I ended my April 2, 2008 post with a comment about the future of the Washington State Coalition for International Education:

We've recently applied for our sixth State Innovations grant. If we receive it, that will probably be a good sign that our work should continue.

I'm happy to report that we did receive the grant -- and for the full amount that we requested. So, let me share a little of what we plan to accomplish with this year's grant. (You can read about this and all the other projects of the Coalition on our Coalition > Projects page.)

Chinese Language Teachers Network Support

I am really excited that our grant this year can offer support to the newly formed non-profit, Chinese Language Teachers Network. I have been working with leaders from this group of outstanding Chinese language teachers for over two years now, and they are amazing. They have put together an ambitious project plan for this year's State Innovations grant.

Project Purpose: Develop a cadre of excellent teachers of Chinese from the local communities, as well as abroad

You can read about the specific activities they are planning on their project page on International Education Washington: 2008 Projects > Chinese Language Teachers Network Support.

Global Connections through Technology

We will also continue our collaboration with Bridges to Understanding and Seattle Public Schools. Bridges to Understanding is committed to "engaging students worldwide in direct, interactive learning and storytelling to build cross-cultural understanding."

I am personally fascinated with how Bridges projects can bring together the Arts (photography); Literacy (storytelling); Global Issues (such as Climate Change); World Languages (stories are told in major languages, like English and Spanish, as well as indigenous languages of the local community); Geography, History, Economics; and Experiential, Service, and Project-Based Learning -- all wrapped up with Technology as the mediator. Wow!

Project Purpose: Provide guidance to schools that want to internationalize their curriculum through technology

The grant will support up to four middle school teachers from Seattle and another school district to participate in Bridges' workshops this summer to learn how to use digital storytelling in their classrooms to engage students in making global connections. They will then have the opportunity to share their experiences at a public workshop in the fall.

You can find out more about their specific plans by checking the project page on International Education Washington: 2008 Projects > Global Connections through Technology.

Mapping & Enhancing Language Learning Support

The State Innovations grant will also provide support to the Mapping & Enhancing Language Learning (MELL) project, which is a collaborative effort of four National Resource Centers at the University of Washington's Jackson School of International Studies, UW Language Learning Center, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Washington State Coalition for International Education, and Washington Association For Language Teaching (WAFLT) to provide a better picture of what languages students are currently learning in our K-12 schools and community language programs.

Project Purpose: Provide critical policy information about the state of world language learning and teaching in Washington state to educational agencies, committees, and policy makers

With this year's State Innovations grant, we will be helping develop and disseminate a number of policy briefs about the state of world language teaching based on our 2007 survey of high schools. I've reviewed the draft briefs, and they are very interesting. These briefs will cover topics such as:

(1) High Schools that don't offer World Languages
(2) Demographics of schools compared by number of languages offered
(3) Trends in languages offered
(4) Years of language study offered
(5) Trends in World Language Endorsements

We'll have links to the briefs as they get published on the project page on International Education Washington: 2008 Projects > MELL Support.

The other major activity will be organizing a World Languages Summit this fall at the University of Washington. The planning for that is just beginning.

And the work continues...