Deadline: February 22, 2019
2019 Chicago Language Symposium
Learning modules that integrate ACTFL’s 21st century skills
April 13, 2019
University of Illinois at Chicago
Keynote address: Rebecca Rubin Damari, University of Maryland
Integrating ACTFL’s 21st Century Skills into the World Language Curriculum
Presentations are 20 minutes long, plus 10 minutes for Q&A.
Language departments increasingly have to justify the value of language learning to administrators and the public. In response, ACTFL has adopted the 21st Century Skills Map for language instruction that outlines how students’ language competencies beyond language proficiency give them skills for careers in a wide variety of professions:https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/21stCenturySkillsMap/p21_worldlanguagesmap.pdf
However, these competencies are often not mentioned in textbooks.
How have departments and programs addressed these skills in their curricula and classes?
Topics may include but are not limited to:
Building learning communities
Materials development: authenticity
Connecting to other disciplines
Creating opportunities for real-life communication
The challenges of collaboration
Relevance (and critiques?) of standards and guidelines
Raising awareness on campus and in the community
How can 21st century skills be addressed in class?
Making students aware of the career and life advantages of the kind of skills they develop through language learning
Communicating to administrators that language curricula integrate the development of 21st century skills
Languages for the professions
Fostering learners’ development as independent, strategic learners
Fostering learners’ development of information, media, and technology skills
Language instructors at all levels are invited to submit proposals; all languages are welcome.
CPDUs available for Chicago Public School teachers.