MSI Press Blog

  Alejandra, My Mexican Pen-pal When I was in seventh grade, I developed a strong interest in other cultures. In the 1960s, about the only way for a farm girl to access those cultures was vicariously—through pen-pal. I came across a pen-pal organization, Youth of All Nations, I think it was called, and made full use of its services, acquiring pen-pals in far-flung places, learning about so many different kinds of lives and ways of living, and even began a stamp collection that gathered in so many unique stamps that selling it when stranded for cash and out of work as a young adult helped my young family make it through another few months of struggle. That is how I began an intensive correspondence with Alejandra, a young girl my age from Mexico City. Her letters were vibrant—once I figured out what she meant to say. Her photographs, cards, and even small cultural gifts brought Mexico City alive for me, so alive that I wished that I could understand everything she was talking ab...

  Foreign language education has long struggled with a structural problem: curricula are often built like closed systems. They are carefully sequenced, tightly controlled, and designed to move every learner through the same pathway at the same pace. While such systems provide clarity and administrative simplicity, they rarely reflect the reality of language learning. Language acquisition is not linear. It is uneven, individual, emotional, contextual, and often unpredictable. This is where open architecture curricular design represents an important advance. What Is Open Architecture in a Curriculum? Borrowed from the language of engineering and computing, open architecture refers to systems designed to be modular, flexible, and expandable. Components can be added, replaced, or reorganized without dismantling the entire structure. Applied to foreign language education, an open architecture curriculum does not lock teachers and learners into a rigid sequence of lessons or a single i...

  The second edition of this unique book is coming soon. Watch for it! (Available on pre-order at  MSI Press webstore .) Book description: Diagnostic Assessment provides teachers of foreign-language students working at high levels of language proficiency with tools and techniques for determining gaps in students' knowledge and skills and with suggestions for tasks that can help students. The book is written by an experienced teacher, diagnostic assessor, proficiency tester, and tester trainer. The suggestions are based on work with literally hundreds of students in government language programs. For more posts about Bella and her book, click  HERE . Are you an author concerned about a load of phishing and scams that come your way and might be legitimate offers? Or conversely, do you want to make sure a legitimate offer is actually legitimate and good? Join the free  MSI Press discussion group  on January 11, 2025 as we examine how to tell the difference and explo...