Sunday, February 5, 2012

Celebrate Discover Languages Month

Join ACTFL by participating in our 7th annual national celebration of Discover Languages Month! Part of a sustained effort, Discover Languages Month was developed to raise public awareness about the cognitive, academic, cultural and economic benefits language learning provides and to help all U.S. students Discover Languages…Discover the World!

Join us in promoting Discover Languages Month by posing with our Discover Languages logo in your community!

Our ACTFL Headquarters staff has already started to celebrate Discover Languages Month! They posed with the Discover Languages logo on a banner in front of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC! Join us in showing your support by printing out the Discover Languages logo and posing with your students around your school or neighborhood!

As a part of Discover Languages Month, ACTFL will be collecting photos from across the country to show celebrations in each state! At the end of February, ACTFL will pick out the most creative photo and send the winner a gift card that can be used to throw a party for your classroom! Make sure to submit your photos to us and represent your state and your school! Please send all photos in either a .jpg or .gif file to DLphotos@actfl.org.

Organize a Discover Languages Month event in your school or community!

The best way to generate buzz for Discover Languages Month is by hosting an event at your school! ACTFL wants to make this easy for you and fun for your students, so we have already created a number of products and resources you can use in spreading the word about the benefits of learning a foreign language. Create a pop-up quiz, challenge your students to create a new bulletin board, or perform songs, dances or poetry as a way of sharing with the school and the community what they have learned. Visit our website at www.discoverlanguages.org for more resources and ideas for your classroom!

Advocate for language learning during Discover Languages Month…and year-round!

Advocacy needs to be a year-round effort, but Discover Languages Month provides the perfect opportunity to step up the effort. ACTFL wants to help educators and supporters make sure that the decision-makers in local, state and national organizations and legislatures provide the necessary funding for the future of our programs. In addition, we need the people who live and work in our communities to appreciate the importance of language learning. Click here to visit the Advocacy section of our website, where you’ll find information on how to advocate for languages, who should be the targets of your efforts, talking points to help deliver our advocacy messages, even sample letters to make your involvement easier.

Make sure to check out our website at www.DiscoverLanguages.org for more information on Discover Languages Month.

Discover Languages…Discover the World!


Go to this web page and learn the answers to the following questions:

1. What does research show about the benefits of language learning?
2. How does language learning support academic achievement?
3. How does language learning provide cognitive benefits to students?
4. How does language learning affect attitudes and beliefs about language learning and about other cultures?
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References:

ACTFL. 2012. "Celebrate Discover Languages Month". ACTFL. Posted: Available online: http://actfl.informz.net/actfl/archives/archive_2096706.html

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