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 .

THE nrucuncr DUCAToRAuGUsr2010



"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,

THE ANGUAGEouceron I AuGUsr2010 35



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



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.

THr LarucuacrEDUCAToRAreusr 2010



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

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tecahing millenials