This article presents a question and answer session in which Paula Garrett-Rucks discusses how creativity and kinesthetics motivate young language learners, the type of characteristics she might consider for different age groups in planning lessons, her views on the goals of world language teachers of young learners, and what a typical lesson…

Highlights the work of a North Carolina foreign language education lobbyist, describing her accomplishments and her efforts as executive director of North Carolina's Alliance for Language Learning. (Author/VWL)

In this interview, Eve Wallwork, a junior at David W. Butler High School in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC) School District, talks about her research project on the field of early language learning. Wallwork shares the most important findings of her research, the benefits of early language learning, and her plans in the future.

Discusses IN-VISION, a 5-year technology challenge grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education that supports K-12 Spanish and technology use in rural schools. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards approval of standards for teachers of world languages. Specific questions are answered about the reasons for going through national board certification and what is involved. (Author/VWL)

Offers strategies to help elementary school foreign-language specialists become more effective in promoting early language learning. (VWL)

Gives a brief history of the National Network for Early Language Learning, an organization formed specifically to focus on the teaching of foreign languages to young children. A descriptive chronology is provided from November 1986 through 1997. (Author/JL)

Describes an activity for middle school learners of French called "body parties, or giant body part people. It is an arts and crafts project that students do mostly at home. The activity will help students understand and manipulate body part vocabulary. (Author/VWL)

Describes a Spanish-as-a-foreign language email project carried out with kindergartners through third graders from six elementary schools. The project involves a traveling Teddy bear named Tito. (Author/VWL)

Describes total physical response storytelling, which provides the critical vehicle--storytelling--for utilizing and expanding vocabulary. High-interest stories contextualize the vocabulary, enabling students to hear and see a story and then to act out, revise, and rewrite. A brief outline of the sequence of steps for using TPR storytelling in…

Describes the Japanese program at Mimosa Elementary School in Roswell, Georgia. The success of the program has been aided by collaborative team teaching, a spiraled curriculum, creative teaching methods, Teacher -made materials, and communication among teachers, parents, and administrators. he challenges are also discussed. (Author/VWL)

Describes upcoming events sponsored by the National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center at Iowa State University and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Entitled "New Visions for the Future," these activities include an invitational planning meeting, a national priorities conference, and the ACTFL…

Describes the development of "Espanol para ti," a video program for teaching Spanish at the elementary school level. The program was designed for use in Clark County, Nevada elementary schools and is taught by a certified Spanish teacher via video twice a week, utilizing comprehensible input through visuals, games, and songs that are conducive to…

Describes the creation, content, and implementation of SALSA, a program developed to provide elementary school students in pre-kindergarten through second grade with their first experience with Spanish language and culture. After a short introduction in English, SALSA uses only Spanish for instruction. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the content-based approach to foreign language instruction and highlights a content-based unit that has been used successfully. The approach includes brainstorming; mapping; singing; recognizing, labeling, and describing; story dramatization and pantomime; writing compositions; and creative activities. (Author/VWL)