Graduate Language Institute in French/Spanish.

Between 1982 and 1985, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro held five summer institutes designed to improve French and Spanish foreign language instruction in elementary and secondary schools. The institutes were intended to: (1) revitalize teachers' language capabilities; (2) increase their cultural knowledge; (3) expose them to new developments in instruction and evaluation; (4) demonstrate the applicability of cultural and literary texts to classroom instruction; and (5) encourage stronger professional ties between school and university language teachers. The last two institutes were concurrent graduate-level French and Spanish programs. A total of 24 teachers participated. One coordinator/faculty member and a second faculty member staffed each of the programs, and 14 guest lecturers made presentations. Other staff fluent in the two languages were hired for support positions. The 4-week programs were followed by a 1-day workshop in the fall. Participant evaluations illustrate the complexity of designing and implementing such a program, but suggest that overall, the institutes substantially achieved their goals. (MSE)