Past Poll Results

May 2010

World language teachers have the possibility to integrate an endless number of global issues in classroom instruction. Among the most popular issues to explore are: health issues, human rights, and immigration. While politics can offer interesting cultural perspectives about a country, this poll shows that most teachers do not focus on political issues in the classroom.

April 2010

Teachers advise their students about a variety of professions which seek out bilingual and multilingual speakers. Strongest advisement appears to be towards professional positions. However, don't forget to advise students about the joys of teaching a language - remember, the shortage of world language teachers is greater than that of science and math.

March 2010

Speaking with friends and colleagues ranks highest among the ways language teachers maintain bilingualism. While teachers may benefit from travel to countries where the target language is spoken that expose them to new trends in the language, cultural experiences and events, as well as access to authentic materials, most language teachers do not prioritize travel as a way to maintain their bilingualism.

February 2010

Nearly 50% of all respondents found attending conferences and workshops contributed most towards the development of their professionalism in the field of language teaching. The opportunity to work with peers and colleagues in various capacities also contributes towards the development of professionalism but to a lesser extent according to the poll results.

January 2010

While most schools still refer to 'foreign' language programs, the trend towards calling programs 'world' language programs is reaching about the same level use. Few programs refer to language programs as critical, second, LOTE or modern and classical language programs.

December 2009

Internet research and YouTube videos are used most frequently by the language educators who responded to this poll. However, blogs and wikis, used least in this poll, are great ways to engage your students in online journal writing in the target language as individuals or in small groups. Blogs and wikis open up spaces of creativity for students to incorporate photos, videos, and other resources with their writing.

November 2009

It appears that most teachers rely on their own excellent instruction and recruitment events to attract students to language programs. Let's not forget about the many other ways to entice students throughout the year by displaying our students' linguistic abilities through poster contests, international night performances, year end events, and parent meetings about the language program.

October 2009

We were relieved to see that some of you are experiencing no changes despite the troubled economy! Unfortunately, professional development experiences which allow teachers to improve instruction and network with other language teachers seems to be cut or limited for many teachers. This is an important reminder to keep language teacher networks strong so information can still be shared with all teachers.

September 2009

While there are many possiblities for collaboration in teacher professional development, it appears that most schools only utilize in-service workshops led by teachers from their own district.

August 2009

Most of the teachers who answered our poll said the'yd travel to improve their language ability during the summer.

May 2009 Poll

May's poll asked, "How does your school assess your performance as a teacher?" The most common answer was administrator evaluations, followed by observations. See our monthly question response on how teachers would improve the system of evaluation.

February 2009 Poll

NCLRC’s poll in FeBRUARY asked, How do you feel about being observed as a teacher? The most common answer to last month’s poll was "I have been observed and I really appreciate the feedback" (44%). The next most common answer was "I think that being observed is a valuable experience, but do not enjoy it." Both of these results indicate the importance of observation as a teacher assessment tool. This is related to March's newsletter theme: Practices in Language Teacher Education.