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Prepared by Gladys C. Lipton
Eileen McLoughlin
Carter
Stokes County, North Carolina Public Schools and Forsyth Technical Community College, Winston-Salem, North Carolina Abstract: Once an elementary school program in second language learning is initially established and funded, it must be maintained. It is the responsibility of second language teachers to help ensure future support for these programs. Although teachers may view public relations as something foreign to them, they must convince the community of the benefits of a second language or their programs may not be seen as important. This article outlines four activities which can provide increased public awareness of the second language program in elementary schools, with examples from the author's experience in Spanish classes. Key Words: FLES*, public relations, elementary school Introduction
Current publications in second language journals promote two common themes: second language learning is best begun in elementary school, and these programs must be maintained by involving the local community. Various language commissions and studies suggest that second language programs not be limited to secondary schools but should also be offered in elementary schools. Senator Paul Simon (1991), in an article appearing in Foreign Language Annals, «Priority: Public Relations», states:
Allison (1986), in a review of proposals to strengthen foreign language and international education, cites two national reports supporting the need for second language education in the elementary school -«Critical Needs for International Studies: Recommendations for Action», by the U. S. Department of Education (1983), and the position paper and recommendations for action by the Council of Chief State School Officers (1985). Both reports suggest that second language learning must begin in the early grades in the United States if our students are to become participants in the world community. However, once an elementary school program is initially established and funded, it must be maintained; it is then the responsibility of the second language teacher to help ensure future support. Many second language teachers find the public relations side of their program to be foreign to them. Senator Simon (1991) warns second language teachers not to isolate themselves from other teachers and the general community but rather to act like «foot soldiers» and inform the public about their program. If we do not tell the community about the benefits of a second language, how do we expect our programs to be seen as important? If our programs are not seen as important, how do we expect to receive public support for future program funding? As Lipton (1991) reminds us:
How can we assure continued funding for our programs? We must force our programs into the awareness of our primary constituents -the students and parents whom we serve. Then, we must make our presence known to the general community through local public information networks, namely newspapers, radio, and television. Mary de López and Maria A. Montalvo-Sisneros (1986), in their article «Developing Public Support for Community Language Programs: A Working Model», describe how they utilized newspaper, radio, television, library displays, shopping center displays, and hotel readerboards to promote community awareness of the second language program in the Albuquerque Public Schools. Although their efforts were executed on a large scale, public awareness programs can be started on a more basic level-teachers can stage a PTA program, submit articles and photographs to local community newspapers, send vocabulary newsletters to parents, and display classroom materials at open house activities. Rosenbusch (1991) argues that parental support is crucial for second language programs. She suggests that involvement in the second language learning experience of their children can mobilize parents into program advocates. What more appropriate way of involving parents than by allowing them to see how well their children perform in a second language program during a PTA meeting or by reading about or seeing their child in the newspaper? This article describes four techniques which I have used to increase community awareness of the Spanish program at our school. PTA Program
Our school (K-3) in King, North Carolina, requires that each grade level be responsible for performing a thirty-minute program during one of the four annual PTA meetings. The third grade teachers at our school asked the music teacher and me to help them coordinate a PTA program with a Spanish language theme92. Our intent was to create a program consisting of songs (with skits to illustrate the meanings of the songs), costumes, and dances. In addition to songs and dances that were already available in my classroom, other teachers contributed songs they had found. The music teacher and I worked together to adapt Spanish words to familiar tunes, like «Old MacDonald» and «Hokey Pokey». Three months before the program, the teachers selected songs and dances to be included and then assigned to individual classrooms the responsibility of learning a particular song and/or dance. Finally, we determined the order of the songs and dances to be presented. To assist the classroom teachers, I prepared a master tape cassette of all songs and photocopied the words to the songs. I began the master tape by pronouncing each word in the song correctly in Spanish. Then, the song was sung a capella, and finally, the music teacher played the songs on the piano exactly as she would play them during the program. We provided photocopies of the words to the songs on the tape cassette. The photocopies included a pronunciation guide and a definition of each word in Spanish. The classroom teachers made one copy for themselves and one copy for each student. They practiced the songs and dances during their class time. Although each participating classroom was responsible for one particular song and/or dance, all students were responsible for knowing all the songs. Two months before the PTA program, the music teacher and I began to practice the songs and dances during our respective classes. A month before the program, the teachers discussed possible costumes for students to wear for the presentation. The music teacher and I developed skits in order to help the non-Spanish-speaking audience understand the meanings of the songs. During the week prior to the performance, students rehearsed
the songs and dances in the gymnasium where the PTA program was to be held and
in the order in which they were
The third grade teachers and assistants decorated the wall in the gymnasium behind the student chorus with flags of Spanish-speaking countries around the world. Classroom teachers solicited donations of cactuses, sombreros, and clay pots filled with tissue-paper flowers to decorate the stage. Also that week, we had a brochure printed which listed the songs and dances. Each classroom was listed along with the name of the song/dance it featured. The brochure included a brief description of songs and dances that might not be immediately recognizable to the audience. For authentic but unfamiliar material, it helps to provide some detailed explanations of the meanings of the songs, dances, and costumes. For presentations of this type, one might ask a parent to make a videotape, so that it can be later borrowed from the school library for students to take home to view. The videotape could also be placed on a local video access channel. Additionally, a parent could take pictures to send to the local newspaper. Teachers should invite local newspaper and television reporters to be present in hopes that they will provide free publicity to the local community about the second language program. Newspapers
Many communities have local newspapers which are often looking for items of interest. With small staffs, such newspapers frequently appreciate receiving articles and photographs depicting area events. Our local newspaper has published four photographs with descriptions of students participating in my Spanish class. During World Wise Schools Week, I gave a presentation on Honduras, where I had served in the Peace Corps. After the class, I took photographs of students displaying the native artifacts they had learned about and submitted the pictures to the local newspaper. A second set of photographs went to the newspaper for the celebration of Foreign Language Week. These depicted students displaying their versions of Pablo Picasso's Petit Fleurs and Joan Miró's People and Dog in the Sun. Recently, my students took an «airplane» trip to Latin America; a mock trip complete with passports, customs forms, immigration stamps, and boarding passes. Reporters from two local newspapers came by invitation to cover this event. The photographs of the students in both papers and an accompanying article in one of the newspapers provided extensive coverage of our second language program. Some guidelines are useful when submitting articles. First, teachers should always check with their principal before contacting the local media. This will help prevent miscommunication and misunderstandings. Second, it helps to identify a contact person at the local newspaper and continue to utilize this association for all submissions. Third, they should become familiar with rules regarding submission of photographs (e. g., color or black and white required) and articles to the newspaper. Vocabulary Newsletters
Many parents like to reinforce what the second language teacher is covering in the classroom. Since some parents do not have a second language background, they may appreciate receiving phonetic pronunciation guidelines to the vocabulary words being used. This newsletter can also include poems, songs, games, recipes, and hints used to reinforce second language learning. Displays of Classroom Materials at
Open House Activities
Parents at most schools have the opportunity once each year to
formally visit their child's school and to meet with his or her teachers.
Teachers can use this occasion to show parents some of the activities which are
being done in the second language classroom. For example, I have had displays
of Spanish cooking utensils, clothes from Guatemala, and
Conclusion
Second language teachers need to realize that they must be the most active advocates of the second language programs. Future funding may well depend on how successfully we communicate the presence and effectiveness of our programs to students, parents, teachers, administrators and the local community. The four public awareness activities outlined above can be employed even by those of us in FLEX (Foreign Language Exploratory) programs which require that we cover more than one school and teach hundreds of students each week. All of these activities require a minimum amount of time, energy, and expense but have the potential for achieving powerful public awareness of our programs. WORKS CITED
Allison, Mary. «A Review of Proposals to Strengthen Foreign Language and International Education». Foreign Language Annals 19.6 (1986): 533-36. Lipton, Gladys C. «FLES* (K-8) Programs for the Year 2000. Hispania 74.4 (1991): 1084-86. López, Mary de, and Montalvo-Sisneros, Maria A. «Developing Public Support for Community Language Programs: A Working Model». Foreign Language Annals. 19.6 (1986): 529-31 Rosenbusch, Marcia H. «Elementary School Foreign Language: The Establishment and Maintenance of Strong Programs». Foreign Language Annals 24.4 (1991): 297-311. Simon, Paul. «Priority: Public Relations». Foreign Language Annals 24.1 (1991): 13-18. 
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