Integrating Culture and History in the Foreign/Second Language Class, K-12 (Summer 2002) One of two graduate courses which constituted a four-week immersion summer institute for teachers of French, K-12. Focused on the historical content, culture, civilization, events and people of the Louisiana Purchase era 1800-1812, and on their legacy and impact on contemporary Louisiana. Participants created activities supported by the Louisiana Standards, technology, whole language, theme teaching, project teaching, and content teaching. Participating teachers discussed pedagogical issues and the integration of social studies, literature, arts, music, technology and culture in their foreign language classes, schools and communities. Fifteen guest speakers were invited. Included visits to, and on-site research at, special collections libraries, historical sites, museums and archives. photos

Integrating Technology in the Foreign/Second Language Class, K-12 (Summer 2002) One of two graduate courses which constituted a four-week immersion summer teacher institute for teachers of French, K-12, centered on the history of Louisiana, with a particular focus on The Louisiana Purchase. Working in groups or individually, participants created web-modules using the activities they designed in the course described above. These modules were destined to be used in their classrooms. Also included visits to, and on-site research at, special collections libraries, historical sites, museums and archives. photos

Integrating Technology in the Foreign/Second Language Class. (Summer 2000). Based on individual selections of a theme, or of a book from children's literature in their respective target languages (French, Spanish, ESL or Latin), and on content and interdisciplinary teaching, whole language, group work, cooperation and collaboration, participants create a teaching unit for their classes. Stresses the exploration of Internet resources and team work on a specific project to be posted on the web. Participants work in their respective target languages to design classroom-ready activities and material to expand their students' skills and cultural awareness and to motivate them to create in the target language. All levels.

Principles and Current Research Related to the Teaching of Foreign Languages K-12.Compressed Video Course. Destined to anyone interested in the development of the Foreign Language field throughout the past five years, including the new national and regional standards and recent research. Teachers in the field are asked to consider what this research can bring to their classrooms, and define an area in their teaching which they want to more specifically document and develop (i.e., creative writing, theme teaching, integrating culture, technology, etc.).  Graduate students can define an area of interest and develop a thorough literature review as an exploration for their Master's Thesis or their Doctoral Dissertation.

Foreign Language Standards and Creativity, K-12. (Summer 1999). Based on content-teaching, interdisciplinarity, whole language, cooperation and collaboration, students in this course explore the creative resources of the 5 C in the National and Louisiana Foreign Language Standards: Communication (communicate in languages other than English); Cultures (acquire a base knowledge and comprehension of other cultures); Connections (establish connections with other disciplines); Comparisons (develop some comprehension of the nature of a language and a culture); Community (participate in a multilingual community). Stresses the exploration and use of internet resources, and team work on a specific project, in the target language.

Evaluation and assessment in the foreign language classroom.Students explore what kind of evaluation and assessment are currently available, and what innovative approaches are being developed, including technology. "Grab bag" of topics covered include (but are not limited to): portfolio assessment, textbook assessment, evaluation in context, evaluation and new standards, alternative assessment, dialogue journals.

Critical Analysis of Current Research in Foreign/Second Language Education. Destined to anyone interested in the development of the Foreign Language field throughout the past five years. Teachers in the field are asked to consider what this research can bring to their classrooms, and/or whether they want to start a teacher-research project of their own. Graduate students define an area of interest and develop a literature review for their Master’s thesis or their Doctoral dissertation.

Building Your Foreign Language Class on Children’s Literature. Based on individual selections from children’s literature (French, Spanish, ESL, or Latin) and using the principles of whole language, cooperative/collaborative and content learning, students worked in their respective target languages to design classroom-ready activities and material to expand their students’ skills and cultural awareness and to motivate them to create in their target language.

Creativity, Games, and Songs in the Foreign Language Class. Participants consider the venues which allow creativity and language acquisition to develop hand in hand in the foreign language class. They review some already familiar approaches including games, songs, rhymes, and children literature. But they also explore the endless possibilities offered by other areas including drama, problem solving, puzzles, math, and music. This course is designed to help teachers become more aware of how these approaches develop communication in all four skills, using different formats of interaction, and responding to the diversity in students, abilities, and learning styles.