Putting NAFTA to work in the foreign language classroom

Abstract

In our scramble to incorporate state-of-the-art technology in all classrooms, we overlook product labels, which are useful, authentic cultural artifacts. Package labeling has changed since the the adoption of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): Post-NAFTA bilingual or trilingual labels meet the cognitive and affective needs of novice to intermediate learners as they explore new facets of North American culture. Such labels provide informal exposure to the second language, as well as comprehensible linguistic and cultural input. This article describes their use in content-enriched instruction (CEI) in Spanish classes.