Integrating Career Preparation into Language Courses provides foreign and second language teachers with easy and practical additions they can make to their existing curricula to help their students develop real-world professional skills and prepare to use the target language successfully in the workplace. The book is organized into six chapters, each addressing a different professional skill and opening with an explanation of how content typically included in a foreign language curriculum can be tied to this skill. Each chapter closes with class activities or lesson plans that include suggested materials and assessments that teachers can easily add to their language courses. Lear’s book is an accessible and practical guide designed to be adaptable for any language, offering exciting new possibilities to help teachers and students of foreign languages bring their language skills into the workplace.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction: Rationale and Course Management
Chapter 2: Gatekeeping
Chapter 3: Networking
Chapter 4: Correspondence
Chapter 5: Presentations
Chapter 6: Digital literacy
Suggested Readings
Appendix of Tables
About the Author
Reviews
"Lear’s integration of professional workplace skills with foreign language methodology resolves the conflict we have all experienced for years, that of falling short in our attempts to teach foreign language for professional purposes. Her recommended structure of gatekeeping, networking, correspondence, presentation and digital literacy provide language instructors with a practical way to adjust foreign language learning to the needs of adult language learners. Additionally, the beauty of this approach is its flexible adaption by level and by professional area. Integrating Career Preparation into Language Courses will serve as a resource for all foreign language professionals who desire to make an impact in their teaching."—Orlando Kelm, Associate Professor of Hispanic Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin
About the Author
Darcy Lear has a PhD in Foreign and Second Language Education from the Ohio State University and teaches Spanish at the University of Chicago. She regularly gives presentations on teaching strategies to departments around the country and has developed languages for special purposes courses at several institutions. Lear is also a career coach, helping people to position themselves to use their language skills in rewarding careers.
