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…

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.

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 a keypal project that paired Grade 10 students learning Spanish with students in a classroom in Russia who were learning English. (Author/VWL)

Describes a successful early start, long sequence Japanese foreign language in the elementary school (FLES) program that was identified as one of seven model programs in a national project funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Highlights literacy instruction in Japanese, student assessment, language camps, visits to Japan, parent…

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)

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)

Describes successful techniques for teaching mathematics through a foreign language (in this case Spanish). These techniques include using calendar and graphing activities, incorporating mathematics into the morning message, using cloze patterns, solving word problems, using the language of metacognition, and finding math happenings in everyday…

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

As teachers implement performance-based assessments into their language classrooms, they must provide students with a clear, objective description of their performance and translate this performance into an objective grade. To make the judgment valid and more reliable, a scoring scale referred to as a rubric or scoring rubric can be used. Both…

Describes the systematic planning and subsequent implementation and evaluation of a systemwide Spanish program at the elementary level in a small school district in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Discusses active participation by all senior administrators, the ways in which the language program has been incorporated into the overall curriculum…

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…

Discusses language instruction in international schools, with particular focus on understanding the international school context, a typology of early language learners, and a typology of early-language-learning programs. (Author/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)