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Dr. Everson Invited to Present at a Symposium in Mainland China

Dr. Everson has received a special invitation from The Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) to present a paper on Issues in Chinese Language Literacy and Implications for Teacher Developments.  The Hanban is an organization that promotes the learning of Chinese language throughout the world.  The symposium will take place on November 2 and 3, 2007 at East China Normal University in Shanghai.  At the conference, Dr. Everson will also participate in a round table discussion with several of the other participants.

Schrier and Everson Receive $1.8 Million Grant

Drs. Schrier and Everson have been awarded a $1.8 million grant from the Federal Government to fund Project RELEVANCE (Reaching English Language Educators Via Advanced Networked Collegiate Education).  The grant will be used to meet the needs of the growing number of English Language Learners (ELLs) in Iowa by providing ESL endorsements and M.A. degrees to thirty-three in-service teachers and administrators over the next five years.  In order to qualify, the teachers must be teaching at a school in need of assistance as defined by No Child Left Behind legislation.

     Many in-service teachers and administrators are unable to pursue higher degrees because of the lack of access to them.  With Project RELEVANCE, they will be able to access the ESL endorsement and M.A. degree via distance learning through Breeze Macromedia through The University of Iowa.

     The grant will also provide educational opportunities on how to work with ELLs for all UI teacher education students.  Students within the teacher education program will be exposed to modules on how to work with ELLs in their future classes.  These modules will be given through classes already being taught in the College of Education.

Schrier is Guest Editor for Hispania

Hispania, the journal of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) has selected Dr. Leslie Schrier to guest-edit a special issue.  The issue's topic is Issues in Spanish Language and Teaching: Practice and Policy.  The issue is scheduled to appear in March 2008.

Studying How Teachers are Prepared to Teach Culture Project

Through the LangSource Project out of The University of Maryland and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), a special Professional Development Board has been formed to explore how foreign language teachers, both in-service and pre-service, are learning how to teach culture.  The Professional Development Board consists of Dr. Leslie Schrier of The University of Iowa, Dr. Anne Cummings of The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Dr. John Watzke of The St. Louis University, and Dr. David Byrd of The University of Iowa.  The Professional Development Board created two online surveys, one for teachers and a second for teacher educators.  These surveys were made available to the members of the foreign language teaching community through ACTFL's homepage and newsletters.  Data from the surveys will provide information that will inform L2 teacher education.  A report of the preliminary findings of the surveys was given at the ACTFL Conference in Nashville, TN.  Byrd will also use syllabi provided by the participants of the teacher educator survey for his dissertation, which is entitled Investigating How Second Language Teachers are Prepared to Teach Culture: An Analysis of Methods Course Syllabi.

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