This document discusses language and its importance in education. It defines language as a system of symbols used by a group of people to communicate. Language arts teaches grammar, composition, spelling, and sometimes public speaking. Language is important for communication, relationships, and expanding knowledge of other cultures. In 21st century education, students need to learn multiple languages to compete globally. Technology like podcasts, YouTube, smart boards, blogs, and Twitter can help engage students in learning new languages through interactive games, videos, and communication with others around the world. One proposed project involves students being assigned language groups to research a country where that language is spoken and give a presentation incorporating the culture, common phrases, native food, and a video acting out a

1. Pillar Four: Language
DARIAN SPERRY
KATEY DANIELS
NATHAN MILLER

2. What Is It?
• Language is any set or system of such symbols as used in a
more or less uniform fashion by a number of people, who are
thus enabled to communicate intelligibly with one another
• Language is a body of words and the systems for their use
common to a people who are of the same community or
nation, the same geographical area, or the same cultural
tradition
• Language Arts is the study of grammar, composition,
spelling and sometimes public speaking, typically taught as a
single subject

3. Why Do We Care?
• Communication with others
• Accurately relaying your feelings and emotions
• Build relationships with others
• Stay in contact with people from around the world
• Expand your knowledge of cultures around the world
• Further develop your mind
• Discover and understand new information on a global scale

4. How Does That Apply To 21st
Century Education?
• The world is evolving
• We have to keep up with it - only way our children can do
that is if they are taught
• We can no longer afford to be the only industrialized country
in the world with only one major language
• To compete on a global scale, our children need to learn
language in a new and innovative way so that it will stick
with them as they age

5. Where Does Technology Fit?
• Podcasts: Read along with a second language, can be taken home and
worked at your students own pace to develop further understanding
and reading comprehension
• YouTube: Look at videos of people talking in other languages, find
pronunciations, look up a How-To for a certain cultural tradition
• Smart Board: Play interactive games to get students interested in
actually comprehending what they say/write
• Blogs: Look at international blogs from world travelers, foodies, blogs
actually written in another language to see conversational text
• Twitter: Find Tweets from around the world! Have students reach out
in that language and see if they can hold a conversation, Twitter is like
a giant pen-pal service in under 140 characters…without the added
hassle of sending out a letter with personal info!

6. “Study Abroad”
• In this project students will be broken into groups of four
• Each group will be assigned a language (Portuguese, Spanish, French,
German, Swahili, and Dutch)
• For the duration of one semester, groups will need to study their given
language a country where the language is widely spoken and at the end they
will give a 20 minute presentation
• Groups will be required to make an in depth presentation that includes a
PowerPoint about their country that includes traditions and several common
phrases to teach the class
• Each presentation will also include a food native to those who speak their
language that they will learn to prepare via YouTube tutorials or web search

7. “Study Abroad”
• Podcasts and YouTube will be used to understand the language and hear
pronunciations, and clips of ones that stand out as particularly helpful should
be included in the presentation
• Blogs will be required from each individual group member
documenting/journaling their experience exploring another country and it’s
language more in depth, the links to these will be turned in at the end of the
project
• Groups will be required to reach out on Twitter and have a conversation with
someone in their assigned language to test their knowledge of conversational
phrases, snapshots of these conversations should be included on students
individual blogs
• To end their presentation, students will also be required to make, edit,
caption, and turn in a video acting out a common childhood story from their
country, talking in their language and posted to YouTube.

8. “Study Abroad”
• This assignment will immerse students in the culture of the language they are
assigned
• Being as interactive as the project is, hopefully the knowledge students obtain will
stick with them for years to come
• Hearing about the culture of the people who speak these languages may encourage
students in the group or from others to study them further in a specialized class
• The people these groups reach out to on social media can possibly become life long
friends, prompting them to travel abroad and embrace other cultures. At the very
least it will allow them to become comfortable with reaching out to people across the
world, despite language barriers
• Because it is a self-guided assignment, students will need to search for what they feel
is the most important part of the language and culture they are learning instead of
being told what they should know, this can encourage them to do more of this in the
future

9. Works Cited
• http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/language