Film courses are now standard offerings in collegiate world language programs, but instructors have only begun to consider the unique benefits of teaching a television series to engage language learners in meaningful communication. As series have become the entertainment of choice for today's students, educators should consider the opportunities…

The National Resource Centers Program provides grants to institutions of higher education to establish, strengthen, and operate comprehensive and undergraduate centers that are national resources for: (1) Teaching modern foreign languages, especially the less and least commonly taught languages; (2) Disciplinary instruction to provide a thorough…

Foreign language teachers can benefit substantially from the notions of curation and nudging when scaffolding CLIL activities on the internet. This article shows how these principles can be integrated into CLILstore, a free multimedia-rich learning tool with seamless access to online dictionaries, and presents feedback from first and second year…

Because idioms are omnipresent in the authentic language students are exposed to, to successfully comprehend and produce natural language, learners of a second or foreign language need to possess a good knowledge of idioms and competence in idiom use. This paper examines the approaches to teaching and learning idioms. A discussion of the…

Of all the resources and techniques available to the classroom teacher of English as a second or foreign language, none are more neglected than audiovisual aids. Properly planned, constructed, and employed, such aids can help not only to improve the overall language program but also to enhance the classroom atmosphere and to ensure greater student…

The growing importance of Spanish in the U.S. has generated an impressive growth in the number of university Spanish programs that offer community service learning. However, students' and community partners' misaligned expectations can create tensions and problems in these programs. Instructors must make a special effort to articulate and align…

Presents instructional unit as example of materials developed for use in FLEX programs. Purpose of unit is to introduce students to German and the culture of the people who speak it, with a global perspective. (BK)

Two articles address issues in the development of French and Spanish language programs in elementary schools: instructional materials and time and money factors. The information presented is drawn from experience in developing the Radford, Virginia FLES (Foreign Language in the Elementary School) program. The first article describes some aspects…

The purpose of this paper is to explain the rationale behind the creation of a set of environmental education materials that would simultaneously teach English to non-English majors at Indonesian universities. The thinking behind both the environmental education and English learning elements of the materials is explained.

In response to requests from students for information about the role of women in target-language cultures, a curriculum was developed by the Minneapolis public schools for women's studies in the high school foreign language classroom. The focus was on women in French, German, and Spanish-speaking countries. The role of women in these cultures has…

A program in English as a second language (ESL) was introduced at the University of Malaya in 1975. The purpose of the program was to develop English skills in the students of the university, with a focus on reading. The present report is a description and evaluation of this program. The following articles are included: (1) "Reading for…

The role and status of English instruction in West Germany is outlined. The regions of West Berlin, Hesse, and North Rhine-Westphalia are highlighted. The role of English and English instruction in the country as a whole, English instruction in the educational system, the demand for and qualifications of English teachers, textbook selection and…

Course content and teaching methods are proposed for a general course on Spanish for all professional or community needs. Such a course is offered at University of Idaho to upper level and graduate students of business. The course is comprised of self-contained modules on specific and general interest areas such as travel, communications,…

"Hungarolingua" is an audiovisual monolingual language teaching series developed by teachers of the Debreen Summer School (Hungary) to teach Hungarian as a second language to beginner and intermediate students. The experience of teaching the material to language learners with different motivation, native language, and grammatical…

A Modern Language Association survey of enrollment trends in U.S. colleges found that Spanish, French, and German remain the three most popular language courses. Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic have shown greatest increases between 1960-95. The Less Commonly Taught Languages project provides information, including instructional materials and web…