Friends of Vocational Technical & Agricultural Education,
Nashoba Tech has received a $48,500 grant from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to facilitate a partnership among the language departments of six vocational-technical schools!
Amy St. Arnaud, a Spanish teacher at Nashoba Tech, will lead the effort, which also includes Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School in Danvers, Keefe Regional Technical School in Framingham, Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School in Palmer, Shawsheen Valley Technical High School in Billerica, and Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School in Northampton.
Language instruction at technical schools has in the past two decades become an essential workplace skill in all career fields, making it more important to incorporate the skill into a vocational-technical education to optimize students’ employability skills.
David
Nashoba Tech takes the lead with World Languages
Will facilitate partnership among six schools
Amy St. Arnaud, a Spanish teacher at Nashoba Tech: “Being multilingual and having strong intercultural skills is a career-ready skill that our students need when working in the community.”
WESTFORD — Nashoba Valley Technical High School is taking the lead to better position World Language students for success in the workplace.
Nashoba Tech has received a $48,500 grant from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to facilitate a partnership among the language departments of six vocational-technical schools.
Amy St. Arnaud, a Spanish teacher at Nashoba Tech, will lead the effort, which also includes Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School in Danvers, Keefe Regional Technical School in Framingham, Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School in Palmer, Shawsheen Valley Technical High School in Billerica, and Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School in Northampton.
According to St. Arnaud, the grant will support world-language partnerships for the purposes of supporting leadership, facilitating collaboration, and addressing the insufficient supply of language teachers.
Representatives from the six schools will work together to learn more about best practices through professional development, writing more engaging curricula, and sharing ideas through collaboration.
Language instruction at technical schools – once more of an elective taken by a limited number of students – has in the past two decades become an essential workplace skill in all career fields, making it more important to incorporate the skill into a vocational-technical education to optimize students’ employability skills.
“Being multilingual and having strong intercultural skills is a career-ready skill that our students need when working in the community,” St. Arnaud said. “Our communities are diverse and multilingual, and if our students want to excel in their field, they need these skills. We need a strong World Languages curriculum to help our students grow these skills.”
St. Arnaud also hopes the collaboration will bring more attention to the Massachusetts State Seal of Biliteracy program, which recognizes high-school students who attain high functional and academic levels of proficiency in English and a world language.
Last year saw Nashoba Tech’s first Seal of Biliteracy recipient – 2023 graduate Shantall Beltran of Tyngsborough.
Gabriella White, Nashoba Tech’s director of curriculum, said the grant will allow Nashoba Tech and its five partner schools to join forces to improve employment opportunities for students who excel in world languages.
“World Language teachers in vocational schools often work alone, as departments of one or two,” White said. “This grant will allow them to work together collaboratively to develop curriculum, share ideas and best practices for instruction, and to continue moving students toward earning the Seal of Biliteracy, a credential recognized by employers across many different industries.”
David J. Ferreira
MAVA Communications Coordinator
DavidFerreira
