23 interesting maps and charts on language including: Indo-European language roots, The languages of Wikipedia, The language groups of the world, Romance languages, Linguistic diversity around the world, Countries mapped by number of languages, China's languages, Endangered languages, Who in Europe speaks English, How many languages Europeans speak, The second most popular language in US states, and others.

Source: VOX article by Dylan Matthews

About World Languages: "In 2005 as part of America’s celebration of the Year of Languages, The Technology Development Group initiated the development of a comprehensive website dedicated to the description of the world’s most populous and important languages as well as other relevant information about world languages and language study. The effort was led by Dr. Kathleen Egan and Dr. Irene Thompson and supported by (numerous) education and government agencies involved in foreign language initiatives. The project was intended to be part of an effort to educate the American public about the variety of the world’s languages, to get them excited about studying foreign languages, and to ultimately help create a more language-capable America ready to meet its pressing foreign language needs"

Click HEREto find the 2012 (current version) of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines for Speaking, Writing, Listening, and Reading made interactive through the inclusion of glossed terms and multimedia exemplars. 

You can explore the Guidelines by skill or by level, listen to and read samples in English that represent abilities at each of the major proficiency levels. - See more at: http://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/public/ACTFLProficiencyGuidelines2012_FINAL.pdf

See also the 

ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines - Language Samples

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) is dedicated to the improvement and expansion of the teaching and learning of all languages at all levels of instruction. ACTFL is an individual membership organization of more than 12,000 language educators and administrators from elementary through graduate education, as well as government and industry.

- See more at: http://www.actfl.org/about-the-american-council-the-teaching-foreign-languages#sthash.F6LOHNdO.dpuf

"The Center for Applied Linguistics is a private, nonprofit organization promoting access,
equity and mutual understanding for linguistically and culturally diverse people around the world."

For more information, visit: http://www.cal.org/

Why do we need to learn another language? – To directly communicate with the world, and productively live in the global community. The Connecting with the World Project aims to create groups of teachers who want to join efforts in developing partnerships with colleagues in countries where the target language is spoken. These partnerships will allow our students to experience an authentic connection with the language and culture they are studying through collaborative class projects.

At the first stage of the project, teachers will become familiar with some ways to find a classroom match, and to create or join collaborative projects.

Later, the collaborative process will develop at two levels: 1) between each teacher and his/her partner abroad, and 2) between CCSD teachers who share ideas and experiences in developing and conducting classroom exchange projects.

For more information about this project, please contact our Project Leader, Svetoslava Dimova Ph.D. NBCT at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

MultiTree is a digital library of language relatioships. "MultiTree presents scholarly hypotheses about language relationships and subgroupings in a user-friendly database that is integrated with other LINGUIST List projects, providing access to a wealth of information." Source: http://new.multitree.org/about

The Foreign Language Association of Georgia (FLAG)  is the official professional organization for World languages in Georgia. Cobb County's World Languages Department sponsors teachers to attend the conference every year (number of attendees will depend on available funding).

When: Friday, March 3 and Saturday, March 4, 2017.

Where: Renaissance Concourse Atlanta Airport Hotel One Hartsfield Centre Parkway Atlanta, Georgia  30354

For more information visit the FLAG website.

Este sitio interactivo de la universidad de Iowa ofrece información de forma visual sobre el modo, lugar, y voz de la producción de los sonidos del español. Cada sonido es presentado con su equivalencia en el alfabeto fonético internacional, animación gráfica de la producción del sonido, y un corto video del uso del sonido en una palabra.

FLAGis an association of instructors, administrators, and others involved in foreign language teaching and the promotion of cultural understanding. It is motivated by the desire to facilitate communication among Georgia's language professionals, to provide educational services to its members, to conduct meetings, and to develop and disseminate information related to the field of foreign language education. The basic goal of FLAG is to improve and foster the teaching of foreign languages and cultures (including literature) through service to the teachers in the state. FLAG is led by an all-volunteer board.

The World Languages Department Classroom Instruction Feedback tool provides teachers and adminstrators with a series of products and processes that can be used to enhance the effectiveness of world language teachers. .

This tool is based on the Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning Project (TELL) and the Georgia DOE Teacher Keys Effectiveness System (TKES).

Click below to learn more about the Teacher Effectiveness System from the Georgia Department of Education or click one of the links below to access some of the most common documents:

Teacher Keys Effectiveness System Handbook 2014

TAPS Reference Sheet with Sample Indicators 2014

TAPS Standards and Rubrics Reference Sheet 2014

TKES Crosswalk with CLASS Keys

Gramáticas is a grammar reference website of the Spanish language. Explore it by clicking on one of the following menu options:

The International Society for Technology in Education - ISTE® is a worldwide nonprofit organization of educators and education leaders committed to empowering connected learners in a connected world. The family of ISTE Standards works in concert to support students, educators and leaders with clear guidelines for the skills, knowledge and approaches they need to succeed in the digital age. 

Click on the links below to download the standards for each group:

• Students
• Teachers
• Administrators

Content from http://www.iste.org/

"JNCL-NCLIS represents over 100 national, regional and state organizations encompassing virtually all areas of the language field: the major and less-commonly taught languages, including English and English as a second language, bilingual education, the classics, linguistics, exchanges, research, technology, and translation."

LinguaFolio® is a proficiency-based, learner-centered, formative assessment tool that:
● empowers learners to manage their own language learning,
● provides a place for learners to collect evidence showing their growth, and
● facilitates language learning in and outside classroom.

LinguaFolio®, developed by members of the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL), is based on the European Language Portfolio (ELP) and the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements. The Can-Do statements are organized according to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency levels and sublevels. LinguaFolio® relates to proficiency scales from other organizations, such as the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) and the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

The Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics is an institute of the German Max Planck Society. Our mission is to undertake basic research into the psychological,social and biological foundations of language. The goal is to understand how our minds and brains process language, how language interacts with other aspects of mind, and how we can learn languages of quite different types."

Source: http://www.mpi.nl/ 

MERLOT - Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching is a community of staff, volunteers, and members who work together in various ways to provide users of OER (Open Educational Resource) teaching and learning materials with a wealth of services and  functions that can enhance their instructional experience.

"Since 1975, the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) has been a non-profit membership organization that works to ensure that language-minority students have equal opportunities to learn English and succeed academically.

NABE’s priorities include:  Improving instructional practices for linguistically and culturally diverse children; providing bilingual educators with more high-quality professional development opportunities; securing adequate funding for the programs serving limited-English-proficient students; and keeping the rights of language-minority Americans clearly in focus as states and communities move forward with educational reforms."

For more information, visit: http://www.nabe.org/ 

"NCSSFL is an organization of education agency personnel from all states of the United States who have the responsibility of foreign/world language education at the state level.

Click here for information about specific duties and responsibilities of a state supervisor for languages.

The mission of NCSSFL is to provide leadership in facilitating and promoting policies and practices that support language education.

The purpose of NCSSFL is to affect state and national policy and practice in language education by:

• identifying and advocating positions on key issues in support of the vision of the organization;
• collaborating with other organizations to advance and support quality teaching, learning and leadership;
• communicating best practices across international boundaries; and
• fostering and promoting the establishment, maintenance, and effectiveness of state-level positions in languages.

Click here for a report of the 1960 Foggy Bottom Conference, a meeting that resulted in the creation of NCSSFL."

The 2017 NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements, the result of collaboration between the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL) and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) guide:

• Language learners to identify and set learning goals and chart their progress towards language and intercultural proficiency;
• Educators to write communication learning targets for curriculum, unit and lesson plans;
• Stakeholders to clarify how well learners at different stages can communicate.

The statements are organized according to the Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication as described in the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages:

• Interpretive Communication:  Learners understand, interpret, and analyze what is heard, read, or viewed on a variety of topics.
• Interpersonal Communication:  Learners interact and negotiate meaning in spoken, signed, or written conversations to share information, reactions, feelings, and opinions.
• Presentational Communication:  Learners present information, concepts, and ideas to inform, explain, persuade, and narrate on a variety of topics using appropriate media and adapting to various audiences of listeners, readers, or viewers.

Source: American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Website. 

Resources for teacher professional learning and teacher support

"ScriptSource is a dynamic, collaborative reference to the writing systems of the world, with detailed information on scripts, characters, languages - and the remaining needs for supporting them in the computing realm. It is sponsored, developed and maintained by SIL International."

Source: http://scriptsource.org/

The mission of the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT) is the advancement of the study of modern and classical languages and their literatures and cultures at all levels of instruction.

The following are the Board approved instructional resources for the ArabicLanguage program:

Resource	Cover	Course(s)
Exploring Arabic 2008 EMC		Arabic I
Arabic Al-Kitaab Part 1 2011 Georgetown University Press		ArabicII & Arabic III
Arabic Al-Kitaab Part 2 2013 Georgetown University Press		Arabic III & Arabic IV

The following are the Board approved instructional resources for the American Sign Language program:

Resource	Cover	Course(s)
Signing Naturally Units 1-6 2008 Dawn Sign Press		ASL I
Signing Naturally  Units 7-12 2014 Dawn Sign Press		ASL II
Signing Naturally  Level 2 1992 Dawn Sign Press		ASL III
Signing Naturally  Level 3 2001 Dawn Sign Press		ASL IV

Follow the links below to access more information about:

• Signing Naturally Series