Gaining exposure to a variety of cultures in today’s increasingly globalized world is an important part of a K-12 student’s educational experience. Cornell student volunteers who speak foreign languages have worked with thousands of children in the local community to provide engaging experiences learning about other languages and cultures.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the ALCP re-envisioned the way it operates, as in-person programming at local schools was not possible. In Ithaca and the surrounding areas, the local schools that previously hosted in-person volunteers with the Center’s Afterschool Language and Culture Program ceased normal operations, and students transitioned to online and hybrid learning arrangements.

While the ALCP wanted to bring language learning opportunities into local schools in a virtual capacity, an afterschool program was simply not possible. Teachers expressed concern with virtual after school or in-school collaborative programming for children at the K-12 level, as their students were struggling to adjust in the fully virtual and hybrid settings that had been implemented. This was compounded by the challenge of asking students to participate in yet another virtual session after school, given the level of “Zoom fatigue.”

However, the ALCP is a program with two goals: to provide opportunities for local K-12 students to engage with foreign languages in our increasingly interconnected world, and to provide opportunities for Cornell students to offer their language skills as service to the community and to learn about culturally-competent language education.

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the Einaudi Center developed an engaging professional development opportunity for undergraduates interested in volunteering with the program – a chance for students to learn about language pedagogy, and to develop skills they could leverage for future teaching or while volunteering with the ALCP once pandemic restrictions ease. 

The Einaudi Center offered three workshops in April 2021 to serve as a training opportunity for the 30 student volunteers who expressed an interest in volunteering with the ALCP, organized through a Canvas course.  Ten to fifteen students attended each workshop, a mix of Ithaca College and Cornell University student volunteers with experience in a variety of languages including Vietnamese, Spanish, French, Italian, Mandarin and others. 

Given Cornell’s lack of an education department, the ALCP recruited the expertise of education department faculty at Ithaca College for assistance with the project. This opened a dialogue between Ithaca College and the Einaudi Center, and we hope to explore a collaborative relationship moving forward into Fall 2021.

On April 7, 2021, Senior Lecturer of Global Development at Cornell, Dr. Jeff Perry provided a workshop on Developing Lessons from a Curriculum. The survey workshop stressed the iterative practices of developing lessons based on existing curriculum as well as using various methods and practices to help boost engagement in the classroom.

Dr. Ellie Fulmer, Associate Professor of Education at Ithaca College, presented a workshop on Learning about Students, Multisensory Activities and Assessment Tools, and the Practice of Lesson Design on April 14, 2021. Fulmer co-taught with the assistance of Ithaca College students Lillian Roman (Spanish Education) and Catriona Ferguson (Spanish and Education Studies). The workshop addressed how to consider students’ individual backgrounds when lesson planning and the practice of assessing the success of a lesson.

The third and final workshop in the series took place on April 21, 2021. Assistant Professor of Education at Ithaca College, Dr. Shuzhan Li provided a workshop to identify cultural strengths within diverse communities. Participants used critical race theory to analyze multimodal materials and collaboratively imagine ways to incorporate an asset-based approach in the After School Language and Culture Program.

 As we look to the future, we hope to integrate the strengths of the virtual program into the in-person format moving forward. This fall, as vaccination rates increase and restrictions lift, we hope to once again return to local schools for in-person exchanges of culture and language outreach.

Volunteers with introductory, intermediate and advanced knowledge of foreign languages are encouraged to join the program! Please email outreach@einaudi.cornell.edu for updates on fall recruitment of volunteers!