University of Arkansas Offers Learning Opportunity for Foreign Language Teachers

The University of Arkansas flagship campus and the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith are joining forces to provide continuing education for Arkansas foreign language teachers at an all-day conference Thursday, Nov. 1.

Presenters at the conference come from both universities, along with the University of Central Arkansas in Conway and school districts in northwest Arkansas. The conference will take place in the Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and will cover topics such as technology, games and activities, reading strategies for advanced levels, study abroad and designing curriculum that emphasizes both fluency and accuracy.

Conference organizer Freddie Bowles was appointed to a faculty position at the University of Arkansas’ Fayetteville campus in August. When she was still a doctoral candidate in curriculum and instruction last spring, Bowles was chosen to lead District III of the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association and given the charge of putting together the conference. She’s now an assistant professor of foreign language education in the College of Education and Health Professions. She formerly worked as an instructor at UCA for 10 years.

The fall conference will bring about 75 teachers together to earn six hours of professional development hours and make contacts that can help them throughout the year. District III covers the northwest part of the state, as far east as Harrison and as far south as Russellville. The $35 fee for the all-day conference includes membership in the association of foreign language teachers. Teachers can request information from Bowles at fbowles@uark.edu or register the day of the conference.

“Teachers of foreign language don’t often have opportunities for professional development specific to our field,” Bowles said. Some sessions will be conducted in the presenter’s foreign language, another opportunity for immersion that isn’t common for teachers of such languages as German and French, she said.

The Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association, which is open to teachers in preschool through 12th grade at public and private schools and to university faculty members, usually meets in conjunction with the Arkansas Education Association annual meeting each fall in Little Rock. Officials decided to conduct regional conferences this fall to encourage more local participation. The association also conducts a language festival each spring that allows high school students to compete against each other.

Following the meeting Thursday, officials of District III will meet to discuss goals, which include offering more summer workshops through education service cooperatives, Bowles said. In many high schools across the state, the foreign language department is small, with some teachers having some split assignments, she said, and some rural school districts have no foreign language teachers. Some use distance education to offer foreign language courses.

As president of District III, Bowles will work throughout the year to help foreign language teachers stay connected with each other and with the district and to be informed about opportunities for professional development.

“I pick up all these pieces and communicate with the teachers about opportunities to speak the language in authentic situations,” she said.

The state’s increasing population of Spanish-speaking students, or students the Arkansas Department of Education terms as English language learners, also need instruction in Spanish to improve their literacy and language development, Bowles said.

“That’s another variable we haven’t encountered until recently,” she said. “The research literature shows that being literate in a first language makes a person more likely to be literate in a second language. We want to promote that.”

Bowles, who teaches classes in Special Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages, is working with Joan Turner, chair of the department of foreign languages in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, to encourage foreign language students to consider teaching as a career.

“It’s a critical need area identified by the state Department of Education, and there are some good scholarships available,” Bowles said.

The conference schedule is available at http://coehp.uark.edu/5617.htm.