Starting Heritage Language Classes at a Small University

Daniela Schiano di ColaDaniela.SchianodiCola@gmail.comFirst International Heritage Language ConferenceUniversity of California, Los Angeles

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What is HelloWM?

Language Classes Underway

Current Achievements

Challenges & Possible Solutions

Instructor Collaboration & Communication

Setting Up Language Classes

Future Goals & Community Connections

Student’s Responses

Conclusion & Further Discussion

Overview

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What is HelloWM?

Heritage Language Learners of William and Mary, or HelloWM is a student organization.

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Language Classes Underway

Bengali

Korean

Hebrew

Brazilian Portuguese

Farsi

American Sign Language

Tagalog

Swahili4

Current Achievements Brings greater visibility to past efforts by cultural organizations to establish accredited heritage language courses

e.g. Over 100 students attend the Korean class

Valuable teaching and curriculum design experience for volunteer instructors

Instructors offer classes for multiple proficiency levels

Students are able to create their own collaborative learning spaces and practice language skills on a weekly basis

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Challenges & Possible Solutions: Outline

Heritage vs. Foreign Language Learners

Curricula & Materials

Methodological Resources & Training

Creating a Directed Curriculum

Maintaining Student Interest & Establishing a Community

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Heritage vs. Foreign Language Learners

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*Access granted by the Alliance for the Advancement of Heritage Languages

Curricula & Materials

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Methodological Resources & Training

• Keep a record of class sizes• Instructors Feedback• Student Evaluations• Instructional Comparison Research Spreadsheet

• Analysis and comparison of collected information

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Creating a Directed Curriculum

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Maintaining Student Interest & Establishing a Community

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Instructor Collaboration and Communication

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Setting Up Language Classes

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Future Goals & Community Connections Continue to find volunteer instructors

Negotiate recognition by the college

Offer heritage language workshops and tutoring at local public schools

Draft grant proposals to the college for funding

Create long-term relationships with native speaker communities in Virginia

Bring greater visibility to heritage language groups within the college community

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Alex Bellah, Korean Instructor

“My experience through HelloWM has been amazing. The student teachers have been very dedicated and will adapt to

helping students learn Korean in spite of having no formal training whatsoever. The students themselves commit

several hours a week for a purely volunteer activity, so it's great to see some of them getting the pay off they seek.”

Student Responses

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“HelloWM taps into a unique niche within the College of William and Mary's community, one outside the confines of state budgets and hiring qualms. It provides the instruction of heritage languages to those most proactive and motivated within the college community from those who truly want to spread their native language and culture. My Persian class had students who were interested in Middle Eastern studies, international politics, and one student who was sure he was "going to marry a Persian girl." The organization has the capacity to adapt and shift based on the needs of students and has the potential to become a fully accredited program. My experience with HelloWM has been one that has shown me not only a need that is not regularly highlighted in university life but also what truly motivated students are capable of achieving.”

Tara Safaie, Persian Instructor and HelloWM Communications Chair

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"Teaching Persian to students and faculty here at William and Mary is extremely rewarding. The process of seeing students go from no knowledge to a growing familiarity of the target language is exciting for all involved. I strongly believe in the peer to peer paradigm of language classes HelloWM was able to establish on campus. With enough support, it can turn the passive phenomenon of language diversity on campus into active, vibrant part of the William and Mary academic experience.”

Hanif Yazdi, Advanced Persian Instructor

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Conclusions & Further DiscussionHeritage language education is in demand at the College of William and Mary

How can HelloWM more efficiently work together to create methodological resources and materials for volunteer instructors?

What funding strategies might work better for a student organization at a small college?

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