Filming starts on new Midd language software

By the fall of 2010, the Middlebury College Summer Language Schools, in collaboration with an undisclosed online partner, will launch a language software program geared toward teaching Spanish and French to K-12 students across the United States.

According to Michael Geisler, vice president of Language Schools, Schools Abroad and Graduate Programs, the College hopes to sign an agreement with the partner within the next month. Filming for the Spanish language software has already begun in “various undisclosed locations.”

Although many details about the project are still confidential, Geisler explained that the software emphasizes “native speakers in native environments.”

"Students will actually listen to authentic speakers of the language in authentic situations,” he said.

The overall goal of the project, according to Geisler, is to “provide … a high-quality online learning tool that will combine some of the best features of the Middlebury Language Schools with our partner’s experience in deploying online language learning.”

The program would seek to fulfill what Geisler calls an “urgent need” for language education at the K-12 level. College-level language education, explained Geisler, often comes too late to achieve true fluency.

In addition, language classes face fierce competition with the many other choices and requirements for students.

“Students just can’t do it all,” he said.

This lack of language education has led U.S. students at all grade levels to fall behind students in other countries in foreign language proficiency. Middlebury’s language software will seek to amend this situation.

With the exception of Associate Professor of Spanish Ana Martínez-Lage, who serves as coordinator of the Spanish software, members of the Language Schools faculty have taken the lead on the project. Director of the French Language School Aline Germaine-Rutherford is coordinating the French software, while Spanish Curriculum Developer of the Spanish Language School Heather Quarles and French Curriculum Developer of the French Language School Barbara Sicot are developing the curriculum for the software.

Geisler added that the language software could potentially help K-12 schools cut down on spending.

“There’s a big up-front expense [to the software] but it’s not the same expense as hiring high-quality faculty,” he said.

Geisler also explained how the software could supplement programs at “the many schools out there that don’t offer any languages, or that have recently cut languages [from their curriculum].” For the K-12 schools across the US that offer Spanish and French, Middlebury hopes to use the software to help schools strengthen and expand the capabilities of their programs.

The College is currently in the process of developing only Spanish and French language software. However, depending on the success of the project, Geisler predicts that in the long-term, Middlebury could produce software in “any of the languages [Middlebury] offers during the Language Schools.”

In his speech on college finances on Friday, Feb. 12, President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz discussed the importance of capitalizing on “Middlebury’s leading reputation in the teaching of languages.”

Liebowitz explained that “through a potential partnership with an existing online education provider, we have the opportunity to use our leadership in language pedagogy to expand access to foreign language learning for hundreds of thousands of primary and secondary school children.”

Liebowitz expressed hope that this “new source” of revenue would “supplement our traditional sources of revenue [and] fund or subsidize so many of the things we wish to preserve and build upon at the College.”

The idea for the software initially came about when Liebowitz attended the U.S. University Presidents Summit on International Education in January 2006. At this summit, President George W. Bush launched the National Security Language Initiative with the goal of strengthening foreign-language education within the United States.

In an article for the March 24, 2006, issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, Liebowitz characterized Bush’s program as an “unparalleled … plan to develop a far more linguistically competent American population.”

Liebowitz, however, recognized that this “new program must ultimately focus on K-12 rather than postsecondary education.”

The new software aims to build on Middlebury’s strength as a collegiate-level language educator and contribute toward a broader goal of making U.S. students more competitive internationally.

Its release will follow in the wake of the official integration of the Monterey Institute of International Studies into Middlebury on June 30, 2010, thereby completing a significant expansion for the College in broadening language offerings.