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FOREIGN LANGUAGE REPORT

By Jane Irungu

First, a big thank you to all African Language instructors for working collaboratively during the fall in our efforts to strengthen the language program and make it more visible to the university community. To accomplish our goals we did the following during the fall:

  • With the help of staff at EGARC (Ermal Garinger Academic Resource Center), each language has an independent website and a new look. I held a workshop in October on website management. Check out the new sites at:

    The websites will be used as resource centers for students and for other individuals interested in knowing more about our language program.

    The staff at EGARC has also been working with individual instructors to put up digitized audio on the web for the students. This move will make it possible for students to practice anywhere without having to go to the language lab. We thank Jonathan Perkins for this great initiative. Check out EGARC's website http://www.ku.edu/~egarc/diglic/index.html

  • Participated in the annual University "Open House." In cooperation with the ASRC, African Language instructors staffed a booth in the Area Centers tent on October 5. Besides talking to visitors personally, they handed out brochures, flyers, and information sheets detailing the language program.
  • Visited large AAAS classes to talk about what we offer
  • ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) workshop. Naima participated in an intensive ACTFL Oral Proficiency workshop. In November, she held a mini workshop for the rest of the instructors to train them on proficiency testing. Manuals and role-playing cards that she made available will be very useful to instructors.

Proposed spring workshops:

  • Topic 1: "Integrating technology in the classroom to enhance instruction" to be presented by Bill Comer, Director Ermal Garinger Academic Resource Center. KU. Dates: second week of February
  • Topic 2: "Proficiency Oriented instruction" to be presented by Pro. Rosalea Postma-Carttar, Department of Spanish, and Portuguese. Dates: Fourth week of April

Summer Institutes

For African Language instructors:

  • A Certificate program: June 2-20

    Theme: African Language Program Development, Coordination and Evaluation; Teaching Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing Skills in the African Language Classroom

    About the summer 2003 Institute:
    This institute will help prepare African language educators in the vital areas of program development and coordination. It will also train fellows in a number of crucial areas central to the effective design and operation of an African Language Program. African language scholars who are interested in professional development are also encouraged to participate in the institute.

For African Language students:

  • 2003 Arabic Summer institute will be held at Al-khawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco.

Dates: June 1- June 27- (4-week program)
June 1- June 27- (8-week program)

For more information, contact the Program Director; Naima Omar nomar@ku.edu or visit http://www.ku.edu/~arabic/ or contact office of study abroad OSA@ku.edu or visit http://www.ku.edu/~OSA

Other summer Programs

The Summer Cooperative African Language Institute (SCALI) will run summer programs in various African Languages at Ohio University this summer from June 23rd through August 8th. This is an intensive 5-week institute that will provide the equivalent of 1 year of African language instruction with exposure to the culture and traditions associated with the chosen language. SCALI is funded by the US Department of Education and offered collaboratively by the Title VI National Resource Centers for African Language and Area Studies.

Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) at the University of Minnesota

  • July 28- August 1, 2003
    Maximizing Study abroad: Strategies for Language and Culture Learning 2. Material Development for Less Commonly Taught languages 3. Developing Assessments for the second Language Classroom 4. Second language Acquisition: Basics for Teachers.
  • August 4-8
    Styles and strategies -Based instruction Proficiency -Oriented Language instruction and Assessment (POLIA) Immersion 101: An introduction to immersion teaching.
  • August 11-15
    Meeting the challenges of Immersion Education: Special Needs Learners Culture as the Core in the Second Language Classroom Using Technology in the second Language Classroom Visit the CARLA website for in-depth information on these institutes.

Foreign Languages and Area Studies Fellowships

Applications are being invited for Title VI FLAS fellowships for graduate students, funded by the US Department of Education. These fellowships, and important source of funding for the promotion of African Studies, and are awarded to graduate students who are engaged in the study of selected African languages as a part of their academic program.

To read about eligibility requirements and for a list of institutions that have FLAS competitions this year visit http://www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/HEP/iegps/flasf.html

Conferences

The 7th Annual Conference of the African Languages Teachers Association (ALTA) will be held at Indiana University, Bloomington April 10-12, 2003
Theme: Integrating Culture in the African Language Classroom.

The 6th National Conference of the National Council of Organizations of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL) is scheduled for California on May 1-4, 2003. The Conference will be hosted by the University of California, LA. Theme: Focus on the Learner in the LCTLs: Profiles and Prospects. http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/aans/NCOLCTL.html

Other Useful Links

The following are Title VI Language Resource Centers supported by the U.S. Department of Education. Their mission is to improve the teaching and learning of foreign languages by providing professional services and material resources. The Centers also provide annual Summer Institutes on a variety of professional development and research topics.