Professional development
MNTS is volunteer-run, and it still funds its teachers through university degrees, ACTFL certification and Minnesota Department of Education training. The reason is simple: a heritage-language school can only hold students to a recognized proficiency standard if its teachers are trained and certified against that same standard.
The full record
Professional Development & Training
Degrees, ACTFL certification and Minnesota Department of Education training MNTS funds for its teachers. March 2024.
Degrees and instructional methodology
MNTS sponsored teachers through a full undergraduate degree in Tamilology delivered by the Tamil Virtual Academy — content knowledge in the language itself, not just in how to teach it.
A six-session program led by Dr. Anuradha Gopalakrishnan covering how to plan and deliver a second-language lesson: sequencing, pacing, target-language use, and checking for understanding.
A focused workshop on teaching interpretive reading — how to build comprehension of authentic Tamil text rather than translating it word by word.
Hands-on training on grading inside the learning management system so feedback reaches students consistently and quickly.
ACTFL proficiency and assessment
An ACTFL-delivered workshop on conducting and rating the Oral Proficiency Interview — the standard instrument for measuring spoken proficiency.
MNTS funded formal OPI certification so proficiency ratings given to our students are made by certified raters.
Integrated Performance Assessment training led by Megan Budke, covering the interpretive, interpersonal and presentational modes as a single connected assessment.
Ongoing Integrated Performance Assessment training delivered in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota Council on the Teaching of Languages and Cultures.
Minnesota Department of Education training on scoring consistency, so two teachers rating the same student sample arrive at the same result.
Assessment design and administration training led by Ursula Lentz of the Minnesota Department of Education.
Building the field
MNTS teachers contributed to the American Tamil Teachers Association effort that produced a national ACTFL-recognized standard for Tamil — making Tamil the 17th language with an ACTFL national standard.
Teachers build MNTS's own bilingual assessments rather than adapting materials designed for another language.
Building digital assessments in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Education and Extempore, so speaking and writing samples can be captured and scored at scale.
MNTS is working with ACTFL on a writing proficiency instrument for Tamil — an area where no standard test currently exists.
Workshops and scholar sessions
A full-day session with world-language educator Kara Parker on proficiency-oriented instruction, attended by most of the teaching staff.
Teachers meet Tamil scholars — including Pollachi Nasan — to deepen their own command of the language, its literature and its history.
New teachers join the instructional methodology program in their first year, and MNTS funds ACTFL training from there. Write to info@mntamilschool.org.