tecahing millenials
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Ieauhiruanluagu$to he
trlillennialfeneration
[eyH:.ff.T,,cocooned,conservative,and
cirncminded. A Pew Researcheport
calls them "confident, connected,and open to
change."They are the Millennial Generation-a term usedby
Neil Howe and William Strauss, uthorsof Millennials Rising and
Millennials €t K-12 Schools, or those born between approximately1981 and 2000. Although there s somedebateabout the exactyears
that mark tire lTeginning and end, one thing is certain: There are many
of tht'm, and they ale currently filling classrooms rom K-12 to college
Flowe and Strausshave dentified sevenkey characterislir: of
Millerrrrlals.They arc special,sheliered,confide rt , eam orientcd,
achicving,pressurcd,and converrlional.They are also very tcch-
nologically sanryr lolve and Strauss ee his generation as a slrarp
contrast from the previous generation and a direct reversal from the
trenclsassociated vnh the Baby Boomers.
While of c(llirst:everyonecannot be grouped under a srngleset of
characteristics, nderstandingthe rnajor nfluences on a generation
can help educatorsunclerstand l-re estwa)'s o teach hem. Still,
34
teachersknow aswell
as anyone that not every
indir idual f its nLo he typical
stereotype,so generational discussion
should never be confused for establlshing any
absolutesabout students
I0achinghrmHowe, rvho was the keynotespeakerat the 2008 ACTFL Convention
arrdWorld llanguagesExpo, alsosharedhis expertisewith language
teachers hrough an intervieu' in the October'2008 issueof The
Lct;tguage ducator.
"Teachers an take advantageofthe fact thar N{illennials hink of
th r mselvesas being specialand that they want to reach out and be
serviceand tean oriented,"he said,Howe alsonoted that because
thr:, s such an etl-rnically nd racially diverse roup' il creaLes
generational hift n perspecriveetween urrentstudenlsand their
okler teachers. lecausethey already feel sucl-rdiversity and individu'
a1ism, imply learning about othercultures s not as strong a mo[ile[o; these tudent .
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"What is important to them," saysHowe,
"is the idea of doing something collabora-
tlvely amidst this diversity to create commu-
nities and institutions thai work." Howe also
describes heir approach to leaming another
language s inherentlypract ical. " he ywant to kr.rowwhat they can do with what
they are eaming and what their language
skilis will help them accompiish.
Edwina Spodaik stayshat her course on
French contexts in cultural understanding
is always filled to capacity. "l would say
that students today are very interested in
trying to undersiand and appreciateo[her
cultures-maybe more so than even previ-
ous ones." Spodark,a professorof French
and chairof the Modern LanguagesDepart-
ment at Hoilins University in Roanoke, VA,
has written about teaching the Millennial
Generation, ncluding an article on p. 39 in
this issue of The Language Educator.
Kathleen McBroom is the lead teacher
in the World L-anguagesepartmento[
Dearborn, MI, Public Schools, ,vhere he lan-
guages aught include French, Spanish, Ger-
man, and Arabic. McBroom has found that
Millerinials' minds are wired differently, and
they prefer simultaneousaccess o multiple
sourcesof information in diverse formats.
"They're quite comfortabie with sorting
and selecting pertinent information from
an onslaughtof data, and quickly become
bored when constratnedojust one re -
"A recentstudyby the Pew nternet
& Ameican Life Project (www.
pewinternet.org)fuund that more
than a quarterof today's teens
havecreated heir own online
journal or blog"and more han half
createonline contentand engage
in social networking. The workforce
of the uture will be more han
familiar with collaborativeook
and will consider heir use a normal
part of whotever hey do."
-Doug Gale n Campus echnology,
September008
source r one activity." he says. They in-
ruitively seek the big picture first, and then
concentrate on specifics-which is directly
opposed o tradit ional. inear eaching,
which tends to fo11ow model of building
knowledge in consecutivesteps.For Mil-
lennlals, he more stimuli, the better."
One of the best things about lvlillennials,
according to McBroom, is that they are per-
fectly equipped to go out and find input on
their own. "Letting students do the research
and collecting of raw material leads to
higher-order applicatlons in the classroom-
evaluating resources, dentifyng sources,watching or stereotypes.ecognizing as t
dir,'ersity,dentifyng racial or ethnic subtle-
t ies. 'er i fy ing [rthentic xpenences,lc."
IheGulturalonnectionmlilillennialsJean Radin spent more than 20 years n the
classroom teaching German and French, but
now preparespre-sen'ice teachers hroughthe TeacherLicensure Program at Colorado
State University (CSU), where she works
with students acrossall content areas,
grcluding foreign languages.She also served
. on the Millennials Working Group at CSU.
Radinhas ound hat hi sgeneratrons more
Iikely to want to understand and appreciate
other cultures, One reason s that the Inter-
net, social net\,vorking, and other technolo-
gies havebrought people around the world
closer."Another reason s the high mobility
rate thesedays," she explains.
ALCSU,many students ak eadvantage
o[ the opportunity to study abrord. and
not just the language majors. According to
Radin.a numberof students art ic ipate
in "Alternative Spring Break" and service-
learningopportunit ies.Manl support
charities such as nternational schools and
world hunger organizations.
Radin has found that some of the most
effective ways to facilitate cultural under-
standing or these tudents re nuting
great guestspeakerswho are outside of the
norm, having students interview people
d lerent rom themselves, rornding
up-to-date readingsabout cultural issues,
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I.nNe ee c To rHEMtttruNmt GrNEnertoN
"Thesedays,recruiterssay, it's the
rare rdsumdron a Millennial that
doesn't ncludeat leasta summerof
study overseos, s well os volunteer
work n developingnations,
interestingpleasure ips to exoticIands, and luenqr in at Leastone
foreign language. n the 2007 UCU
study offreshmen, 52% said they
were nterested n under5tanding
other culturesand counties better,
up rom 43% n 2002.
-Ron Akop rn TheTrophyKids
GrowUp, 2008
15 yearsat different educational evels,
have noticed a gror.vingkeennessamong
American students o seek out a better
and deeper nderstanding I rhe Arabrc
language nd culture.There s a gror.ving
recognitionamong thesestudents and
their parentsof the importance of learning
Arabicand understandinghe Arabiccul-
ture and history. This recognirion is largely
r l r i ' , " - h, ,"
."-h. '^f
f " . t^ ' . i - - l '' ' l ; -^t lul r ru( t ur tal rutJ. r l lLtuut tLB
the desire or better cross-culturaicom-
munication. There is also a realization that.
knor.r' ledgeI Arabic s very helpful for
one's uture career."
Ayariha' lound that among thosewh o
decide to study Arabic, there is a gro*'ing
number of studentswho have become n-
trigued by the study abroad programs and
the authentic earning experience hat these
programs have to offer.
' 'Studentspart ic ipar ingn rhese
programs are able to interact with narive
speakersofArabic and are able to gain a
better understandi ng of the Arabic culture
and wav of life," he says. My srudenisrvho
participated n the study abroad programs
find that the most intriguing part of study-
ing Arabic in an Arabic-speaking environ-ment s the t ime thel 'spentwith famil ies
learning the languageand cukure firsr-
hand. Evenshon-rermsummer progrrms
have been rated by my students o be
extremely helpfui not only to enhance thelr
proficiency level,but also ro bolster rheir
cross-cult ra l unde standing.' '
McBroom saysof r\,lillennials that,
"They' ru ly do perceive hemselves s part
of a global community" They are socialiy
consciousand commirred, which she saystranslates nto individual actions. "I know
ofseveral high school studentswho are
'active in online socialsllpport groups :,uch
as Heifer International or virtual donation
sites, nd Broupacl ion<. sheexpla ins.
"Most of our building-level languageclubs
hrve adopt,d fundrarsin3 r communrr) '
st lnnor t nrn icefc "" . . r r . -_ '
According to Spodark,more than half
,o[ Hollins students study abroad each
year.and that number appears o her to
be growrn1,.There seems o be an ealcr-
ness n t l rc part o l these tudents o study
d creating a classroomclimate that
ough ssuesSh e
sources, ncluding her own doctoral
the idea that creatinga
earnrng ommunity s crucia l.
Dearborn Public Schools s partnering
State University to creare
Arabic languageprogram,
Instruction Flagship
Dunya Mikhail, Arabic resource
wirh the ALIF prolecr. inds ha r n
there s a high demand among
to learn Arabic, traditionally a iess
taught language.
"There are 22 Arabic dialects and one
standard Arabic (lvlSA), which is
unifying languageused to read and
expiains Mikhail. "MSA is nor used,
n dally speaking.One of the
effective techniques of teaching Mil-
and activities. When
Arabic anguage,ts interest ing
how each one in the group speaksa
ct, but is instrucred to deallearn,and usea languagehat is dif-
rom all lhosedia lects n class.MS A
r native or non-native speakersofArabic,
alreadya second ang uage."
Mikhail adds, however, that while group
is one of the rnost effective modern
rvhen rvorking lvirh Millenniais,
has ts own dilemmas when it comes to
Arabic, and one of rhose s dealing
he dialecrs n addition to MSA.t
SalahA1'ar i , i rccrorof Arabican d
Languagesat TexasA&M Universitl',
"Har.'ing aught Arabic {br more rhan
TH rLlrueunceoucaron Aueusr 01 0
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abroad. th ink rhe; ' \ 'e lrome he opportu '
nitv to meet people rom other cultures,' '
sl-re ar-s.This o[ coursedovetails nto the
fact that thrs generation s the most multi
cultural of an l so far. '
\ u Lrn I in rs eniur progrdmJtre, l ' , rfor u,orld languages i,' ithBoston Public
Schoois, vhere he languagesofiered
includeSpanish. rench,German, ta l '
ian, Chinese,Japandse,atin, Greek.an d
Arabic. Shenotes hat, although n some
schools, nll ' ;1..tru rr anguage r lan-
glr;rgesma)' be offere . limiting ttre choices
fo r studenls, Evengiven such condit ions,
the lesscomnonl,v tar-rghtanguages r-rch
as N{andarinChineseand Arabic are quite
popular in our schoolsyslem,"Shehas
also found that toclaysstudentsrrre ikel,v
to want to str.rclv broad.The Strasbourg/
BostonSisterCit,vStudentExchangePro-
gram is rn its 30'r'year,and a ne\\rsummer
program sendsstudenls to China to str-rdy
for six rveeks.
Millennialsseant layersSpodarkagreesvtth Hou.eand Strauss
that this generation s very team oriented.
"Tl-retillennial Generationof str-rdentshas vorked in teamssince he,v've een
in school,so using this in class s sort oI
expecte on the part of the students,"sl-re
erplains. "The drar'l'backs, of course.nhen
personalities lash You har''e o be carefr,rlo
gir,eeach eam clear nstructionson rvhat to
Jo rnd perh.rpr n, ude checl.po1n1s16119
the rvav so that )ou can spot problems
before he final prqect is due."
"Nlillennialsare definitely \rer)' eam
oriented." choesRadin.
l thinkteach
ers can tap rnto this in many r'vaysn the
clf ,>5loom 1'pror ding mcaningJrr lr . ' t rp
u,ork. My experiencc s that I'ou have to set
someclassnorms first about horv ql'oups
should ri,ork, and then hold each group
accountable or coming up i,vitl-r prodr-rct/
question to share vitl'r l-re vhole class
u'hen tire group t'orl< is finished. I usualll'
havenrv college tudenls reate Inet. l-
phor. u,r'rte discnsstotr uesticrt-rrn the
bozrrcl .rake l c lrau ' ing. r make a'Ibp lt ) '
l isr Al l of t t rese ct ivr t ies onnect vith th c
JeannieLin: Accesso internationalopcutturewiLt opefuttyngreasehe desire
to learnaboutothercountries nd anguages.hewortdhasgiottensma[te/because
of the increasedechnotory.Chitdren ltl.atsosee hat bridgingothercuttureswi[[ : ]
be advantageous.mericawqn'tbe he ontyptaceo do !"uslnesrWith a greater p- ,. ,.
preciation,,Jndrporlrr",tJ@lty cuttuotunaerstandingnO 1. int.t"st n it witlimproved." ,,
.
ling and he interestn it witl be ,
around hem,U*moritep a#: ttrires.risside-'**fu arvn orders n waysbothseenand unseen.Ufe.f!,:ittiU1g.!{lis tr3nd,toonefactor: echnotogy. ndas' .:.;i.
this generation rowsup, and ts memberstart hinkingabout heir futures, heywitt
find hat companiesookirq o tnrty sueceed i[ fird ways o workoutside f their '
;;; ;";;;;, ;'-;il;;i ;i*"**"'*u
***"" i"' becomena,,umptionrather han the exceptionn today;s"b.*irreswortd.Thesuccessfirlndividualswitl be '
theoneswhocan .b tn"i, otg;nizationsxpando broader arkets.-
;ff, ; think hata verympurtantart f understanaingth.,cutturesn t,l',
n.n.rJrtons hevisra[ spe*. feetike tude;G./outdrbeorenterestednottrel, .culturesf theysawpictureshat shqrved'theeautyof the iounUy9r sbme f thu ,
who s famitiaritf tltg eutture ndhastivedqr hg folelS1 Oult+ It is mportqnt ,
for studentso see uit ho#di ent iitner cultures anbe.
lbcause hti ontv ife' r.'
theyknows the Asrcri;*{ifietrytc; I think that mygn"lttioir,ilas a specialnt"tesir'
in learning hineseeciuse ue o 1heeconomicathangqs.andhfnds'rapidrowth '-
in the business ortd.beingabte o spenkChinese sutdbea hugebenefit or the
'
future. . , ' ' . " : j . . ; . : . . . - . . . i - j . : : ' ' : ] . ' ' . l ] : : : ' :uture. . , . . ' ' ' . " : j . . " . . . . . - . ' . ' - . . i : . : : . . ] : ' ' . . ' i ] ' ' . ' ' . ' . . ' ' . .
Hannah: find mylgen"r*tionoor* tkutytowant o undenstasdndapp.{eciate '
"thercultures inceweareexpgsedo lhemat an eOrty.
1ge;bspecral.tyinle
L*"q
traditions. ome ther:thinssrelfssutd etp resl
whos famitiar ith heeuttrirend has ivedn the1+no*tu*t .,....,
: It is mportarrt, , .
is home o manydifferentcutturqs fe arealso,toru tit"t.V't"walt to studyabroad.'
,-sincet i s becoming ore vaitableo the pubtic, ndbecatlset is becomingasier ;
tearning hineseecause hina aslhcome n mportant ortdpower.ts economys '
flourishing,anditishometomanygrowingbusinessopportunities..
cr)urse\\'orkand provide each student rvith
a chrrnceo contribute o the group."
Ii:rdrnsets hi: norms lrrst to avt-,iclhe
issucof r)\'crcorrpe it['eness,alld she alstl
c.r.rlions i{rrinsl he overuseof gr-oup .trk
in thc chssrtrom rncl ot allorirrngor chtttce
'lrlrllcr-rni.r1so\-eo heve choices," he savs.
Al{IIheigitaleneration"BaLtrtusch. ' r ' ept-cs,:nthe f irst gcncr i l t i r )n
Io ql'rr\\ 'up n . ln cr: i n $'hich drgitel ech-np1,' 'qi nd sr)crailct\\ 'orking rc sttmltch
; l p. i l l r ) [ heir ire-. th i5 roup is s, ' lnet lmes
referred o as "digiral natives In their
:-irticle n tire rvebsiteoi thc Natronal C-ri1-rt-
tal LanguagcResource cnier NCLRC),
"Att raci ingarrdHolding t l r r At ter-r t ion l
ThoseNli l icnnralDig ita lNatives," nu p
Prakash ,lahajanandJill Ann Robbinsnote
that the constantlv loh'rng nformation
rge and ihe sheer olume ol their tnterac-
t ions* ' i ih r t Inc: lns l tat r l i l le nr:rls hir ik
and prr)ce s nfotmrrtion diflerentlr' fronr
prer- ions enerlt ions.
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Lnucunes ro rHEMturxNmt GrtttnenoN
"As foreign languageeducat.ors,hen,
remember that we cannot afford
with 20'hcentury knowledge or
as the guide for what are the best
for thesestudentsto leam world lan-
hey explain. "They must be con-
engaged,and their language earning
should be continuously adaPt*
to lnnovative leaming str2tegies,or one
the risk of losing their attention (and
importantly, motivation)."
Spodark suggests,"You have to include
of repetitions when teaching
of the technologlcal ltems that you're
o use.Therear ealrvays uestions
some students get 1ost."She is not sure
is because hey rvant to do things
own way or becauseof what has been
a Nintendo approach (i.e.' you can
reset and start over).
"l have ound throughmy col lege each-
that Miliennials really like online discus-
notes Radin. "Each of my courseshas
website for online delivery as well as
time." Shehas also found that the Mil-
expect most readingsto be posted
tend to write a lot online, and open
more than they would in class.Other
tech ideas nclude ciickers to assess
podcasts,and YouTubevideos
are connected to coursecontent.
One concern Radin has about this
is that researchhas found
many lack social skills and do not
well. "We cannot send theseyoung
out in the world of work, especially
without practice and training in
skills," she saYs.
GaneachlsRobbins suggest wo ideas
languageeducators to start with when
hesestudents:allow and encolrr
ts to use technology to teach
rrd encouragetudenls Lo
hey know how to ac-
with their teachersand peers.
As Holvc notes, Miliennials are not
light ycars ahead r.r'hen t comes to
(lT), but sun'eys
ound that they believe they will do
"ManyMillenniabexpect egular
updotes n theirperformancend
thive on positive reinforcement.
ForMillenniok, he more eedback
the better.An onnualor even
semi nnual evolu tion isn't nea ty
enoughor mostMillenniak.TheY
want to knowhow they'redoing
weekly, vendoiLy."
-Ron Abop rn TheTroPhY ids
GrowUp, 2008
more than any previous generation when it
comes to revolutionizing technolog;r "What
really works with teaching Millennials is
using new technologies to foster and build
commun t ies-vir t ual communities-i n
which they can immerse themselves n
some cooperative enterprise," he explains.
"Most of us recognize that nothing comes
close to immersion i.n terms of using a
language. If you want to take adrantage
of immersion for Millennials, let them use
their IT to create mmersive communities
in which they will be doing something con-
structive." He seesa great. it between hor'v
this generation uses technology in a more
community-oriented way and horv that can
be used as a tool to greatly acceleratehow
well they learn foreign languages.
Baby Boomer and even GenerationX
teacherscan learn from their Millennial
students-and often do-when it comes to
technology But Hon'e offers another way in
which they can benefitou r cause.
"One key to getting support for iocal
programs ls to call on the greater com-
munity, since people in generai are much
more disposed to help kids th'esedays," he
explains. "Our society'sattitudes towards
young people have changed, and I often
advise, ' hoolswho w rr l t o get conr 'nunity
supporl to not send rr;rXer or a Bootner to
make tl-re ppeal,bu t lather to send ,t team
of Mlllcnnials themsclves o perfonn."
llurlnwlillcnnialeachersThe N{illcnnial Gene;;etions becoming the
ne\'u'wot kforce, and that iricludes becomtng
the neu, teachers n our languageclassrooms.
So does this mean that u'e need to cotrsider
the Millennial Generation characteristics in
our teacherpreparation programs?Spodark,
who also teachesa methodolos/ courseat
Hoilins, says he arrwer to that question is
yes, She ries to take thosecharacteristics
into considerationwhen she structures he
course."l inciude six technology modules'
have them work in teams o create esson
plans, etc,," she explains.
Radifi says,"Probably the best thing
that te?cher educators can do is provide a
balance of the 'tried and true' methods that
are successfuland some newer pedagogical
methods that are appealing to Millennials
(electroni.cportfolios, courses n technol-
ogy for teachers,etc.)."
McBroom sees he multi-sensory/
multi-modality approach of Millenniais as
aligning well with current best practices in
language teaching. "standards place equal
emphasis on cultural literacy and linguistic
literacy-the'big picture,"' she explains.
"Most new teachers (and students, for that
matter) come equipped with technoiogi-
cal skills and habits absoluteiy,seamlessly
ingrained into the way they iocate, per-
ceive, process,and deliver information-
Video clips, music, podcasts, ecordedworks, computer-generated content-all
thesecomplement and reinforce textbook
material.Classroom raditions (ranging
from seatarrangements lo group work to
project-based assessmento who is doing
the talking and presenting) need to change.
I expect o see organizedchaos'in effective.
classrooms-with everyone engaged."
As Spodark notes about this generation,
"We need to keep in mind how what they
do in the classroomwrth us will translate
into the work world after they graduate,and
that includes the classroomsof the future."
Susun eeses o contibutingwriter o lhe
Lanquageducator.he aswitten or numerous
educotionublicotions nd s basedn ArLington'
Virginia.
THrLl ire lce EDucr,.;on' Aue sr 2010