Video Transcript – Pathways OER Language Teaching Repository @ Boise State University

Video Transcript

[Kelly]: Hello! My name is Kelly Arispe 

[Amber] and I’m Amber Hoye

[Kelly Arispe] and we’re co-directors of the Pathways Project at Boise State University. 

[Amber Hoye]: The Pathways Project is a free and open repository of language teaching materials. Our vision is to connect second language educators and students with open, engaging and customizable activities that build language proficiency and intercultural competence.  

[Kelly]: On the Pathways Project site you’ll find an extensive collection of activities designed for all proficiency levels and all ages, from k-12 and higher education. These activities align with national standards and they are rich with authentic materials and digital humanities content to engage student learning. We know that teachers have limited time and we want these activities to help. We’ve devoted a lot of time and research understanding the teacher user experience and have tagged each activity with searchable key words in both English and the target language to help you navigate the repository efficiently. This means, to find activities, you can type in the word, “food” or “comida” or other topics that are important for your curriculum. We also include a short description of the activity to give you a preview before you dive deeper.  

[Amber]: And, every activity is comprehensive: we have instructor guides, google slide presentations, web links, and more. The majority of our activities focus on interpersonal speaking because conversational practice is crucial for language learners. These resources not only foster language skills but also intercultural understanding. We are continuing to build other types of activities, with more interpretive listening and reading resources on the horizon.

[Kelly Arispe]: In 2021 we received a 2-year National Endowment for the Humanities Digital Humanities Advancement grant to grow the Pathways Project and engage more K-12 teachers in urban and rural districts across our home state in Idaho. Thanks to the generous support of the NEH, the Pathways Project community is active across the world and we have more than 1,000 teachers and students who adopt and adapt these materials for their classroom.  

[Amber Hoye]: The Pathways Project champions open pedagogy, fostering a culture of collaboration and participation. You have great ideas and know your students best. Every activity has an open license that gives you permission to make any changes you need for your classroom. We’re excited for you to check them out and partner with us. If you make any changes, you can easily share back your work with us and our editor team will polish and publish the activities for you.

[Kelly]: To get started, visit our website at boisestate.edu/pathwaysproject. Our website has the latest updates, direct access to the language activities, as well as professional development opportunities. We encourage you to access our comprehensive getting started guide. It’s self-paced, interactive and clearly organized to guide you. 

[Amber]: Pathways is for every language teacher, whether you’re in an urban metropolis or a rural county, whether you teach middle school beginners or undergraduate language students and whether you just started your language journey or have been doing this for years. You are welcome here and we invite you to join our community of practice.