The Middle Kingdom in Middle School: A STARTALK Program on Building and Sustaining an Effective Chinese Language Program in the Middle Years

DATES: Residential Program July 24-30, 2011; Online portion of the program July 1 -22 & August 1 - 26th

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Monday, May 16, 2010 (Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis)

CONTACT: Lauren Collins, lauren.collins@colorado.edu, (303) 735-5120

INFORMATION & APPLICATION: www.colorado.edu/cas/tea/progr...tartalk_program.html

The University of Colorado Program for Teaching East Asia, in collaboration with faculty of CU's Anderson Technology Center and the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, will offer a blended STARTALK summer workshop for Chinese language teachers teaching in middle school settings around the United States. The online portions of the course will be held in early from July 1 -22 & August 1 - 26th; the residential program will be held at the University of Colorado campus from July 24 - July 30, 2011.

The program’s primary focus is building and sustaining a successful Chinese language program in a middle school setting through (1) sound pedagogy and practices, (2) effective learning technology, (3) collaborative interdisciplinary work, and (4) strong teacher advocacy and school community communication. Instructors and guest speakers will provide expertise on current trends in pedagogy and practices, learning technology, articulation issues, collaborative work across disciplines, and development of successful Chinese language-culture programs embedded in the middle school program. Participants will gain a thorough understanding of middle school issues through presentations, interactive workshops, resource sharing, reflective writing, and creation of a draft action plan for both curricular change and Chinese language advocacy within their schools/districts. During the on-line sessions students will be expected to watch videos from the course website, read materials posted online, and respond to questions online.

Enrollment in the 2011 STARTALK program is limited to 20 Chinese language teachers working in a middle school setting. Applicants must have native or near-native proficiency in Mandarin Chinese and a minimum of a bachelor’s degree. Preference will be given to those teachers who demonstrate the opportunity to incorporate the content and materials from the institute into their 2011-12 teaching assignments.

For additional information or to discuss the program or application procedure, please visit http://www.colorado.edu/cas/te...tartalk_program.html or Lauren Collins at 303-735-5120 or lauren.collins@colorado.edu.

All major costs of institute attendance are underwritten by the Program for Teaching East Asia (TEA) through funding from STARTALK. For more Information and an application, go to www.colorado.edu/cas/tea/progr...tartalk_program.html or call Lauren Collins at 303-735-5120.