PAL

The PAL coalition was initiated by the College of Humanities at the University of Arizona primarily for second language educators K-16, to provide a venue for the sharing of professional concerns and for the planning of collaborative action. A steering committee of some twenty-five educators meets monthly to strategize responses to issues which affect second language instruction across districts as well as vertically from elementary school through community college and university. PAL projects such as the Southern Arizona Language Fair, the Second Language Teachers' Symposium, and the networking fora for French, German and Spanish instructors of all levels are only the most publicly recognizable efforts of the coalition. The coalition also promotes the quick and frank sharing of information and the networking of skills, resulting in actions such as the organization of professional development workshops around timely topics and the creation of a new master's program in German at the University of Arizona which places qualified German teachers quickly into Tucson area high schools.

Since 2000, PAL has endeavored to strengthen relationships with members in the business community who understand the benefits of a language-savvy workforce for the economy of Southern Arizona. Linking these workplace needs back to the educational community and foreign and second language instruction in the state is a continual process and on-going focus for PAL.

The working group of colleagues that has evolved since that time calls itself the Partnership Across Languages, and is open to interested educators at all levels, without membership fees. PAL is sponsored and coordinated by the College of Humanities. Among the projects and priorities on PAL's agenda are the following:

• Continuing efforts to organize and promote professional development opportunities for language teachers, including sponsorship of the annual Second Language Teachers' Symposium and other workshops and courses.

• A task force working to improve articulation among language programs and teachers. In 1996 the Task Force drafted a twenty-page Action Plan for Improving Articulation that was widely distributed in Arizona. This led to a successful application to the National Endowment for the Humanities for a grant to sponsor a 1997 summer institute. The Action Plan for 1997-98 also addressed the issue of heritage language learners.

• Revival and expansion of the Southern Arizona Language Fair, held again for the first time since 1990 in March of 1996 on the University of Arizona campus and attended by more than 700 students. The Fair continues to attract more K-16 students each year for a day-long program of competitions, cultural activities, and entertainment in American Sign Language, Arabic, Chinese, English as a Second Language, French, German, Latin, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Urdu among others. The 2004 Fair saw the attendance grow to about 1100 students.

• Language promotion panels available to interested community and academic groups such as PTAs and school counselors.

• Establishment of language fora of Tucson-area teachers K-16, including university graduate students, which meet to promote the sharing of successful language lesson plans and to provide professional development opportunities. The German Forum, Spanish Forum, and Le Forum Français have developed listservs and Web sites to reach a broad teaching public beyond the Southern Arizona area.

• Successful application to the MLA High School to College Articulation Project, which links successful high school/university collaborative projects with collaborative programs that are just initiating their activities. Although PAL applied as a relatively new project, the MLA assigned a mentoring role to PAL, in recognition of the group's organizational successes since its inception in 1994. PAL's mentee was the Florida State University/Godby High School articulation project from Tallahassee.

• A task force working to develop a partnership between businesses and schools for the advancement of language study. The PAL Business Partnership Committee developed a survey to assess the status of linguistic capability and usage in greater Tucson area businesses and is considering establishing a business advisory board and a speaker's bureau.