Establish an atmosphere of a Town Meeting in the classroom; assign four students to read and explain (they may need some assistance) the Crawford rationales for preserving/restoring lost or endangered languages. Then divide the class into at least four small groups, and have them discuss one or the other of the rationales, and construct additional support for the rationale through both reason, and where possible, by use of computers (some keywords: endangered languages, global languages, globalization and languages; social conscience, social ethics). Given reasonable time, then ask the students to present their findings, argue their case (in some cases they will be arguing against Crawford-and that is OK). The teacher should then help the students to separate the difference between logical/rational argument, and political expedience/reality.

When the students have completed this section of the activity, the teacher might distribute copies of the excerpt from the Declaration of Linguistic Rights (1996) (the internet citation above would provide the full text and that could be distributed). Have the students examine the declaration's rationale and first Article, and have them evaluate whether this declaration would meet the major idea of Crawford's fourth argument. Another key application is how this particular declaration might be applied to the most recent events in the Serbian-Kosovo conflict. What implications might it hold for the Israeli-Palestinian discussions? What other situations around the world may also involve language disputes?