About

We are language teachers and students at COERLL with a common goal: to help create a culture of collaboration and sharing in order to improve the teaching and learning of foreign languages. This is the foundation of the Open Education movement in language learning.

In 2008, COERLL became one of the 16 National Foreign Language Resource Centers funded by the US Department of Education. Our center’s specific mission is to produce and disseminate Open Educational Resources (OER) for the Internet public. OER are “teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits sharing, accessing, repurposing—including for commercial purposes—and collaborating with others.” (Free to Learn)

This blog allows us to speak directly with language teachers and learners interested in OER. We will bring you news, opinions, and teaching and learning resources, as well as the expertise of leaders in Open Education.

We are forging new ground and need the participation of language teachers and students around the world. Together we can figure out how to make effective language learning a reality for everyone. We look forward to your comments on posts, and please contact us with questions or submit a topic as a guest blogger!

Sincerely,

The COERLL blog team

Contributors

Carl Blyth – Director of COERLL / Associate Professor of French at UT Austin
Patricia Kyle – COERLL Senior Programs Manager
Sarah Sweeney – COERLL Project Coordinator

Designer

Nathalie Steinfeld Childre – COERLL Publications Manager / Web Developer

Summer Workshop | Building on the Promise of CLT: Learning to Author and Publish FLLITE Lessons

Faculty and graduate students attending the workshop will explore the literary aspects of sample texts, and work with workshop presenters to apply the the pedagogical principles of the Foreign Languages and the Literary in the Everyday (FLLITE) approach to creating a literacy lesson for their classroom. Sample lessons What’s in a Name? (French), by Joanna Luks: The first lesson of a first semester college course, use of grammatical metaphor to characterize someoneMais je digresse (French), by Joanna Luks: For second semester college course, uses of digression in writingLa globalización de comida (Spanish), by Carol Ready: intermediate, incorporating metaphor in writingCosas de ciudad (Spanish), by Natasha César Suárez: advanced intermediate, slogans and symbolic language2 example lessons about Hemingway's "The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio" (English), by Joanna Luks and Chantelle Warner: intermediate/advanced, grammar play, perspective, and genreWorkshop details and linksCost is $5 for students, $20 for others.Registration includes 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 1 social event, and afternoon refreshmentsCPE Credits are available for those who attend the whole workshop.Register hereTravel and accommodation informationPlease bring your own laptop or tablet to fully participate in the event. About the FLLITE projectThe FLLITE Project, sponsored by CERCLL (University of Arizona) and COERLL (University of Texas at Austin), takes the creative moments found in everyday language use as the basis for lessons in second language literacy. By emphasizing language play as central to communication, FLLITE lessons aim to develop language awareness as well as communicative abilities through the integration of speaking, reading, listening, and writing tasks. The goal of the FLLITE Project is the publication of lessons based on authentic texts in both commonly and less-commonly taught languages, for example, blogs, Internet memes, YouTube videos, slam poetry, and so forth. When you submit a lesson, the FLLITE editorial board will give you feedback to improve your lesson for publication. In addition, you will learn how to adopt an open copyright license (Creative Commons) that gives the public the right to access, adapt, and re-use your lesson. &nbs […]
Summer Workshop | Adapting OER activities for your heritage Spanish classroom

COERLL hosts a yearly workshop for instructors of Spanish as a heritage language as part of our Heritage Spanish project. This year, expert presenters will share the innovative activities they have created for their heritage Spanish students and guide workshop participants through an adaptation process that will demonstrate how teachers can customize such activities to fit their own specific classroom environments and their particular learners’ needs.Cost is $5 for students, $10 for K-12 teachers, $20 for others.Registration includes 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 1 social event, and afternoon refreshmentsCPE Credits are available for those who attend the whole workshop.Please bring your own laptop or tablet to fully participate in the event. Useful linksRegister hereTravel and accommodation information […]
The TELL Collab 3.0

The TELL Collab will bring together K-12 world language educators to explore, model, and share effective language learning practices identified by the TELL framework (http://www.tellproject.org/). This time the expanded two-and-a-half-day professional learning experience will include an interactive presentation on open educational resources, collaborative sessions for sharing perspectives and ideas, and many opportunities to identify new instructional strategies for both teachers and administrators.Participants will follow two of three tracks during the event: learning targets, target language teaching, and performance assessments. Learn more on the TELL Collab website. Cost: $129 Includes 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 1 social event, and afternoon refreshmentsCredits: CPE Credits are available for those who attend the whole workshop.Travel & Accommodations: See here for more information.BYOD: Please bring your own laptop or tablet to fully participate in the event.&nbs […]
Digital badging Brown Bag Discussion

Hear briefly about how panelists have used digital badges, and participate in discussion about the benefits and challenges. Event is free and open to the public. Read more about digital badges&nbs […]