Latest News on AP Japanese Language and Culture

In the spring of 2003, the Board of Trustees at the College Board adopted a resolution that called on the AP Program to actively explore the development and implementation of new AP language and culture courses and examinations in Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian, “as a first step in a commitment by the College Board to furthering multiculturalism and multilingualism in secondary education.”

Course and Exam Development Time Frame

In early October 2004, a task force for AP Japanese (see below) was formed and charged with creating an outline for the course and drafting the exam specifications. Their work will continue throughout the 2004-2005 academic year. In August 2005, an AP Japanese Development Committee will be formed to refine the course outline, finalize the exam specifications, write the AP Japanese Course Description, begin writing exam questions, and assemble the first forms of the exam. This committee will work together throughout the 2005-2006 academic year. The first AP Japanese Language and Culture courses will then be offered worldwide in the fall of 2006, followed by the first administration of the exam in May 2007.

AP Japanese will be developed simultaneously with AP Chinese, and together they will join AP Italian, the first new language and culture course to be developed under the College Board’s World Languages Initiative.

AP Japanese Task Force

Professional Development

The College Board will offer a broad range of professional development opportunities for Japanese teachers who deliver instruction at AP, intermediate, and beginning levels. These opportunities will include real-time events delivered online, one-day workshops during the school year offered throughout the country, an information session at the AP National Conference in July, and weeklong summer institutes.

The following events are currently under development:

• May 2005: A real-time, online event to introduce the AP Japanese Course Description, exam item types, and newly planned professional development opportunities

• July 2005: AP Japanese information session at the AP National Conference in Houston

• Fall 2005: Pre-AP world languages strategies and Vertical Teams workshops offered throughout the country

• Spring 2006: AP Japanese workshops offered throughout the country

• July 2006: An AP Japanese workshop at the AP National Conference

• Summer 2006: Weeklong AP Japanese Summer Institutes offered at various sites throughout the country

Updates

Further information and frequent updates about the AP Japanese Language and Culture course, exam, curriculum resources, and professional development opportunities will be announced and will be sent to schools well before the 2005-2006 school year begins. To receive e-newsletters with information about updates to the materials on AP Central, select AP Japanese as a course when registering. (Current AP Central members may add AP Japanese to their profile by updating their Personal Profile.) Those wishing to receive regular updates by email about Japanese AP should send an email to apjapanese@collegeboard. org.

[Note: This information is reprinted from the College Board’s AP web site: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com.]

LCTL Events at 2004 ACTFL Conference

In response to petitions from a number of organizations in the field (including ATJ), the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) has established a Special Interest Group (SIG) for Less Common Taught Languages (LCTLs). This year’s ACTFL Conference on November 18-21 in Chicago will mark the first public meetings of the new LCTL SIG.

The first Business Meeting of the SIG will take place on Saturday, November 20, at 10:00-11:15 a.m. in Room 5E of the Hilton Chicago. At this meeting, the SIG will formalize its mission statement and will elect officers, including Chair, co-Chair, Secretary-Treasurer, and Newsletter Editor.

The SIG is also sponsoring a panel on “What Makes the Teaching and Learning of LCTL’s Different (and What To Do About It.” The panel will convene in Continental B on Friday, November 19, at 1:30-2:45 p.m. Note that this is a change from the online conference program.

In addition to these officially sponsored LCTL SIG events, there will be several other sessions that directly deal with issues affecting the Less Commonly Taught Languages, including (but not limited to) the following:

“Forum on Less Commonly Taught Languages (Elementary)” (Friday, 4:30-5:45 p.m. in Hilton 5I)

“Immersion Research and Resource Support from the Language Resource Centers” (Friday, 6:00-7:15 p.m. in Lake Michigan )

“Cultural Challenges in the Foreign Language Classroom” (Saturday, 8:15-9:30 a.m. in Hilton 4H)

“Materials Development and Evaluation for Less Commonly Taught Languages” (Saturday, 4:30-5:45 p.m. in Hilton 5I)

“The Deteriorating Status of Language Teachers: Implications and Interventions” (Saturday, 5:00-8:00 p.m. in Willford B)

The September issue of the ATJ Newsletter carried the full list of panels sponsored by our sister organization NCJLT and specifically focusing on Japanese. The full preliminary ACTFL conference program can be accessed online at www.actfl.org/files/public/web_schedule.pdf.