Introduction and Acknowledgements

About the Pathways Project

Hello and a warm welcome to you! We’re Kelly Arispe (Ph.D.) and Amber Hoye (M.E.T.), the co-directors for The Pathways Project, an initiative from the Department of World Languages at Boise State University.

In this book, you’ll learn how to adopt and adapt over 900 openly licensed materials created by fellow world/second language educators, including pre-service and in-service teachers and upper-division world language students at Boise State Univerity. Together, we share a passion for fostering 21st-century second language development centered on communication for real-world purposes and intercultural competence to help students become global, multilingual citizens.

To give you a glimpse of our far-reaching community, take a look at this map, which showcases Pathways Project newsletter subscribers all around the world. It’s a testament to the global impact of language education and the power of collaboration among dedicated educators like yourself.

What’s the Purpose of this Guide?

We understand that you face unique challenges as a language teacher including limited time and constantly adapting to new standards and/or curricula. We also know that language teachers experience isolation–this might be geographical isolation or the reality that you are the only language teacher in your school. This is exactly why we created this guide; this free resource is our commitment to equitably addressing these barriers to support language teachers worldwide.

We hope you find this guide to be helpful. We’re teacher-learners alongside you and value your constructive feedback where we can make this resource better by emailing us at pathwaysproject@boisestate.edu.

With gratitude for the work you do,

Amber and Kelly

About the Cover

This cover blends blue and orange watercolors to pay homage to Boise State, while the newspaper scraps reflect the incorporation of authentic materials. The layers symbolize the process of revising and remixing. The brown paper signifies the addition of your unique contributions. Collectively, these elements come together to craft a one-of-a-kind cover, just like the activities you’ll customize for your classroom!

Acknowledgments

This book has been made possible in part by a Digital Humanities Advancement Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): Democracy demands wisdom.

We would like to sincerely thank the following for their support of the Pathways Project:

• The Department of World Languages  and the College of Arts and Sciences at Boise State University
• The Idaho State Board of Education
• Our Advisory Board Members:
  • Laurie Overman Cavey, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics, Boise State University
  • Amee Evans Godwin, VP, Research & Development Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME)
  • Johnathan Lashley, Ph.D., Academic Technology Program Manager, Idaho General Education Committee Chair, Idaho State Board of Education
  • Leslie Madsen, Ph.D. Associate Director for Educational Development, Center for Teaching and Learning, Associate Professor of History, Boise State University
  • Rebecca Martin, Coordinator, Arts & Humanities | Gifted & Talented Content & Curriculum, Department of Education, State of Idaho
  • Elisabeth Shook, Data Impact Librarian, ICPSR, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan