Global Competence Certificate for Heritage Language Speakers | Award Ceremony and Student Presentations

Please join the World Affairs Council and our co-sponsors in celebration of our Global Competence Certificate for heritage language speakers. As part of a unique grant from Washington State's Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), heritage language speakers of Romanian, Russian, and Spanish embarked on a year long journey to develop their language proficiency and global competence. We will be recognizing students who have completed language proficiency testing to quality for the State Seal of Biliteracy and Global Seal of Biliteracy. Students from all three languages will also have the opportunity to share highlights of their Global Competence Certificate Portfolio.

Keynote Speaker: We are delighted that a student from Lake Washington School District, Santoshi Pisupati, will be our featured keynote speaker. Santoshi began working on her Global Competence Portfolio early during the COVID-10 pandemic in spring of 2020. She officially earned the Global Competence Certificate in May 2021 at the World Citizen Essay Contest Awards Ceremony. She'll be speaking to what it means for young people to be global citizens and what it means to her personally.

About the Program:

In August 2020, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Migrant/Bilingual Department awarded a first-ever Heritage Language Program Grant to Evergreen Public Schools in Vancouver, WA, to develop a year-long remote-learning program for Heritage Language speakers of Romanian, Russian, and Spanish. The project has supported the students to develop their language proficiency and literacy in their Heritage Language while also preparing a portfolio for the Global Competence Certificate in the Heritage Language (and English too, if they like) through the World Affairs Council in Seattle. Upon completion of the program, students also had the opportunity to complete World Language Competency-Based Credit testing to earn high school credits in their language and potentially qualify for the Washington State Seal of Biliteracy.  A number have also qualified for the Global Seal of Biliteracy https://theglobalseal.com/.

Cosponsored by the World Affairs Council Global Classroom Program. Ethnic Heritage Council, American Romanian Cultural Society, University of Washington Center for Global Studies. Grant sponsored by Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and Evergreen Public Schools.