Bring Students to the Table

• Meet informally (with translators if possible) with a small group of students in your school who are learning English. Have them share what they would like to tell teachers that might help them teach language learners better.
• See how students respond to some of the student views that Reeves unearthed. Try asking the following questions: Do you “play in English” in school? How can teachers show patience in teaching you? Do your parents understand the work and school papers you bring home?
• Ask the students what has helped them feel comfortable and relaxed at school—and what hasn't. Tape-record and transcribe their words, and share anonymous comments with your school's faculty.

• Commit to trying out in the classroom one of the strategies or activities outlined in Zwiers's article, such as assigning students to hold a conversation with a native English speaker or examining a textbook chapter to identify and define academic terms and language.
• Create and post a “language bank” defining these terms in a central place in your school; teachers can frequently add to the bank and review it with students to prepare for testing.
• In your study group, read over Lewis Carroll's poem “Jabberwocky,” which contains nonsense words like brillig used meaningfully but mysteriously. Individually, take a stab at defining each nonsense word from context. How might it feel to be tested in reading comprehension on this poem?

Xenoglossophobia?

• Do you agree with Sandy Cutshall (“Why We Need ‘The Year of Languages’”, p. 20) that the United States suffers from xenoglossophobia—the fear of foreign languages? Why or why not?
• Share your own experience learning a second language during your K–12 school days. How did your experiences square with the recommendations of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages outlined in Cutshall's article?