home language. It is hoped that the children’s experience will enhance their literacy skills and oral fluency in Spanish and also encourage their joy and pride in the use of their language. As you teach throughout this session, you will be doing readings on and having discussions on the class blog (“La Clase Mágica” at eblogger.com) on ideologies of Spanish use and Spanish literacy in the United States. You will also consider pedagogies in schools that resist and surmount these ideologies. Requirements for the ATS class: Teaching: You must teach at least one day a week (either Wednesday or Friday) from January 9 through March 9 (the children’s enrichment programs end on this date). Your attendance on these days is of the upmost importance. Please try to be prompt. There are no classes on January 26 and March 2 (federal holidays). Ojo: If you need to miss class for any reason, please inform me and Ms. Frank (cfrank1@gmu.edu). If you can switch classes with another intern the week you miss that would be ideal; if not, we can speak about making up class in the spring enrichment session (to begin in April). Your responsibilities in the class will be to work with Candace Frank, the head teacher, on language and literacy activities. In addition, at the end of each class one teacher will teach for 10 minutes on a subject concerning Spanish language and literacy. Our goal here is to help the children create a group space in which they may develop critical literacy, where they may reflect upon reading and writing as a means to social agency. You may integrate the lesson into a group game, discussion, or reading with the children. I have delegated these units below in the syllabus. You will be given a chance explore the theme for each unit on our class blog, through internet or e-reserve readings I will assign you, and through my guidance in a blog discussion. This is a chance to be creative with the children and I hope you will find it inspiring. For your lessons, there are some good books in the school library (Candace can show you where), and you can also go to your local public library for books and DVDs and videos. The ATS library has large maps that can be useful in your lessons. You might also want to find materials and inspiration at the many sites at http://www.mundolatino.org/rinconcito/. The sites from Cuba and Argentina are especially good for critical literacy. Because I wish the first week to be an introduction to the logistics and rhythm of the class, I am not expecting any lessons from interns until January 16. Class blog: Weekly responsibilities: (1) I will be posting an issue for class discussion, correspondent to the lessons you will develop for the children, on the class blog every Sunday night. You are responsible for doing the internet/e-reserve readings on this theme and responding to my questions on them before your class day. (2) Every time you teach a lesson, you must post a blog entry on your lesson plan the day before the lesson. The lesson plan can be of a general nature: i.e., “I’m going to read a book that concerns speaking Spanish in the U.S. tomorrow. I will lead the children in discussing how they feel about speaking Spanish at home, at school, when they visit abroad. I hope to get them to consider how valuable it is to engage with cultural heritage through their language and to be multilingual.” (3) You must report on your experience in the class – whether you are teaching a unit or not – every week. This is equivalent to the “journal” requirement for the internship. (4) At the end of the internship, I will post a general question on your overall work in the class. You must respond to this on the blog. 6) After the internship is over, you are invited (although certainly not required) to continue helping Ms. Frank with the program, which will begin again in April. Grading will be as follows: Blog participation, including faithful posting of lesson plans, class reports and discussion of reading will be worth 50% of the grade. Please note that I am looking for your commitment to the blog and won’t be grading each posting separately. I will give you a grade based upon your overall participation in this part. Your effort in the classes, including your preparation of lessons, is worth 50%. Syllabus: Day Theme Activity Wednesday, January 10 Friday, January 11 Wednesday, January 17 Immigration, heritage language maintenance, and social mobility. Reading: Alejandro Portes, “America 2050:. Immigration and the Hourglass,” web.jhu.edu/igs/Crosscurrents/America%2050.pdf Leslie Friday, January 18 Immigration and heritage language maintenance. Tigist Wednesday, January 24 Heritage languages and social relationships. Reading: Grace Cho, “The Role of Heritage Language in Social Interactions and Relationships,” Bilingual Research Journal Online, 24.4 (Fall 2000), brj.asu.edu Jessica Friday, January 26 Wednesday, January 31 NO CLASS Role of the heritage language educator. Reading: An example from Hawaii, Yamauchi, Ceppi and Lau-Smith, “Teaching in a Hawaiian context,” BRJ Online 24.4 (Fall 2000), brj.asu.edu Leslie Friday, February 2 Role of the heritage language educator. María-Cristina Wednesday, February 7 History of Spanish as a threatened language in the U.S. Reading: Patricia MacGregor-Mendoza, “Aquí No Se Habla Español: Stories of Linguistic Repression in Southwest Schools,” BRJ Online 24.4 (Fall 2000), brj.asu.edu Jessica Friday, February 9 Spanish as a threatened language. Tigist Wednesday, February 14 Resisting the perceived “threat,” protecting the shared heritage I: space and community. Reading: Setsue Shibata, “Opening a Japanese Leslie Saturday School in a Small Town in the United States: Community Collaboration to Teach Japanese as a Heritage Language,” BRJ Online 24.4 (Fall 2000), brj.asu.edu Friday, February 16 Space and community for heritage language preservation María-Cristina Wednesday, February 21 Protecting the shared heritage II: resisting colonialist content in Spanish heritage language education. Reading: Anne-Marie Smith, “Keeping La Llorona Alive in the Shadow of Cortés: What an Examination of Literacy in Two Mexican Schools Can Teach,” BRJ Online 30.2 (Summer 2006) Jessica Friday, February 23 Resisting triumphalist history in Spanish heritage language instruction Tigist Wednesday, February 28 Linking heritage language preservation with bioaan cultural diversity. Reading: Luisa Maffi, “Language, Knowledge and the Environment: Threats to the World’s Biocultural diversity,” Langscape Newsletter 2, available: www.terralingua.org Leslie Friday, March 2 Wednesday, March 7 NO CLASS Quechua in Bolivia: language, folkways and farming Friday, March 9 Latino folkways in the United States María Cristina