AATF COMMISSIONS
Commission on Cultural Competence
Chair: To be named (2012-2014)
The Commission on Cultural Competence worked for three years to produce their initial report entitled Acquiring Cross-Cultural Competence: Four Stages for Students of French, ed. Alan J. Singerman (National Textbook Co., 1995) which outlines a rationale and standards for the teaching of culture. Three additional volumes have also appeared, France at the Dawn of the 21st Century on issues in contemporary France, a volume on contemporary cultural issues in Quebec has also appeared, Le Québec aujourd'hui. Identité, société et culture, as well as a recent issue of Dialogues et cultures devoted to Switzerland and Belgium. Click here for information on these volumes.
The Commission on Cultural Competence Web site has moved to the University of North Texas, where it is being developed and managed by Marie-Christine Koop. The Commission's first Web site was created and managed by Jayne Abrate, AATF Executive Director.
Click here to read the Commission's latest report--Le Carrefour culturel.
FLES* Commission (Sequential FLES*, Sequential FLEX, Exploratory, and Immersion)
Chair: To be named (2012-2014)
The FLES* Commission has produced a multitude of useful materials for teachers including the Calendrier perpétuel as well as methodological and promotional materials. AATF FLES* Commission members serve as contact persons in many regions and states of the country to provide assistance with FLES*. They serve as a national advisory council on AATF FLES* concerns, research, issues, and projects.
A collection of the most pertinent articles of their annual reports was published in 1998 in a volume entitled A Celebration of FLES* to celebrate the last "duodecade" of activities for the National FLES* Commission of AATF.
Click here for the Salut les jeunes! column from the National Bulletin.
Commission on French for Business and Economic Purposes
Chair: Eileen Angelini, Canisius College, E-mail: eileen.angelini@canisius.edu
This Commission has produced a CD containing a list of resources for the teaching of business French, as well as a report entitled Issues and Methods in French for Business and Economic Purposes, ed. Patricia W. Cummins (Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 1995). A second volume entitled Making Business French Work: Modes, Materials, Methodologies, edited by Steven Loughrin-Sacco and Jayne Abrate has appeared. The Commission is working toward the expansion of the teaching of business French at the secondary level and is working with the Québec government and universities to develop a Québec option to the Certificat pratique de la CCIP.
Click here to view projects developed through the Title VI grant received from the U.S. Dept. of Education.
Click here to read the latest report of the Commission.
Commission for the Promotion of French
Co-Chairs: Joyce Beckwith, Wilmington High School (MA), E-mail: joyce.beckwith@wilmington.k12.ma.us , and Dolliann Hurtig, Lousiana Tech University, E-mail: dhurtig@latech.edu
The Commission for the Promotion of French in the U.S. was created in the fall of 1994 as a Task Force and chaired by Marie-Christine Koop until fall 1997, when it became a Commission. Its main objective was to help teachers recruit students by producing various documents such as flyers, guides, teaching ideas, and letters to convince students, parents, and administrators of the value of French. Many of the materials developed by the Task Force and the Commission are available through the AATF Materials Center. The Commission sponsors a regular feature in the National Bulletin entitled "Promotion in Motion."
Click here to read the latest article featured in Promotion in Motion.
Click here to learn more about Ideas for French Language & Culture Advocacy in the U.S.
Commission on High Schools
Chair: To be named (2012-2014)
The Commission has produced a flyer targeting guidance counselors entitled "Help Wanted." Limited copies are available free of charge to AATF members (send a self-addressed stamped envelope to AATF Headquarters). The goal of the AATF Commission on High Schools will be to identify the needs specific to high school teachers of French in the areas of curriculum, assessment, the promotion of French at the high school level, and the articulation of high school programs with junior high and post-secondary programs. The Commission recently produced a new flyer intended for high school guidance counselors. See the most recent issue of the National Bulletin for more information.
Commission on Middle Schools
Chair: Janel Lafond-Paquin, Rogers High School (RI), E-mail: madamep51@hotmail.com
Since students at the middle school level are at a crucial stage with regard to choosing a foreign language which they will most likely study throughout their high school years, the co-chairs of the Commission on Middle Schools have chosen to have our members create a series of detailed teaching units on Francophone celebrations and/or similar topics which will be made available to teachers across the country. These units will contain reproducible masters for items such as Internet activities, cutouts for decorations, suggestions for class projects, simple recipes, and cultural materials that we hope will enhance the French national standards, create enthusiasm for the French language, and promote the study of French.
Click here to view teaching units and materials developed by the Commisison.
Commission on Student Standards
Chair: Rebecca Fox, George Mason University (VA), E-mail: rfox@gmu.edu
The Commission on Student Standards provides liaison between the AATF membership and the Joint National Standards Project, of which AATF was a founding partner, and which has just produced the generic document Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century (1996). Learning scenarios which reflect one or more standards are being solicited from teachers of French for inclusion in this document.
A summary Standards in Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century is on-line for consultation. This site also provides information about purchase of the complete document. The new volume of the National Standards, reviews by Commission members, and including language-specific adaptations of the generic standards to French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Classics, Chinese, Japanese, Italian and Russian, and now Arabic is now available.
The Commisson recently produced a volume of standards-based activities, Global Connections.
Commission on Professional Teacher Standards
Chair: To be named (2012-2014)
Along with the AATG, the AATF has begun a professional standards project to develop criteria and procedures through which members of the profession can gain certification as accomplished teachers and to suggest guidelines for preparation programs and in-service training for foreign language teachers. The Professional Standards Commission participated in the development of the Professional Standards for Teachers of Foreign Languages document and is currently working on guidelines for portfolio development and assessment.
Click here to read the latest report of the Commission.
Commission on Telematics and New Technologies
Co-Chairs: Lara Lomicka Anderson, University of South Carolina, E-mail: lomicka@sc.edu, and Catherine Ousselin, Mount Vernon High School (WA), E-mail: cousselin@mv.k12.wa.us
This Commission has kept AATF in the forefront of the movement to introduce new technologies in the language classroom. They regularly sponsor World Wide Web training workshops and work to promote greater access to an use of the Internet in the French classroom.
New Commission Web site: www.frenchteachers.org/technology
Click here to read the latest report of the Commission.
Click here to read the Telematics Commission articles from the National Bulletin.
Click here to visit the AATF Facebook page.
Commission on Universities
Chair: Patricia Cummins, Virginia Commonwealth University, E-mail: pcummins@vcu.edu
The AATF Commission on Colleges and Universities is working with other organizations nationally and internationally to promote language portfolios for learning, teaching, and assessment. They make use of the National Standards and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in helping students to assess their skills in listening, reading, speaking in a presentational mode, speaking in an interactional mode, and writing. These are the same areas covered by the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century, endorsed by AATF and 40 other language organizations. The Commission will soon add the Global Language Portfolio to its Web site, after the ACTFL meeting in November 2007.
Click here to read the most recent Commission Report.
Commission on Advocacy
Chair: "Tennessee Bob" Peckham, University of Tennessee at Martin, E-mail: bobp@utm.edu
Our newest convention will continue to develop tools for French teachers at all levels to use to advocate for French programs.
Take a look at the Advocacy Depot.
Consult the Advocacy Wiki.
Click here to read the Advocacy articles from the National Bulletin.
Last update: January 6, 2012