Expand teaching of critical foreign languages in the U.S. and internationally

Ni Fenfen, former TCLP Exchange teacher, received a CLP Grant for a project for students to do an in-depth exploration of Chinese culture and art. The project involved two field trips to Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. The first field trip included a visit to the Phoenix Art Museum to see Chinese art treasures, and students also participated in a Chinese Culture & Cuisine festival. Through this field trip, students were given the opportunity to cultivate appreciation for Chinese art, had access to stunning Chinese cultural activities in the festival, and enjoyed authentic Chinese food.

Sophia Griffies was awarded a grant on behalf of Audubon Charter School in New Orleans, which began their new Mandarin program by hosting TCLP Chinese exchange teachers during the 2013 and 2014 school years. Through the CLP funds the school hosted a Chinese New Year celebration in 2015 for families and community members. The event showcased Chinese language and culture and included Chinese decorations, a student parade and Chinese dance performance, and tents featuring Chinese food tastings, art, and music.

Chen Jinyun, a 2013 Chinese alum from Nanjing Foreign Language School Xianlin Campus, in Nanjing, China, received a CLP grant to organize TESL professional development for ESL teachers at her home school. The project included school community conferences, regional conferences and national conferences, faculty visits to other schools for English class observations, presentations at regional teaching events, teaching competitions, school-based training sessions, and international video conferences with Dracut High School (Ms. Chen’s host school). The project allowed Ms.

Stacy Lyon, a mentor teacher for TCLP participant Munir Gomaa at Renaissance Academy in Lehi, UT received a CLP grant to host a Bedouin Fair for the school community to kick off their annual “World Language Week” for 2013. Through the support of the grant, the school set up a fair with a live camel, Arabic music, potted palms, bread baking, belly dancing, and booths with activities led in Arabic.

TCLP host school alumna Roslynne McCarthy from the Center for Global Studies in Connecticut was awarded a CLP for a student collaborative project called Sister-schools: Expanding the Student Dialogue. The goal of this project was to create and implement a curriculum of personal interactions among students at the Center for Global Studies and Al-Salam Private Language School in Tanta, Egypt with the expertise and input of TCLP 2008 alumnus Mr. Emil Markos.

TCLP mentor teacher alumni Steven Berbeco was awarded a CLP for his grant proposal to organize a meeting of The Teachers of Arabic Language K-12 network at the Northeast Conference on Teaching of Foreign Languages in Baltimore, MD. At this meeting, he hosted a best practices workshop and professional networking meeting with 20 teachers of Arabic who came from all over the United States.

TCLP Arabic exchange teacher Mohamed Abdelsamad was awarded a CLP grant to attend and present at the NCOLCTL (National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages) Conference. His presentation was titled “Incorporating Egyptian Culture and Current Events into the Teaching of a Critical Language with TCLP.” Within this presentation, he talked about his experience teaching Arabic in Missoula, Montana and addressed the importance of incorporating cultural competency into language classes.