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2000 National Conference

20th Annual National Association for the Education and Advancement of Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese Americans (NAFEA) Conference

“Honoring Our Past As We Enter Our Future”

May 18-20, 2000
Anaheim, California

The focus of this conference is to commemorate the 25 years since the existence of our first Southeast Asian communities and to validate NAFEA’s past 20 years of leadership and service to the Southeast Asian American Students and families.

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Featured Sessions:

Foreign Language Assistance Programs and Emergency Immigrant Education

Presenters: Ki Lee and Sue Kentworthy, Program Officers, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs (OBEMLA)

Foreign Language Assistance Programs

This program provides grants to pay for the Federal share of the cost of innovative model programs providing for the establishment, improvement, or expansion of foreign language study for elementary and secondary school students. In awarding grants under this program, the Secretary supports projects that--
(A) show the promise of being continued beyond their project
period;
(B) demonstrate approaches that can be disseminated and duplicated
in other local educational agencies; and
(C) may include a professional development component.

Click here for more information from the U.S. Department of Education's Website

Emergency Immigrant Education (EIE)

The program provides formula grants to state education agencies to assist local education agencies that experience large increases in their student population due to immigration. Eligible students are those born outside the U.S. who have been enrolled in U.S. schools for less than 3 academic years. Eligible local educational agencies are those that enroll at least 500 students or where these students represent 3 percent of total enrollment. States may make subgrants to school districts based on the number of eligible students or may make awards on a discretionary basis. Grants are to be used to provide high-quality instruction to immigrant children and youth to help them make the transition into American society and meet the same challenging state performance standards expected of all children and youth. Under the law, the term "immigrant children and youth" means individuals age 3 through 21 who were not born in the United States and who have not been attending one or more schools in the United States for more than three full academic years.

Click here for more information from the U.S. Department of Education's Website

The American Council on Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL): The Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI)

Presenter: Mr. Duong Bui, Defense Language Institute, Monterey, CA

Duong Bui has worked for the Defense Language Institute foreign Language Center for 30 years. He is currently the chief of the Vietnamese Department. His experience includes curriculum development, Non-resident language representative of the Air Force, Navy and U.S. Marines and Faculty Development Specialist. He has authored several books including " English Language specific for Foreign Fisherman"; English language for Law Enforcement Personnel"; "In Preparation for Interpreter Certification."

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) invited interested participants of the conference to attend the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) orientation. ACTFL is the only national organization dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of all languages at all levels of instruction. According to the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, OPI emphasizes observable and measurable outcomes in terms of real world communication. When a student or a job seeker takes the OPI, its outcome will determined the speaking proficiency level of the individual. Thus, the assigned level will indicate to prospective employers and scholarship granters what this person can and can' do with the language. The OPI's concept will further enhance the skill of curriculum developers and test writers. The presentation will be in English

(note: The following text is from ACTFL's website (click link above, or click here for original source)

Official OPI Testing

The ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview is a world-renowned, standardized method of measuring how well a person speaks a language by comparing his or her performance of specific language tasks with the criteria outlined in the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines-Speaking (Revised 1999).

The ACTFL OPI is widely used to establish levels of language competence for purposes such as teacher certification, qualification for a special job, student placement in language and international business programs. Official ACTFL OPI ratings are accepted for credit at several U.S. undergraduate institutions.

Through a carefully structured, tape-recorded interview that can last from 10 to 30 minutes, a trained OPI tester elicits a ratable sample of speech from an individual. The tester monitors the speech sample during the interview to pitch the 'probes' and 'level-checks' appropriately. Then, after listening to the entire tape, the tester rates the sample by comparing the candidate's performance with the criteria for ten proficiency levels described in the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines-Speaking (Revised 1999). The speech sample is then blindly second rated by a different certified tester.

An Official ACTFL OPI is a blind-double rated test conducted and/or rated under the supervision of the ACTFL Testing Office. It is conducted according to the strictest ethical and professional standards of impartiality and propriety and hence may not be administered to a person with whom the tester is personally acquainted (family, friend, employee, or recent student). Official OPI's are validated and certified by ACTFL through the ACTFL Testing Office, which alone can issue an ACTFL Rating and an ACTFL OPI Certificate. Only currently Certified ACTFL OPI Testers may conduct official ACTFL OPI's.

While the terms 'OPI' or oral proficiency interview exist in academia and other testing environments, and they may even refer to the proficiency levels described in the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, the terms 'ACTFL OPI', 'Official ACTFL OPI', and the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview protocol are the property of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and are restricted.

Language Testing International (LTI), the ACTFL Testing Office, can arrange Official Oral Proficiency Interviews in nearly 40 languages for either individuals or institutions. Interviews are conducted telephonically and in person. Each recorded interview is evaluated and rated by two certified testers. A certificate is issued that states the interviewee's name, language of interview, and official rating. The fee for an official academic ACTFL OPI is $115.

To request and Appointment Form or for scheduling information, contact LTI at (914) 948-5100, fax: (914) 948-0794, or Testing@LanguageTesting.com.

Effective Language and Content Instructional Practices for Southeast Asian American Students

Presenter: Dr. Bounlieng Phommasouvanh

Dr. Bounlieng Phommasouvanh currently serves as Assistant Manager of the Adult Literacy Program of the Minneapolis Public Schools, Minnesota. Prior to this position, he worked as a curriculum specialist and Title I Director of the Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning for 14 years. His previous professional experiences include high school principal, ESL/Bilingual Education teacher, and college professor.

Dr. Bounlieng Phommasouvanh is actively involved in Lao and Southeast Asian American communities. He founded the Association of Positive Promotion of Lao Ethnics of Iowa (APPLE) in 1977. He was instrumental in organizing the Federation of Lao Associations of America and the creation of the Lao PTA of Minnesota.