Discussion of Grants, Grant Writing, and Grant Requirements

Notes on how to go about grant writing gleaned from an interview with a successful grant writer (Barb Harvey, Chairperson of the Department of Foreign Languages, Highland Park High School, District 113, in the northern suburbs of Chicago for a grant received in 2007.

FLAP (Foreign language assistance programs) Grants can be for:

Critical (e.g., Mandarin Chinese)
Non-Critical Need Languages

To procure a FLAP Grant for a non-critical need language, it would be necessary to show evidence of or
a good amount of the following as final outcomes:

Community service
Usage of technology like “Skype” for international pen-pal situations
Other uses of technology to ensure enhancement of communicative language activities
Access for students to the following types of activities (please note that many of them come with lesson plans of a variety of degrees of difficulty for easy use by teachers):
- Audio and/or Video Streaming
- World Language TV (e.g., TV5: French TV)
- BBC
- Deutsche Welle
- Radio France
- Miscellaneous L2 TV and Radio Broadcasting

Importance of being “on board” with the goals of the Grant:

Teachers must believe that by more exposure to authentic/native speakers, that the above will enhance
the education and improvement of the communicative abilities of their students. Access to this provides
something that a teacher is not capable of doing on his/her own.

Overall Goals of the Grant:

The main goal provided by the grant is a total enhancement of the communicative skills of students in L2. Access to all of this media increases production of it in the classroom. The ultimate goal is to have the students communicating 100% of the time in the target language.

Partnerships:

In preparing for the Grant, thought should be given to “partnerships,” be they with educational institutions like the local university or with community organizations like: Rotary International, the Chamber of Commerce, and/or sister cities. The more global the involvement, the better!

Dollar for dollar:

It must be remembered that, in procuring a grant, that the local school district is responsible for matching the grant allowance dollar for dollar!

Creativity is the word that comes to mind when thinking about the matching of monies dollar for dollar. Here are some examples of what may count as matching the grant amount dollar for dollar:

Salaries:
- of the teaching staff
- of the physical plant people involved in setting up the lab
- of the supervision staff
The cost of the utilities to operate the facility

Space:

Barb Harvey felt that this is an important consideration when applying for a grant. She stated that there
should either be a ready space or a space, which may be converted for use.

AN ASIDE FROM ASC:
In the experience of the experts at ASC, space is not a subject of concern. There are great portable (wireless) solutions such as the ReLANpro (which requires student computers) and the Onic (which does not require student computers). There is also the Voyager as well!

Please feel free to contact us for pedagogical philosophy regarding the use of a language lab if necessary or to request any information about our systems. We can include costs to include with your grant application given the number of student positions you desire.

Grants may also be written for courseware. We will be glad to send information about networked EuroTalk, Europe’s best selling courseware, available in over 115 languages.

We, at ASC, wish you great success in procuring your language lab and/or courseware. We always appreciate hearing from you after receiving your funding so that you can share your expertise with your fellow educators.

Regards,

Carla K. Newton
Sales/Customer Support Specialist

and

Richard J. Koerner
Pedagogical Customer Support

GS-35-F0228U

Part 1: a list of helpful sites