2. Integrating Language Study in
the Middle School Curriculum
Teacher’s Handbook
Chapter 5
Dr. Valerio

3. Subjects Covered
 Definition of middle school
 The middle level learner
 Middle level programs

4. Subjects Covered
 Sequential vs. exploratory language
programs
 Classroom management
 Cultures and Comparisons standards
PowerPoint Part A ends with Culture

5. Subjects Covered
 The three Ps: practices, products,
perspectives
 Kluckhohn Method
 Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory

6. Subjects Covered
 Cultural simulators
 Sample thematic units
 Assessment of middle school
performance

7. Concepts
 Emphasis on teaching language at
middle school level relates to two
factors:
1. Change in approach to teaching 11- to
14-year-old learners (more student
centered)

8. Concepts
 Emphasis on teaching language at
middle school level relates to two
factors:
2. Attempt to begin language learning
experiences earlier in formal education

9. Concepts
 Definitions
Purpose: Developmentally responsive to
needs of young adolescents
Uniqueness: Separate autonomous unit,
separate from elementary school and
high school

10. Concepts
 Definitions
Organization: Includes grade levels with
the largest number of students who
are becoming adolescents
Curriculum and Instruction: Connect to
everyday lives of students and actively
involves them in learning

11. Concepts
 Research-Based Presumptions
1. interdisciplinary teaming (two to five
team members in two, three, or four
subject areas whose schedules allow
them to plan and collaborate on
interdisciplinary lessons)

12. Concepts
 Research-Based Presumptions
2. advisory programs that consist of a
small group of students (usually 20 or
fewer) assigned to a teacher,
administrator, or other staff member
for a regularly scheduled meeting to
discuss topics of concern to students

13. Concepts
 Research-Based Presumptions
3. varied instruction integrating learning
experiences, addressing students’ own
questions, focusing upon real-life
issues relevant to the student; actively
engaging students in problem solving
and accommodating individual
differences; emphasizing collaboration

14. Concepts
 Research-Based Presumptions
4. programs that capitalize on the innate
curiosity of young adolescents,
exposing them to a range of
academic, vocational, and recreational
subjects for career options,
community service, enrichment, and
enjoyment

15. Concepts
 Research-Based Presumptions
5. transition programs that focus on
creating a smooth change of schools
for the young adolescent

16. Key concept
“Good middle level education allows
students to experience old things in
new ways and entirely new fields of
learning in varied ways.”

17. The Middle Level Learner
 Social Aspects
Different from elementary and high
school learners due to many physical,
cognitive, and emotional changes that
occur over a relatively short period of
time.

18. The Middle Level Learner
Social Aspects
Greatest differences between students
occur during this period

19. The Middle Level Learner
Social Aspects
Greatest differences between students
occur during this period
Rapid physical changes

20. The Middle Level Learner
Social Aspects
Greatest differences between students
occur during this period
Alternating periods of high energy
and listlessness…

21. The Middle Level Learner
Social Aspects
Greatest differences between students
occur during this period
Students may need to squirm and
move around or vent energy
through physical exercise…

22. The Middle Level Learner
Social Aspects
Greatest differences between students
occur during this period
Aware of physiological changes
and become preoccupied with
self-image

23. The Middle Level Learner
Social Aspects
Greatest differences between students
occur during this period
Students may be sensitive to topics
that focus on personal appearance
or daily routines dealing reflexively

24. The Middle Level Learner
Social Aspects
Greatest differences between students
occur during this period
Students are “romantic learners”
who enjoy knowing, and bring a
great deal of curiosity to classroom

25. The Middle Level Learner
Social Aspects
Greatest differences between students
occur during this period
Students like to explore challenges
beyond everyday experience such
as nobility, courage, genius…

26. The Middle Level Learner
Social Aspects
Greatest differences between students
occur during this period
Views issues as right or wrong

27. The Middle Level Learner
Social Aspects
Greatest differences between students
occur during this period
Strong sense of justice

28. The Middle Level Learner
Social Aspects
Greatest differences between students
occur during this period
Will work conscientiously for worthy
cause

29. The Middle Level Learner
Social Aspects
Greatest differences between students
occur during this period
Able to memorize lots of details

30. The Middle Level Learner
Social Aspects
Greatest differences between students
occur during this period
In order to learn a language,
students need to see a connection
between the language and their
real lives and interests

31. The Middle Level Learner
Social Aspects
Greatest differences between students
occur during this period
May be less accepting of social
differences unless they can
discover how others think and feel

32. The Middle Level Learner
Social Aspects
Greatest differences between students
occur during this period
Be sure to read the details provided
on pp. 128-129

33. The Middle Level Learner
Cognitive Aspects
Brain research indicates
The brain changes its structure in
response to external experiences

34. The Middle Level Learner
Cognitive Aspects
Brain research indicates
The brain always searches for
meaning

35. The Middle Level Learner
Cognitive Aspects
Brain research indicates
The brain always searches for
meaning by looking for patterns in
the information it receives

36. The Middle Level Learner
Cognitive Aspects
Brain research indicates
Emotions drive attention to meaning
and remembering…

37. The Middle Level Learner
Cognitive Aspects
Brain research indicates
Adolescents experience
progressively slower brain growth,
which may impact cognitive skills
and complex thinking processes

38. The Middle Level Learner
Cognitive Aspects
Brain research indicates
Adolescent learners demonstrate a
wide diversity of skills and abilities

39. Language Instruction in the
Middle School
 Standards advocate language learning
at lower age levels
 NCLB (No Child Left Behind) negatively
impacted foreign language in the
middle school due to time required to
focus on academic subjects in order to
maintain compliance

40. Language Instruction in the
Middle School
 Middle schools are organized around
thematic units within an interdisciplinary
team of teachers

41. Middle School
Language Program Design
Exploratory vs. Sequential
There is a big difference in the
philosophies toward the proper
approach for language at the middle
school level due to the unique features
of these learners

42. Middle School
Language Program Design
 Exploratory vs. Sequential
Foreign language exploratory or
foreign language experience (FLEX)
programs

43. Middle School
Language Program Design
 Exploratory vs. Sequential
Foreign language exploratory or
foreign language experience (FLEX)
programs
Language readiness courses that
introduce how language works
(vocab roots, grammar, syntax, etc)

44. Middle School
Language Program Design
 Exploratory vs. Sequential
Foreign language exploratory or
foreign language experience (FLEX)
programs
Multiple minicourses in language
or potpourri courses that expose
students to several languages that

45. Middle School
Language Program Design
 Exploratory vs. Sequential
Foreign language exploratory or
foreign language experience (FLEX)
programs
…focus on cultural awareness and
limited survival skills

46. Middle School
Language Program Design
 Exploratory vs. Sequential
Foreign language exploratory or
foreign language experience (FLEX)
programs
Interdisciplinary courses that focus
on topics from the perspective of
more than one content area like

47. Middle School
Language Program Design
 Exploratory vs. Sequential
Foreign language exploratory or
foreign language experience (FLEX)
programs
foreign language plus geography,
social studies, history, and/or
literature

48. Middle School
Language Program Design
 Exploratory vs. Sequential
Foreign language exploratory or
foreign language experience (FLEX)
programs
enabling students to explore ideas
from a new point of view

49. Middle School
Language Program Design
 Exploratory vs. Sequential
Foreign language exploratory or
foreign language experience (FLEX)
programs
Auxiliary or noncurricular language
programs that take place outside
of school day including before-

50. Middle School
Language Program Design
 Exploratory vs. Sequential
Foreign language exploratory or
foreign language experience (FLEX)
programs
and after-school programs,
summer camps, immersion week-
ends, summer day programs…

51. Middle School
Language Program Design
 Exploratory vs. Sequential
Foreign language exploratory or
foreign language experience (FLEX)
programs
Proponents argue that exploratory
programs are “learner friendly”

52. Middle School
Language Program Design
 Exploratory vs. Sequential
Foreign language exploratory or
foreign language experience (FLEX)
programs
and provide beneficial connections
to other disciplines, cultures,
learning strategies, career paths…

53. Middle School
Language Program Design
 Exploratory vs. Sequential
Foreign language exploratory or
foreign language experience (FLEX)
programs

54. Middle School
Language Program Design
 Exploratory vs. Sequential
Foreign language exploratory or
foreign language experience (FLEX)
programs
Sequential proponents maintain
that the goals of exploratory
program can be better achieved

55. Middle School
Language Program Design
 Exploratory vs. Sequential
Foreign language exploratory or
foreign language experience (FLEX)
programs
through sequential language
programs, which are more likely to
enable functional language skills

56. Middle School
Language Program Design
 Exploratory vs. Sequential
Foreign language exploratory or
foreign language experience (FLEX)
programs
in a cultural context rather than
talking in English “about” language
and culture

57. Key concept
“The longest possible sequence of
language learning should be provided,
beginning with exploratory programs in
the elementary school, followed by
middle school courses in a single
language with multiple entry points for
new and transfer students.
Opportunities to study additional
languages should also be provided in
late middle school and high school.”

58. Integrating Cultures and
Comparisons
 Middle school learners have more
positive feelings toward people unlike
themselves when they know more
about them

59. Integrating Cultures and
Comparisons
 These learners are at an ideal level for
exploring target cultures and comparing
the target culture with their own culture

60. Integrating Cultures and
Comparisons
 Of course, these standards areas should
be an integral part of language study at
other levels, but the middle school is an
especially good time

61. Cultures goal area
 Emphasize acceptance of diversity
 Develop sensitivity to differences in
others—both within and without the
classroom
 Students begin to realize it is okay for
them to be different, which supports their
own self-esteem

62. Cultures goal area
 Practices—patterns of behavior
accepted by society (knowledge of
what to do, when, and where)

63. Cultures goal area
 Products—things created by members
of the culture, both tangible (art, books,
foods) and intangible (ideas, music
interpretation, games)

64. Cultures goal area
 Perspectives—traditional ideas,
attitudes, meanings, and values of
member of that society

65. Cultures goal area
 Refer to the figures on page 135
 The culture paradigm lends itself to a
constructivist approach to learning
about culture

66. Cultures goal area
 Constructivist approach emphasizes
1. constructive process to understand
the three Ps and their inter-
relationships; and
2. connections and associations between
new and existing knowledge

67. Cultures goal area
 Appendix 5.2 online discusses ways to
design the culture portfolio
http://admin.wadsworth.com/resource_uploads/static_resources/1413004628/5280/app5_2.pdf

68. Next session
 We will begin discussing the
Comparisons goal area.

69. For now
 Look at your 10-day unit
 Decide how you could adapt those
lessons to fit middle school learners
based on what we have covered so far

70. For now
 Write a paragraph beneath each
detailed lesson plan in the adaptations
section
“Adaptations for middle school learners:”
and write how you could adapt each
lesson based on these principles

71. Next session
 We will discuss comparisons and finish
chapter 5
 Then you’ll go back in and state
additional adaptations or revise your
first entry to blend in the comparisons
and assessments we will cover through
the remainder of this chapter.

72. View and discuss
LINK to video: http://www.learner.org/resources/series185.html
 Select #12
 What functional goals does Ms. Granville have
for her students? What does she want them
to be able to do with French? How does she
involve backward design in her lesson
planning?
 How does the teacher involve her students in
authentic oral history?

73. View and discuss
LINK to video: http://www.learner.org/resources/series185.html
 Select #11
 How do these sixth graders acquire
vocabulary in this lesson?
 What is the role of TPR in facilitating
vocabulary acquisition?
 How are students involved in hands-on
learning?
 How are language and culture integrated?