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Legislators need to hear if something is important to you!  Please send both your Senator and your Representative your thoughts on the Bills Below.  Feel free to copy/paste what we wrote, adjust it as you feel inclined, or write your own on the topic given.

FIND MY INDIANA LEGISLATOR

To whom it may concern:

I am a world language educator in Indiana and I am writing you today to urge you to reallocate $500,000 in the biennium budget for the Dual Language Immersion grant program.  

Since its inception in 2015, the DLI schools across our state have grown from 4 to 42 schools, and every year schools continue to see the value in a program like this.  Students who learn languages earlier in life show marked improvement in cognitive abilities, communication skills and cultural awareness in comparison to their monolingual counterparts.  The students that come out of these schools with these 21st Century Skills will help the economy and security of Indiana in the future.  

The Indiana General Assembly has always allocated money to this competitive grant and we urge you to consider doing so again this budget cycle.  Therefore, please renew the funding for our Dual Language Immersion Grant Program at $500,000.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Email the governor's office HERE

To whom it may concern:

I am a language teacher in the state and I am writing you today to re-create a specialist position in World Language Education.  This position was at the IDOE until 2017 when the positions was consolidated into the Office of English Language Leaners.  While the individuals in that office worked hard to help us where they could, world language education is not their area of expertise. 

Many states around Indiana have world language specialists at their respective DOEs, and the fact that Indiana does not means that we are falling behind other states in regards to this critical 21st Century Skill.  A specialist in this position could help teachers with vital Professional Development opportunities, as well as assist our Dual Language Immersion schools as they begin to transition from K-8 to secondary education.  This specialist could facilitate the rewriting of the State Standards as well as ensuring that the State Class Codes and Descriptions are culturally respectful (currently some are insensitive).

  A specialist at this level could work as a liaison not only with the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association (IFLTA) but also be an official representative to the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL), as well as with our visiting teachers from other countries, and the State Board of Education on graduation requirements.  They could assist schools to recruit and retain teachers directly from our multilingual population, thereby diversifying the teacher population.  They could work with the licensing board to help create licenses for teachers of the Less Commonly Taught Languages to facilitate the teaching of the more than 300 languages currently spoken in Indiana schools, but not currently taught in Indiana schools. 

The prospects for what the position could do are limitless.  However, without it programs struggle to stay competitive with their counterparts in other states.  To continue to be a leader in the field of education, we need a position at the IDOE for a World Language Specialist urgently.

Thank you for your time,

Sincerely, 

JNCL-NCLIS is currently working on the following bills:

• BEST Act - which would appropriate funding to students to earn their state Seals of Biliteracy (the Certificate of Multilingual Proficiency)

• World LEAP - which would appropriate $15 million dollars in competitive grants for public schools to either implement or improve language programs

They have also responded to the following actions by either Executive Order or by the Secretary of Education:

• The Executive Order declaring English as the official language of the US

• The massive cuts to the DOE including the elimination of the offices of English Language Acquisition and the Foreign Language office in the Office of Higher Education 

Indiana Language Roadmap

Making Languages our Business

Data on school acceptance requirements

Military Pay

USMCA Indiana State Fact Sheet

Indiana’s economy depends on its exports and the World Market. 

Indiana Department of Agriculture - International Trade

Foreign Investments in Indiana map and breakdown

UNESCO Multilingual Education