Here are a few of our teachers in front of "Paris," the dining hall at Lac du Bois.

Today the group of Teacher Seminars participants spent a good part of the day touring the permanent site of the Concordia Language Villages on Turtle River Lake near Bemidji, Minnesota. Most of the villages were preparing for their opening day, getting ready to welcome hundreds of villagers later in the day. So, we toured the facilities early in the morning get get a feel for the setting, prior to much action going on. The teachers were introduced to the culturally authentic settings of the various villages. At El Lago del Bosque, the Spanish Language Village, teachers were excited to see the Plaza Mayor, the traditional “asado” outdoor grill, and the beautiful “Hacienda” residential area. While visiting Skogfjorden, the Norwegian Language Village, the teachers were equally impressed with the authentic architecture, however, they were even more intrigued with the beautiful painting on the ceiling and walls of the Norwegian dining hall. Waldsee, the German Language Village, had a tour guide prepared to greet us. She walked us around their village, explaining various aspects of the program and how their many buildings relate to their programming. Cafe Einbeck was their favorite – I think. And finally, at Lac du Bois, the French Language Village, we had a tour of the beautiful site. This was the only village currently “in session with villagers” so the teachers really enjoyed getting to see “CLV in action” and commented on how much they enjoyed seeing the villagers singing — they were very enthusiastic. We cannot wait to return to the Language Villages in a few days, to spend some extended time observing and learning some of the methodologies used to make the language come to life for the villagers. 

 

When we returned to our class time at Bemidji State University, we talked about the mission of the Language Villages – to prepare young people for responsible citizenship in our global community - and we talked further about the goals and guiding principles that are used at the Language Villages to teach language and culture in context. One of the key goals of the Teacher Seminars program is to help bridge the connection between teaching language in a traditional classroom with the proven methods and strategies of the Concordia Language Villages. Our challenge as educators is to always strive to teach language and culture in meaningful, purposeful contexts. We’re hear to get ideas to bring back to our classrooms. 

“We have always been told that a magician never reveals his tricks. But at the CLV Teacher Seminars, we are being shown all of the work behind the scenes that goes into creating the magic of the Language Villages.” — Wencke, college German Instructor from Utah