Multilingual Community Members Become Community Leaders

diverse group of women discussing an issue, sitting in circle

Culturally proficient outreach efforts help create equitable pathways for community members to become community leaders.

At Language Testing International, we have seen many esteemed community leaders and elected officials utilize their language proficiency skills in their communication and outreach efforts. When combined with integrity, cultural competency, and authentic respect for the communities they are engaging, their dual- or multi-language skillsets continually prove to be valuable assets for these individuals and the members of the communities they serve.

Unfortunately, many marginalized communities are not as engaged as they could be during the most pivotal moments, such as elections. Oftentimes, language and cultural obstacles stand between them and the candidates for office they need to choose, and they cannot fully engage in the electoral processes that directly affect them. Lack of voice often leads to a lack of fair and/or adequate representation for the needs and wellbeing of those marginalized communities.

So, how do we, as a democracy, change that?

In some of these instances, the best chance for real representation of marginalized communities is to have a few members from that community step up to be that representation. However, with all the uphill battles and inequities that marginalized communities statistically face, these efforts can be far more successful and equitable with outside help and support from others who have navigated these linguistically and culturally diverse spaces.

Someone who knows this first-hand is Marcos Vilar, who joined us on a recent episode of LTI’s “Language Is Your Superpower” podcast. “Civic engagement is one of the most important things in a democracy, when we want to make sure that all of our needs as members of a society have an equal place, and an equal voice, and an equal opportunity to have the benefits of our government,” said Marcos. “We all pay taxes. We should all have a little bit of a say, and a way to say how those taxes should be used. And that’s what I think makes this country so unique and so attractive to so many people from around the world. And when we’re talking about around the world, we’re talking about languages, right?”

Marcos Vilar was born in Puerto Rico and moved to the mainland United States at the age of 14. Today, he runs Vilar Strategies, a public relations consulting practice in Orlando, FL which serves clients in strategic planning, legislative and advocacy campaigns, issue campaigns, electoral campaigns, and not-for-profit organizational development and management. Vilar led major efforts to activate Latino civic engagement at a national and local level, creating a coalition of organizations working together to increase Latino civic participation in key states.

In his work as the Executive Director for ALIANZA, Marcos “seeks to unite the Hispanic population in the state of Florida and develop leaders from within the community.” He helps identify individuals within Hispanic communities who are engaged and motivated to become the voice of and for their people. He spoke to LTI about two selfless community members, Johanna Lopez, an Orange County Public Schools Board Member, and Maribel Cordero, the Orange County Commissioner, about their inspiring stories and how he supported them in their efforts to rise to the prominent positions they now hold in Orange County, FL.

The power of language allowed these leaders to skillfully navigate and communicate in large Hispanic communities in both English and Spanish during their campaigns, broadening their audience of prospective voters. Marcos took it upon himself to lead outreach efforts to support these two women. They care deeply about their local Puerto Rican community in Central Florida and decided to become leaders in the local Hispanic community at large. They created platforms that provide an opportunity for them to represent and advocate for their neighbors in an impactful way.

“Our work in ALIANZA is identifying people like them,” Marcos Vilar said. “And there’s [sic] people like them in all walks of life, right? These are like super activists, people who give themselves to the community, who really take their role [seriously]… I think they are legacy people, who live life because they came here for a purpose, right? And they understand that life has purpose with it. And so, I think there’s a lot of folks like that in our community. And sadly, sometimes there’s not an opportunity or there’s not the light shining on all the people who are like that in our community.”

Vilar noted that “there are probably hundreds, maybe thousands of stories like [Johanna’s and Maribel’s] out there, probably even tens of thousands of stories like theirs out there in the community of people who are doing things. We don’t know them all. We seek them, we find some of them, and with the ones that we find, we try to build better, and we try to build for the future in any area.”

It takes all our participation to make sure everyone has a fair shot at exercising their leadership. So, who are the hidden bilingual gems in your community, or in your company or department? Have you engaged with and supported them? Who can you help be an advocate and help guide  toward and through more equitable pathways to success? If language and/or cultural barriers exist, how can you help bridge that gap, and bring everyone to the table to expand your audiences?

Listen to Marcos’s story on our most recent podcast.

 

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/voting-in-2020/why-minority-voters-have-a-lower-voter-turnout/

It’s not as simple as Spanish + English = Spanglish

What is Spanglish? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Spanglish (Span·​glish | \ ˈspaŋ-glish) is various combinations of Spanish and English, which is primarily “Spanish marked by numerous borrowings from English.” Often used by multilingual Spanish speakers, it “comes after learning one’s native language,” by those that are integrated into both Spanish and English-speaking communities but may not involve the complete integration into either one, but rather a hybrid of both cultures through verbal encounters (Berly, 2019, para. 1). Spanglish has become known as a mixed, creole or “non-standard form of either language” [Spanish or English] with regional variations based on who is speaking it, where it is spoken, the cultural idioms and phrases used, as well as the context in which it is being spoken. For example, the Spanglish that may be spoken by Mexican Americans in California (often referred to as Tex-Mex and Chicano), differs in linguistic structure from the one spoken by Cuban Americans in Florida, often referred to as Cubonics. This serves as evidence that English + Spanish = more than just Spanglish, but that it is a linguistic expression and anthropological journey that for many Spanglish speakers is a part of their identity (Hernandez, 2004).

Test Your Language Skills Here

As a result of the mixing of English and Spanish as well as the regional variations, there is an ongoing debate regarding the “legitimacy” of Spanglish as a language. Initially viewed as slang or a degradation of either the English or Spanish language by some researchers, linguists and Spanish experts view it as a bicultural, cross-pollination of the two.

The primary components of a legitimate language involve borrowing and code-switching. In research conducted by Amy Hernandez, MA (2004) titled Spanglish: A Study of The Features of Bilingual Speakers in Georgia, she states  “For a combination of two languages to be considered a new language, borrowing must occur, but not simply in the lexicon. Structural features such as phonological, phonetic, syntactic, and sometimes (though rarely) morphological elements must also be borrowed” (Thomason & Kaufman, 1988). Aligned with borrowing is code switching, which entails the speaker’s sociolinguistic understanding and cultural exposure as it relates to their social setting, the context variables, and ability to use language to communicate. In other words, the bilingual capabilities of Spanglish speakers go beyond their linguistic skills, but also include the multicultural understanding they possess to navigate their respective Spanish, English, and Spanglish cultures.

Language and culture are huge components of one’s identity. It speaks to who we are as individuals and as part of our community. As a result, Spanish + English ≠ Spanglish. It is so much more! The point is that language is a fluid code system, and Spanglish speakers may have varying levels of proficiency in each language. Testing the proficiency in both English and Spanish can give a person insight into his/her proficiency level and certify his/her language skills.

If you want to test your language proficiency and obtain a formal and legally defensible certification of your proficiency, visit LTI at www.languagetesting.com.

 

Sources:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/

https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/hernandez_amy_m_200408_ma.pdf

https://www.panoramas.pitt.edu/opinion-and-interviews/spanglish-validity-spanglish-language

https://sloap.org/journals/index.php/irjmis/article/view/842

The Gift of Language Proficiency Certification this Holiday Season

boss shaking employee's hand, congratulatingThe spirit of giving is in the air as the holiday season approaches. What better way can you show your employees that you care about their futures than by giving them the gift of language proficiency certification? Whether you are in academia, healthcare, hospitality, construction, technology (or any another industry), we are experiencing demographic shifts and linguistic diversity in the business world. These changes require us to have a good understanding of how to utilize our team’s bilingual skills by not only investing in employees, but also by enhancing customer satisfaction and our ability to capture market share.

As you plan your holiday gift giving in your organization, consider providing your multilingual employees the opportunity to obtain a language proficiency certificate. The value that multilingual employees bring to businesses is undeniable as the data from a research study conducted by ACTFL called “Making Languages Our Business: Addressing Foreign Language Demand Among U.S. Employers,” show. Here are four benefits you can bring to your business by gifting your employees with language proficiency certification.

1. It creates pathways for career advancement for multilingual staff.

Approximately 34% of employees reported a foreign language gap when asked if their employees could meet their foreign language needs. Therefore, to fill the gap, consider language proficiency testing, tracking, and training as a critical component of an employee’s professional development plan.

2. It empowers your team to engage non-English speaking customers.

Communicate, engage, and interact with your customers in their preferred language to build brand awareness and loyalty. Over 58% of employers reported that their employees communicated in a foreign language both externally with customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders as well as internally with fellow coworkers. The demand is there by non-English speaking customers, you just need to empower your team with the language skills to fulfill that need.

3. It allows you to utilize the skills of your multilingual staff and grow your global market share.

“With a five-year outlook, employers in the healthcare and social assistance sector are the most likely to expect an increase in demand (64 percent), followed by employers in trade (59 percent), education services (57 percent), professional and technical services (55 percent) and construction (54 percent).” (ACTFL, pg. 4). And there are no signs of those trends slowing down – so, empower your multilingual staff to strengthen your company’s connection with your local customers and community while growing your market share globally.

4. It incentivizes multilingual employees by certifying their language skills.

With ACTFL language certification delivered through LTI, your multilingual employees will have an opportunity to validate their level of language proficiency in over 120 languages. This certification not only boosts their confidence in their current roles, it but also enhances their communication skills both locally and abroad. 97% of U.S. employers reported using foreign language capacity domestically and 54% deployed them overseas. So, if your organization isn’t currently utilizing the skills of multilingual employees, it is likely that your competition is. Incentivize your multilingual employees by certifying their language skills.

The season of giving is upon us, and language proficiency is a gift that keeps on giving…to your employees, customers, and community. Get your bilingual and multilingual staff members language proficiency certification this holiday season!

 

Source: American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (2019). Lead with Languages. Making Languages Our Business: Addressing Foreign Language Demand Among U.S. Employers, https://www.leadwithlanguages.org/report

Recognizing The Importance of In-Culture and In-Industry Language Proficiency

Business woman interviewing for a job

Many companies would agree that possessing the ability to communicate with diverse audiences, potential customers, or clients, and even with potential investors or strategic partners in more than one language is a valuable asset to have. After all, 75% of consumers say they’d be more likely to make a purchase from a company that had customer support speak their language1, and 56.2% of consumers reported they’d be willing to pay a higher price if a company provides information in their own language2.

However, companies and in-house HR professionals who have ventured down this path know it’s never easy to find the perfect candidates. On top of all the time it takes to review resumes, and to schedule and conduct the minimum number of interviews required for any job opening, hiring candidates based on their language proficiency presents even more hurdles.

For starters, if the HR representative or hiring manager are not fluent in the language they are hiring for, how do they evaluate the candidate’s proficiency, or their ability to communicate in the language in a professional setting?

Language Testing International (LTI) helps our clients reduce that time by eliminating the guesswork of whether candidates who claim to be fluent truly possess the language skills required for the job. Recent survey results showed that about 60% of all job applicants will overstate their abilities, including language proficiency3. From the start, ACTFL language proficiency assessments delivered by LTI give employers the confidence to know that their candidate, whether they are a new hire or a current employee you want to train from within, has the right level of language proficiency for the role. As the exclusive licensee of the ACTFL assessments, LTI provides opportunities for employers to administer valid and legally defensible tests to measure language proficiency.

Conversely, for the job applicant, verifying their language skills with LTI demonstrates a strong work ethic every employer looks for. Companies seeking to reach customers around the world look favorably on an applicant who is culturally aware and has the required language abilities to help grow their business and generate new revenue. Reports show that bilingual employees can earn up to 20% more than those who speak only one language4.

Celia Patitucci, an HIV educator and tester based out of Central Florida, also advises that it is very important to also become culturally competent in addition to having high proficiency in a language: “It’s not just knowing the language, it’s also knowing the culture.” Knowing the language and the culture of the language you speak go hand in hand.

Celia has worked on the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases for more than five years. In a recent episode of LTI’s podcast LANGUAGE IS YOUR SUPERPOWER, Celia shared key insights with us regarding why it is import for bilingual job candidates to take their language proficiency to a professional level.

“I think that one of the things that people need to do when they speak a second language is also take it to the level of professional speaking. It’s not the same as being able to speak the language,” Celia said. “You should be proficient in a professional setting. You should also be able to write and read it in a professional setting. For example, if somebody speaks Spanish, it doesn’t mean that when it comes to work it translates [the same way]. There’s terminology you need to learn.” She advised, for “somebody that might speak Spanish and wants to advance their career, they should look at what field they’re in and learn that terminology in that language.”

Celia explains that this is important because “sometimes you learn things, and we live here, and we learn that terminology in English. And then, you have to stop and you’re not sure. When you’re in front of your customer or your client or your patient, you have to be able to say those words in Spanish. And you have to be able to use the right terminology, and you have to be able to explain it to them in their language, because, if you’re having to do it in Spanish or Portuguese or Creole, you can’t be going back and forth with Spanglish, because that might confuse your client. So, do your research,” she said. “Just because you speak the language, it doesn’t mean you’re proficient within your field.”

From her own experience, Celia stated, “I’m telling you because that’s one of the first things I had to do is learn this terminology in Spanish. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. That is my first language. But I did not use medical terms in my everyday life in Spanish. So, when I became a tester and when I became a part of the community in this capacity I had to go and look it up. I had to go and look it up and translate and make sense of it, for me first, so I can express it to whoever I was serving at that point.”

There is tremendous value in leveraging ACTFL language certifications delivered by LTI for companies and HR professionals who are looking for qualified candidates, as well as for bi/multi-lingual professionals seeking to advance their careers.

You can provide affordable, valid, and legally defensible language proficiency testing with LTI. Visit www.languagetesting.com to get started.

To learn more about Celia’s story, listen to our podcast here.

References:

1 https://csa-research.com/Blogs-Events/CSA-in-the-Media/Press-Releases/Consumers-Prefer-their-Own-Language

2 https://hbr.org/2012/08/speak-to-global-customers-in-t

3 https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20180820-can-you-actually-speak-the-languages-you-list-on-your-cv

4 https://www.schwartzinsgrp.com/blog/the-career-advantages-of-being-bilingual

Backward Design and the AAPPL

newspaper clipping

By Chris Lemon, Northmont High School, Clayton, OH (Spanish Teacher, Department Chair)

Comprehensible input. Movies. Language Clubs. Guest speakers. Pirates. Conversations. Fly swatter vocabulary matches. Video Pen Pals. Study abroad.

A language program can take many forms and have some—or none—of these. But how do you achieve one that is authentic, fun, and successful all at once?  You use backward design to make your curriculum match your goals, and a reliable assessment to measure student success and adjust instruction.

Our goal: Seniors will earn the Ohio Seal of Biliteracy, i.e., perform at the Intermediate High level in all domains. Research shows that most students need five years to achieve this goal, so we built an 8th grade program. We redesigned our curriculum to move students from Novice Low to Intermediate High with engaging topics along the way.

We chose the AAPPL (ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages) because it is specific, reliable, accurate, cost-effective, and flexible. In the first two years only a couple students scored Intermediate High or better in all four areas to earn the Seal. Our students averaged Intermediate High for listening but well below in the other areas.

So, what did we do? We kept the language clubs, pirates, and fly swatter games, but we added a new library and refocused our instruction and assessments on comprehension and production. We expanded our pen pal program and added more guest speakers and got the attention of our community and administrators. We have been featured in the local newspaper twice to honor our Seal of Biliteracy recipients.

Last year, seven students scored Intermediate High or better. This year at least ten. By focusing on areas of weakness identified on the AAPPL score reports, last year we went above and beyond the national averages in all four communication skills, but especially in writing and speaking.

The AAPPL covers technology, traditions, family, and more, and my students who are being “taught to the test” usually say my class is their most creative and interesting one.

The variety of topics we now cover mean that I enjoy class more, too. We still teach grammar, but we focus on grammar in context.

Our students have a solid view of their own progress, pride in what they can do, and a clear idea of where to go next. If you want to strengthen your program or design one from the ground up, maybe the AAPPL is the place to go next for you.

 

Sources:

Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design (2nd ed.). Alexandria, USA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Three Ways to Upskill Your Multilingual Capabilities

Three professionals, closeup

Is it really as easy as 1, 2, 3? Ok, it may not be “easy,” but it is doable!

To upskill your multilingual capabilities, you need a superpower mindset. According to Marvel Comics writer and artist Jonathan Hickman, “Newfound power leads to new perspective.” So, whether you are looking to advance in your career, enhance your travel experiences abroad, support a family member in their healthcare journey, or any other life experience you can think of, if you can communicate in more than one language, you understand that you need to continuously learn, grow, and take your skills to new heights. Here are three power-packed tips to help you upskill your multilingual capabilities:

Step 1. Assess and elevate your proficiency level

The best way to determine your language competency level now is to complete an assessment. You want to be able to measure how well you are mastering one or more languages, as well as your level of proficiency. According to the ACTFL Proficiency Scale, your level of language ability corresponds to various language functions and tasks.

Oral proficiency levels in the workplace

(Click on the image to view it in a larger format)

Once you determine your current level of language proficiency, you can strengthen your linguistic skills through formal and informal learning opportunities to elevate your communication skills in another language to a higher proficiency level.

Step 2. Determine the right level of language needed for the task at hand

When you are navigating between multiple languages, in addition to your linguistic skills, you need to consider your cultural awareness of the situation. Consider character, context, culture, and competency as you determine the right level of language skills you will need to use depending on who you are communicating with, the situation you are involved in, the appropriate cultural norms for the circumstances, and how prepared you are to address them effectively.

When leveraging language skills for career advancement within a specific industry, Celia Patitucci, a bilingual HIV tester and educator based in Orlando, Florida, affirms that, “You need to be proficient in a professional setting. For example, for someone that speaks Spanish, when it comes to a professional level it does not always translate as there are terms and terminology [specific to the industry] that you need to learn.” For example, while a native Spanish speaker may be proficient in conversational and social settings, if he or she wants to advance career-wise in healthcare, it becomes necessary to learn medical terminology, the appropriate use of that vocabulary, and its application within the medical field.

Step 3. Certification is validation

As the saying goes, “The proof is in the pudding.” While we are not serving up pudding, there is a sweet sense of accomplishment when you obtain an official ACTFL language proficiency certification through LTI. Verification of your language proficiency level, not only in your heritage language but also languages you learned at school, affords you the authority to claim that superpower that makes you stand out and elevates you to new heights in all aspects of life.

To learn more about upskilling your multilingual capabilities and showcasing that language is indeed your superpower, visit Language Testing International (LTI) today!

And if you want to listen to Celia Patitucci’s story, listen to our most recent podcast.

Commit to Providing Linguistically and Culturally Competent Offerings to Diverse Market Segments

collage of people on a video conference

Through the many sectors, industries, and communities that Language Testing International (LTI) supports across the world, we have been able to observe, experience, and be a part of many business and societal trends. One of these trends, especially within the U.S. market, has been the shift in the American business mindset into attempting to become more culturally competent, albeit with varying success. So, how do organizations navigate this journey, and what are the best practices to shift your organization to a better position to succeed?

Overwhelmingly, the workforce and the consumer market of goods and services in the U.S. has called for Corporate America to not only deliver a great product and/or service, but also to be culturally competent and fully committed to social responsibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion. There is no denying that businesses, service providers, and even government agencies have felt the societal and financial pressures to shift internally and prioritize ethical/equitable hiring processes and an inclusive work culture, as well as externally in the ways they market to their customers.

Whether in a dynamic business marketplace, where prospective employees and customers have many options, or a nonprofit service or healthcare clinic, where vulnerable members of the community may be hesitant to seek help for fear of not being heard or understood, the keyword you must remember, and which you will be evaluated on, is “authenticity.”

While taking yourself and your organization through this shift is necessary to stay relevant and competitive, there are a lot of risks involved for your reputation and your bottom line if you have a misstep or do it incorrectly. What many have found out the hard way is that making your organization linguistically and culturally competent is not a strategy that can be drawn up in a boardroom by a group of individuals who do not represent the communities or cultures they are trying to reach, nor is it a line item that can simply be added to a list of offerings.

Becoming linguistically and culturally competent with authenticity requires a wholehearted commitment to systemically overhaul every aspect of your business; from company values and ethics, and how and who you hire, to how you train and treat your employees; from what services or products you provide and how you communicate those to your audiences, to how you treat prospective and current customers.

Celia Patitucci’s work is a great example of successful and effective cultural competency practices. Celia is an HIV tester and educator who has worked since 2016 in programs focused on the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. In a recent episode of LTI’s podcast LANGUAGE IS YOUR SUPERPOWER, Celia shared key insights with us from her experience, and what steps the organizations she has worked with have taken to successfully navigate this terrain.

Approximately half of the LGBTQ+ community members Celia serves are Spanish-speaking Latinos. Celia helped her former employer grow its staff to include more than 50% Spanish speakers. Celia stresses, however, that you need to have “not only Spanish-speaking employees, but also, culturally competent” employees, because “it’s not just knowing the language, it’s knowing the culture” as well.

Celia explains that this organizational shift must be implemented “in every capacity, from medical to receptionists … having a website, bilingual and in dual language,” and “whatever marketing material is specifically for whatever community we’re targeting. [We’re] not just having blanket marketing or … just translating it to Spanish. That is not what we want to do any more.”

In her field of providing medical services to Hispanic members of the LGBTQ+ community, Celia explains that “we want people to come over, and we want people to get tested, and we want people to keep within their medications. You have to target it in a cultural way. You have to provide content not just by translating it from English but in a culturally sensitive way.” She added, “when we do events … [we’re] making sure that [whoever] we’re targeting that we’re doing it appropriately for that community.”

Celia’s work goes to show how valuable hiring multilingual employees can be for organizations and communities in making this systemic shift, but also, how language is not going to carry you through this shift alone. Hiring and/or training individuals who are linguistically and culturally competent in understanding the audiences you are trying to reach, and who are also a reflection of your audiences, is invaluable. And to ensure it’s done authentically; these individuals should be included in every step of your strategic planning and in the implementation of this shift. Pair their cultural competency with language proficiency certification, and you will be well on your way to navigating this journey successfully.

Get started today. Visit www.languagetesting.com for more information.

Listen to Celia’s story in her own words in the second installment of our LANGUAGE IS YOUR SUPERPOWER podcast series here.

Leverage Your Linguistic and Cultural Competencies

If you can communicate in more than one language and navigate more than one culture, your multilingual skills can be leveraged to serve our increasingly diverse society. When you think of all the various aspects of life—work, school, home, socializing, volunteering—there are many contextual opportunities to leverage your language abilities and your cross-cultural competencies to make an impact. This becomes even more meaningful when you work in an industry like healthcare, where the language you speak, the culturally diverse individuals you interact with, and cultural nuances may challenge access to services or the ability to receive quality care. Having the language and cultural proficiency to effectively manage health-specific situations can be instrumental in ensuring long term positive outcomes.

A 2019 study by BMC Health Services explored the views of healthcare providers regarding cross-cultural competence in the workplace. It was found that “language barriers, low client health literacy and bureaucratic constraints are regularly offered as barriers to effective cross-cultural service delivery.” A good example of that was during the aftermath of the 2016 Pulse massacre in Orlando, Florida, which left 49 people dead and more than 50 people wounded—most of whom were primarily Hispanics from the LGBTQ+ community. How well emergency services, the police, news outlets, and other first responders were able to address and effectively communicate the circumstances was critical. In responding and during the aftermath, the importance of being able to speak in the language of preference of the victim’s families, and with the cultural understanding of the population under stress became blatantly evident. From informing families about their loved ones in a language and cultural context that they could understand to delivering devastating details about the tragedy, linguistic proficiency and cultural competency were evidently needed. Therefore, public, private, and nonprofit organizations increased their focus on identifying the right individuals with the skillsets to provide primary, acute, and other healthcare services that were culturally competent, linguistically appropriate, and with an understanding of the unique needs of the Hispanic LGBTQ+ population.

In a recent LANGUAGE IS YOUR SUPERPOWER podcast episode about the impact of language proficiency in healthcare, the conversation highlighted the importance of leveraging one’s linguistic and cultural competency to best serve the community. “Most of our demographic—approximately 50% of our clients—are Spanish speaking, and that part of the community, for many years, were [sic] not targeted,” stated Celia Patitucci, a bilingual HIV educator and tester. “Now that a lot of agencies are being more conscientious about having not only Spanish speaking employees, but also cultural [sic] competent [employees]…it’s not just knowing the language, but knowing the culture is important.”

As a person that commands more than one language, you can leverage this as your superpower. Whether you are in the healthcare field or not, the ability to speak, write, read, and effectively communicate in more than one language increases your access to cross-cultural job opportunities and gives you the chance to be a champion for diverse communities. With an ACTFL language proficiency certification through Language Testing International (LTI), you will gain an official badge to demonstrate your ability to use your superpowers to make a meaningful difference—at work, school, home, socially, or when you are out in the community.

Learn more about how to get certified at www.languagetesting.com.

Sources:

https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-019-3959-7

Meet a Language Superhero: Renaud Fenster

At LTI, we often talk about the benefits of being multilingual, and we truly believe that multilingualism gives you a special power: a power to communicate in another language, a power to better understand other cultures, a power to give yourself a competitive advantage, and even a power to save lives.

Every year, thousands of professionals take the ACTFL language assessments with LTI to certify their language skills and use the official credentials to showcase their multilingualism. One of these professionals is Renaud Fenster, a flight attendant at JetBlue. Renaud’s story is interesting and inspiring, and we are proud to feature it in our very first Language Proficiency Is a Superpower Magazine.

We hope you take the time to read Renaud’s story and get inspired to get your language skills certified.

Click to read and/or download Renaud’s story: Renaud-Fenster-Story

Using AAPPL Topics to guide curriculum planning: An educator’s perspective

teacher showing something on the tablet to a student

Recently, ACTFL put out their comprehensive list of topics for the AAPPL. These topics offer excellent preparation for the test. I’ve also found them to be valuable in other aspects of my curriculum building and unit planning.

I began my teaching career in the formulaic era of Realidades and Paso a Paso‘s thematic chapters about amusement parks and bulk vocabulary memorization. Eventually, I had to revise my professional approach when I realized that, while my students were gaining a treasure trove of Spanish information, they were unable to apply this information and use it in ways that were meaningful to them.

I came across the AAPPL three years ago when my district investigated obtaining the Seal of Biliteracy for the State of Iowa. Having my students earn recognition for their skills was an important step in moving our courses forward. Professionally, I learned a lot of lessons in my experience with the AAPPL, such as investigating the ACTFL Can-Do Statements and critiquing my own units. The first time I looked at the topics the AAPPL covered, I had two important takeaways: 1) my curriculum included a focus on units and topics that were not covered in the test, and 2) the topics that are covered in the test are relatable and allow the students to make personal connections and use the language in a way that is meaningful. I began to use the AAPPL Topics as a curriculum guide—not to “teach to the test,” but to help create a curriculum that culminated with students being able to use the language effectively.

For example, I have always done a “city places” unit. Through my experience with the AAPPL, I shifted my focus from simply listing places in a city to being able to describe our community and provide information and support to visitors.

I use the AAPPL Topics that ACTFL provides and ask myself: How might my students have to use these in the future? How may my students need to provide explanations, information, advice, or descriptions about themselves and our community within each of these topics? This provides helpful direction and a great springboard for my unit planning throughout the year. I don’t tailor everything I do to the topics provided by ACTFL, but I always keep in the back of my head: Can my students use the information we are going over in class in a meaningful way? In what ways can I incorporate technology and innovations into what we are doing? In what ways am I preparing my students to give information about community service options in our area?

While looking at these topics, I discovered missed opportunities for different perspectives in our curriculum. It doesn’t mean you need to add whole units on certain topics to your already full curriculum, but perhaps there are ways to incorporate some of those themes in your current units? For example, instead of adding an entire health and fitness unit, why not incorporate some of the basic themes of healthy habits in your existing food unit or your daily schedule unit? This is where I get a lot of professional support from the AAPPL Topics. It helps me enhance my existing units and find those everyday applicable angles or perspectives that help hook my students and boost their confidence that they will actually use the language in meaningful ways.

To reiterate, this is not designing your units to teach to the test but rather to teach towards proficiency. The topics provided are broad and general enough that no teacher could ever create units for the specific content covered on the test. Knowing that “animals” might be a topic on the AAPPL test could mean that your students will need to provide information on domestic pets or wild animals common in your area or learning about marine life in a biology class. It’s possible that using the AAPPL Topics to enhance my curriculum will not help my students with specific items on the test, but it does help create a solid foundation of skills that my students are confident in. That confidence of being able to use the language meaningfully, more than anything, is what yields positive results for my students.

Whether or not you are using the AAPPL test with your students, I find the topics useful to all teachers during curriculum analysis and to anyone looking to enhance their units to highlight everyday applications. Our world is ever evolving and so is our language and the ways that we can use it with our students. Revising or revitalizing our units frequently is a great way to keep the language relevant. The AAPPL Topics are helpful guides during that critique process and, in times when you need a more direct guide in your curriculum development, the AAPPL Topics can help crystallize topics that are truly essential.