His staff performed hilarious skits depicting his life, honored him with an inscribed stone, and sang songs. The Concordia Language Villages will honor him with the soon-to-arrive new Dragon Boat from China!

The evening concluded with a delicious Chinese banquet and slideshow.

Then we proceeded to the Peace Ceremony at which we paid hommage to the late Concordia College President, Pamela Jolicoeur. She was a strong supporter of the Language Villages and international education.

Lac du Bois-Bemidji offered words of peace in a song, “Cultivons la Paix,” and spoke of the long-time relationship with staff from Cameroon. Cameroon celebrates its 50th anniversary of independance this year.

International Day celebrations of the afternoon included an opening ceremony, songs and chants from every village on the Markplatz, international food stands, shopping, global activities, and a wonderful closing ceremony.

We welcomed the new Chinese STARTALK teachers of the year along with students in the Masters of Education in World Language Instruction, cohorts 3 and 4. Like villagers and staff in the Language Villages, we began with aquaintence games, a world class dinner, and painting of our name tags.        

Our instructor, Brandon "Bastien" Locke, presents each of us with our "Certificates of Completion" at our celebration dinner.

Teacher Seminars' participants put closure on their 10 days together by sharing their IPA units with each other.

Today marks the end of our 10-day seminar together. We have all learned a lot, from each other, from guest presenters, and of course, from our visits to the Language Villages. We spent much of the morning sitting in the sun and listening to our colleagues as they shared their IPA topics with our group. It was great to hear how all of the topics presented throughout the course came together in the form of articulated thematic-based curriculum units, from the essential questions to the interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational tasks, to the integrated of the National Standards. Our group is dispersing with solid curricular plans in place and we definitely enjoyed listening to each other’s ideas. Likewise, the group benefitted from asking questions of and offering suggestions to their colleagues. This sharing was very powerful. Our challenge now will be to bring back this new knowledge that we have gained from this course, and put it into practice in our classrooms. Seeing CLV in action has inspired us to bring a little bit of CLV back home with us, and hopefully inspire our students with some of the valuable strategies and activities that work so well at the Language Villages. 

The 2009 Teacher Seminars program came to a close with our last meal together – a celebration dinner in the form of a 4-course Italian banquet. It was a time to celebrate with each other for one last time, putting closure on our time together. It was a time to reflect on the intensity of the seminar, the rich conversations and discussions with each other , the obvious growth and learning that took place, and the celebration of accomplishments, specifically the IPA units.

“The real voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” - Marcel Proust

“I, too, am enjoying this journey where you are showing us ‘landscapes’ through new eyes.” - Wencke, college German Instructor from Utah

It was fascinating to discuss the above questions, and to hear everyone’s responses to these questions. The bottom line is that assessment must be purposeful and should match the curriculum and the instruction. “Purposeful assessment should verify that students know how, when, and why to say what to whom” (D. Clementi 2009). “Meaningful assessment evaluates students on content that helps them understand the world around them and who they are” (D. Clementi 2009).

Eddy Dehler-Seter teaches a content-based lesson at das BioHaus.

Teacher Seminars participants experience the power of nature.

Nature and the environment was most certainly today’s theme. Our busy day started with another drive out to the Language Villages. Today’s destination: das BioHaus at Waldsee, the German Language Village. CLV’s environmental education specialist, Edwin Dehler-Seter, was there to meet the group and provide three hours of intensity! He very clearly modeled content-based instruction through a variety of activities including natural and renewable resources and life cycles of various species. His lesson was engaging and he had the teachers fully involved and participating, all in German. Our stay with Eddy ended with him providing a detailed tour of the BioHaus, a cutting-edge environmental learning center. The teachers were fascinated with the content-based lessons provided by Eddy, as well as his high level of energy and enthusiasm. 

Following our visit with Eddy, we enjoyed a picnic lunch together at Skogfjorden, the Norwegian Language Village. Where, from amongst the trees, appeared a peaceful woman dressed all in blue. The teachers soon discovered that this woman was in fact Tove, the dean of Skogfjorden. She introduced herself to the group and explained (all in Norwegian) the connection between wearing blue and the trolls of Norway (which happened to be their theme of the day). Our visit to Skogfjorden began with Tove leading us in a cultural activity, explaining that this year in Norway has been identified as the “Year of the Cultural Artifact.” She then led us on a walking tour around her site, explaining several artifacts and discussing their significance, either from a Norwegian point of view, a U.S. point of view, or from a Skogfjorden-specific perspective. Some of what she shared with us she considers to be special secrets of Skogfjorden, so we really can’t write about them here (but take a close look at our pictures!). 

We invited Tove to join us later this evening for dinner. And, following dinner, she shared with us a little about her philosophy of teaching language through song. Song is a very powerful tool, and a great vehicle for teaching (and learning) language. The teachers were fascinated by the historical journey that she guided them on earlier in the day, and even more in awe after listening to her teach them a song in Norwegian after dinner. 

Our group was very fortunate to experience nature at its best in two very different, yet similar, locations at the Language Villages today!

“Eddy’s focus was definitely on the content and not on the teaching of German grammar. By integrating the language with the subject matter content, he made the words and concepts that he taught more relevant and interesting. I really learned something today.” - Dawn, high school German teacher from Virginia

Tove Dahl teaches us Norwegian through a beautiful song.

Teachers are engaged while also being reminded what it feels like to learn a different language.

Mustafa leads us in an Arabic lesson.

Today is Sunday and the feeling within the group is more relaxed. We started our seminar a little later than usual, and enjoyed a large brunch together. The focus of today was to tie together all of the pieces we have been discussing during the past week. We finished our conversations surrounding the 3 modes of communication, and had some time to work on our Integrated Performance Assessments. Built into this time was the opportunity to share with colleagues, brainstorm ideas, research authentic and relevant artifacts and materials, and develop appropriate activities that would assist with teaching of language through our thematic units. 

One thing not previously mentioned in our earlier blogs is the fact that each of the teachers within our group must present a “micro-teaching” lesson to the rest of us. Today our group was treated with two very different, yet very interesting lessons – both taught in Arabic. The lessons were engaging and very useful for those of us who don’t speak Arabic – to remind us of how our students feel many days in our classrooms. I won’t say that the Arabic was easy to pick up, but the two teachers did a great job of using a variety of engaging strategies to keep us, the learners, engaged, focused, and involved in learning the Arabic we needed to to be successful in their lessons. 

“What can I say about today? Incredibly enriching…a lot of interaction, exchange of opinions, questions about various topics, explanations, and pertinent discussions.” -Lamia, French as a second language teacher from Tunis, Tunisia