The University of Colorado Program for Teaching East Asia, in collaboration with faculty of CU's Anderson Language Technology Center (ALTEC), has offered STARTALK summer workshops for Chinese language teachers from across the United States since 2010. Check back in February 2013 for information on TEA's summer 2013 STARTALK offerings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Middle Kingdom in Middle School: A STARTALK Program on Building a Sustainable Chinese Language Program in the Middle Years.

Consisting of a one-week residential institute (July 8-14), two pre-institute online modules, and one post-institute online module, the program's primary focus was building and sustaining a successful Chinese language program 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 provided 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 gained a thorough understanding of issues middle school instructors face through presentations, interactive workshops, resource sharing, reflective writing, and the creation of a draft action plan for both curricular change and Chinese language advocacy within their schools/districts.

For more information on this program, contact Jon Zeljo at jon.zeljo@colorado.edu or 303-735-5128.