Current thinking within education circles suggests that if students are not engaged in class discussions they might not be learning. And if they are not learning--students and teachers--are wasting their time. The Teacher Effectiveness in Language Learning (TELL) Project spells out within its planning domain that teachers should plan lessons…

Foreign Language Elementary Summer Camp is a fantastic way to spend part of the summer. For the past ten years in Glastonbury, Connecticut, the authors have offered a variety of foreign language elementary camps that meet daily for three hours for three to four weeks during July. Currently, they offer camps for Chinese, English Language Learners…

Backpacks are commonplace in American schools. Each day students transport them to and from the classroom as they manage to carve out a little oasis of space to gather their treasures, homework and books. In Fair Lawn's recently launched Chinese classes, backpacks take on new responsibility, becoming culture bearers that connect middle school…

Information gap activities are partner tasks that improve interpersonal communication skills. One student has information the other student needs, hence a "gap" exists that students seek to close through communication. As students gain experience and language skills, they create language that is more meaningful. These are activities that…

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)

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)

Describes an activity for use in the Spanish as a foreign language classroom. The theme of the activity is focused around Paco the puppet's birthday. (Author/VWL)

Although she is now teaching Spanish in a new school full time, Linda Smrokowski, spent 9 years teaching in a once-per-week second language program. Because many once- or twice-per-week programs still exist, she shares strategies for writing and implementing detailed lesson plans that worked for her while she was teaching in a once-per-week…

This journal serves the profession by providing a medium for the sharing of information, ideas, and concerns among teachers, administrators, researchers, and others interested in the early learning of languages. Articles in this volume include the following: "Foreign Language Teaching: What We Can Learn from Other Countries" (Ingrid U.…

This article aims to reshape the prevailing negative perception of assessment into one of a positive and powerful tool to guide learning, teaching and advocacy. Emphasis is placed on the importance of becoming assessment-literate, developing a balanced assessment system, using assessment results to motivate learners and mold instruction, and…