IWLA Initiative to Add World Languages to the Iowa Core Curriculum

IWLA's Position Paper

As a follow up to the letter-writing campaign, a position paper was approved by the Executive Board to be submitted to business and education partners in order to garner support for our initiative.  You can read the position paper by clicking the link below or by downloading it.

Read Online | Download Position Paper[PDF] [DOC]

Sample Letters

The following are drafts of sample letters that can be used to contact any business or university personnel that we are willing to contact.  The letters ask for support and request letters of support to be sent to our organization to be presented to the Iowa Department of Education.

Business [DOC]

University - Sample A [DOC]

University - Sample B [DOC]

 

Letter Writing Campaign 2009

World Languages in the Iowa Core Curriculum

Download Letter [DOC]

Professional Development for Iowa's World Language Teachers

Download Letter [DOC]

For those of you who were not able to come or were not able to get signed up and want to get involved, here are some easy instructions:

  1. Open the letter templates and review them to decide which one you want to use.
  2. Once you’ve decided on a letter, just put in your name and address into both templates.
  3. Find your legislator at http://www.legis.state.ia.us/FindLeg/. Scroll down the list to find your Iowa legislators.
  4. Type in your legislators’ information. There are two letters, one for your Representative and one for your Senator.
  5. Feel free to personalize the letters. Tell about how YOU or your program are affected.
  6. Print off and mail the letters.
  7. Give this information to a fellow foreign language teacher to have them send their own letter.
  8. If you’ve already sent a letter, follow up in a few weeks with an e-mail message. If you know your legislators and see them around town, talk to them about this issue.

Letter Writing Campaign 2008

A Response from the Iowa Department of Education

IWLA conducted a letter writing campaign to request a full time foreign language consultant at the Iowa Department of Education. At this year’s conference, letters were prepared for signature for all those who registered in advance of the IWLA conference to help us get a full-time foreign language consultant at the Iowa Department of Education. For those of you who were not able to come or were not able to get signed up and want to get involved, here are some easy instructions:

  1. Open the letter templates and review them to decide which one you want to use.
  2. Once you’ve decided on a letter, just put in your name and address into both templates.
  3. Find your legislator at http://www.legis.state.ia.us/FindLeg/. Scroll down the list to find your Iowa legislators.
  4. Type in your legislators’ information. There are two letters, one for your Representative and one for your Senator.
  5. Feel free to personalize the letters. Tell about how YOU or your program are affected.
  6. Print off and mail the letters.
  7. Give this information to a fellow foreign language teacher to have them send their own letter.
  8. If you’ve already sent a letter, follow up in a few weeks with an e-mail message. If you know your legislators and see them around town, talk to them about this issue.

[Letter One] [Letter Two] [State Supervisor Job Description]

Together we can all make a difference!

Tammy Dann, Advocacy Chair
trdann@q.com

Susan Sandholm-Petersen
petrsand@dwx.com

Carrie Mulvihill, Secretary
cjmulvihill@dmacc.edu