DISCOURSE & REPARTÉE
ACTFL By Anna Bellersen, MA TFL German Candidate With graduation approaching and the state of the FL education job market looking bleak, several of my colleagues and I packed into a car and headed to the 2009 ACTFL convention in San Diego last November, hoping to network, learn about innovations in language teaching, and maybe get a peek at the beach. The convention theme was ―Speaking Up For Languages The Power of Many Voices.‖ Steve Hildebrand, the keynote speaker, riled the crowd of several thousand into a pro-language learning frenzy by first admitting that he couldn‘t remember anything he learned from high school Spanish classes and expressing his shame. He then touched Leo van Lier, Anna Bellersen, on the lack of focus on foreign language education today and outlined how his sucNancy Grabow, Caroline Fuchs cessful grassroots campaign for Barack Obama could serve as a guide for an ACTFLlead campaign to ―speak up for languages.‖ After the unveiling of ACTFLs new social networking and resource-sharing site, I left my MIIS colleagues and went to the first German session. The rest of the weekend flew by in a blur of workshops and panel sessions on integrating technology into language learning, introducing linguistic variation into classrooms, practical tips for motivating learners and, my favorite, a se- Inside this issue: ries of presentations on teaching cultural variation through modern music. Between sessions, I met with members of the American Association of Teachers of German, colleagues from previous schools, newfound friends with similar teaching interests, and representatives from several exchange and study abroad organizations. I gained valuable knowledge about the job market and my options, gathered resources for students and MIIS colleagues in the German language classes, and gained a sense of belonging in the German teaching community. I also joined the ranks of teachers fighting for German programs across the U.S., signing petitions and writing letters to administrators, officials and schools considering cancelling programs. Imagine the occasional loneliness of being the only student in your ―department.‖ Imagine watching your student teaching mentor cry while she tells you that your language is being discontinued in her school. Now imagine walking into a room with over one hundred other people who believe that your chosen language is worth teaching. People who are striving and working together to support programs all over the U.S. People who are choosing to fight against closures by making their programs stronger, even as they face imminent budget cuts. That is the energy, the drive and the passion that we TFL students learn to bring to our teaching, and that we are going to have to bring to our advocacy, as we continue to speak up for languages.
SPRING 2010
ACTFL
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Lecture Series
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Career Fair & Note from the Dean
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What‘s New? MIIS Around the World, B.U.I.L.D., LPA
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Current students‘ projects CATESOL, RPCVs & PCMI
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Faculty Updates
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Alumni Updates
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DISCOURSE & REPARTÉE
Lecture Series By David Chiesa MA TESOL & LPA Certificate Candiate The Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Educational Linguistics Dean‘s Lecture Series has begun, with lectures and workshops from Language Education, Translation & Interpretation, and Localization Management professionals. Prof. Susan Conrad, MIIS alumna (MATESOL ‘87), returned to MIIS for an invigorating discussion and hands-on workshop on Corpus Linguistics and Concordancing. She introduced current websites and software resources for researching and teaching vocabulary and grammar. Prof. Derewianka, the second guest lecturer, discussed how language is used to express feelings, persuade others to our point of view, judge peoples' behavior, and moderate our expression of attitude. We‘re looking forward to upcoming presentations (see schedule below). Some of the TESOL / TFL presentations were recorded and are available online. Handouts from some of the speakers are also posted. For details and access to these materials email Lynn Goldstein at lynng@miis.edu.
Beverly Dariwanka Susan Conrad
Beverly Derewianka
GSTILE SPRING LECTURE SERIES
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Speaker
Date
Title
Lecture / Workshop
Susan Conrad
February 12/13
Corpus Linguistics Workshop
Workshop
Beverly Derewianka
February 19
Lecture
Lynn Vission
March 5-7
GETTING PERSONAL: Using language to engage with readers to express feelings, persuade others to our point of view, judge peoples' behavior, and moderate our expression of attitude Conference Terminology and Procedures
Shirley Brice Heath
March 19
Lecture
Peter Bush
April 1
Moving the human eye and mind: Visual, musical, and literary arts in grounding cognition The Shock of the New: Translating a Classic
Ulrike Irmler
April 5
Anne Lafeber
April 9/10
Matt Poehner
April 16
Dynamic Assessment
Kumaravadivelu
April 30
Language and Identity
(Open to all students of all languages) Windows Localization – Language for Worldwide and Local Audiences Translating for International Organizations: The Inside Scoop
Monterey Institute of International Studies
Workshop
Lecture Lecture April 9 –Lecture April 10 – Workshop Interactive Lecture / Workshop Interactive Lecture and Discussion
SPRING 2010
MIIS Career Fair For the first time, an institute-wide career fair was organized by the Institute‘s new Center for Advising and Career Services. The Center, launched last spring, combines the traditionally separate functions of academic and career advising into a comprehensive campus resource intended to ensure students receive a constant flow of support, advice, and training from the day they register to the day they graduate. Ranging from local non-profits to global corporations, participating employers included government agencies such as the U.S. Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency, private sector leaders such as Apple and Facebook, and NGOs such as Catholic Relief Services and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Employers such as the Defense Language Institute, the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy, UC Riverside and Monte Vista Christian School were hiring MA TESOL/TFL students and alumni. ―We‘re extremely pleased with this year‘s fair,‖ commented Institute President Sunder Ramaswamy. ―The strong turnout from employers speaks to the value they place on the kind of cross-cultural, cross-sectoral professional skills that Institute graduates acquire.‖ Students introduced themselves to employers at booths throughout the conference center‘s expansive Serra Room, learning about job opportunities, dropping off resumes, and setting interview times. Workshop panels during the day featured Institute alumni talking about their professional experiences and offering tips on launching a career, networking, and advanced career strategies. The daylong fair finished up with a networking reception for students and employers.
Note from the Dean
We‘re eight months into our new ―structure‖: the Graduate School of Translation, Interpre- Renee Jourdenais, PhD tation, and Language Education and it probaDean, Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, bly goes without saying that it‘s been busy! For all of you involved in any type of proand Language Education gram administration, I‘m sure you can appreciate the challenges of learning about new faculty, new curricula, and new students…all while a new semester gets underway. I‘m happy to say that we‘re surviving -- and perhaps even thriving. Enrollments are good and our classrooms are full. We really didn‘t feel the economic crunch as drastically as did many other institutions. (The benefits of NOT having a billion dollar endowment finally became evident!) But we really do need and appreciate your support, so if you feel you can afford to share a little with us – and you‘ve probably noticed that we‘ve finally learned how to send those little envelopes out – please do so. The full merger with Middlebury draws near. We will become ―a graduate school of Middlebury College‖ in June and are looking forward to another round of letterhead and business card changes. All‘s going well with our East Coast colleagues. We‘re learning that Skype works well for our cross-continental meetings, becoming accustomed to thinking in both Pacific and Eastern time, and enjoying the climate changes inherent in our visits. We‘re also, of course, and most importantly, talking about new possibilities that the merger may bring. I‘m particularly intrigued by opportunities that may be available at Midd‘s study abroad sites for LPA internships, TFL coursework, and non-degree program offerings (e.g., ESL, teacher training, and English for Diplomats). One of our first combined Midd-MIIS ventures, the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy (MMLA) for juniorand high-school students, is about to head into its third year and it‘s doing extremely well. Students and parents are singing its praises, coming back summer after summer, and we‘re expanding to new sites – as well as adding German to the language offerings (thanks to the hard work of Anna Bellerson, MATFL ‘10). As you read through this newsletter, you‘ll hear about some of the other activities that have been keeping us busy. We‘ve also just begun blogging, with the help of Sarah Springer (MATESOL, CALL 03), so please also check us out at http://blogs.miis.edu/gstile/. And please stay in touch. We love to hear from you!
MA TESOL / TFL Program
3
DISCOURSE & REPARTÉE
What’s New? The Monterey Institute is launching an initiative to collect 500 stories that highlight our multicultural identity, academic and professional achievements, and global impact. Whether you are a student, alum, faculty or staff member, help us achieve this goal by contributing your story! Stories should capture the essence of the MIIS experience, how it has motivated you beyond the classroom and shaped who you are today. By submitting a written or digital story, you will have the opportunity to publish and promote your story to our web audience. All stories will appear on MIIS Around the World, an interactive map located on http://www.miis.edu. This map illustrates how our global community remains united in its spirit of innovation and commitment to be the solution. Selected stories will also be featured on the homepage. Each story serves as a personal webpage that you can share with family, friends, professional contacts, and potential employers. For story inspiration and details about how to participate, please visit http://www.miis.edu/community/world/ contribute or email miisstories@gmail.com. To check out the new GSTILE blog go to http://blogs.miis.edu/gstile.
The LPA Certificate as a single endeavor By Peter Hall LPA Certificate Candidate After years of teaching French and Spanish in a public high school north of Boston, I found myself as the head of a language department of 15 teachers of six languages. Although I was able to learn much of what I needed on the job, there were some areas for which I felt unprepared.
LPA Certificate
The LPA certificate at MIIS was a unique program that was specific to administration Courses Available within a language context that could give me the credentials and foundation I was Online this Summer: lacking. As I already held a Master‘s Degree in Spanish and a teaching certificate from the State of Massachusetts, I was in a unique position as the majority of LPA Intro to LPA certificate candidates are typically enrolled in a Master‘s program at MIIS, this required some creative solutions to complete the program. Fortunately, two of the Language Teacher required courses are offered online, Intro to LPA and Language Teacher Education, Education which I was able to complete from Boston while teaching. Dr. Kathi Bailey also orchestrated the opportunity to take Language Teacher Supervision via SKYPE during the fall semester. Although we had a few technological glitches, taking the course via SKYPE was advantageous because I could apply what I was learning in class directly to my job. By completing three courses prior to arriving in Monterey, I was able to take a one semester leave of absence from my job to come to MIIS to complete the certificate program. The LPA certificate program prepares students to administer language programs or schools. It includes courses in teacher education and supervision, budgeting, accounting, and marketing. The LPA certificate is not offered by any other TESOL program in the US. Upcoming available courses are Language Teacher Education and Introduction to Language Program Administration. Contact us at gstlle@miis.edu if you or one of your colleagues is interested in enrolling.
B.U.I.L.D.—Beyond yoUrself In Language Development By Sky Lantz-Wagner MA TESOL & PCMI Candidate “Many Paths...One Direction” A new language club at MIIS In the fall of 2009, Sky Lantz-Wagner and several of his classmates organized a club at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) designed to provide graduate students with the opportunity to learn entry-level foreign languages. During the fall semester nearly 40 students, mostly from the TESOL/TFL program took classes in 10 languages. In the spring of 2010, the club was promoted on a larger scale via the school's official clubs and activities fair and currently has nearly 80 students. Languages offered include Arabic, Chinese, Chinese/Kanji Characters, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean , Russian, and Spanish. (Please see the schedule of each Friday‘s classes —> )
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Monterey Institute of International Studies
SPRING 2010 2010 SPRING
Current Students CATESOL We have a number of students presenting at the April conference. Here‘s a sampling of some of their abstracts: Kathleen Bailey, David Chiesa, and Ryan Damerow: Dialogue journals have the ability to facilitate the development of new knowledge and awarenesses on the part of both students and teachers. At this session, participants will gain an understanding of how dialogue journals provide a new perspective in promoting language and culture learning through scaffolded interaction. David Chiesa: This inspirational session will show how language teachers can do more than teach language. Each of us has the ability in the choices we make both inside and outside of the classroom to change attitudes, beliefs, and lives. Amber Vanderwoude: This study explores student and teacher perceptions of the identities of Japanese students studying English in California. Students‘ written reflections, the teacher‘s journal, and classroom recordings were analyzed for patterns revealing students‘ identities. Differences were found in student and teacher perceptions of identities and in students‘ identities throughout the course. Heather Elze Dryden : ―Moving‖ Towards English with the Total Physical Response Method! This dynamic demonstration will explore the benefits of integrating the TPR method into elementary school curriculum, and will provide participants with tools and resources to design TPR activities suited to their classrooms. Participants will gain concrete examples of TPR activities, extension activities, suggested resources, and ways to motivate their students. Jennifer Hickey: Successful multilinguals: How willing to communicate are they? Why are some language learners more successful than others? Is willingness to communicate in the L2 a requisite for successful language acquisition? This study examines the views and experiences of high-level multilinguals to determine what tactics they utilized while learning their non-native languages. Implications for language teaching will be shared. Erin Strickland: Teaching in an ESL program last summer, I found myself asking my students to something that I would hate to do in my second language: extensive reading. Therefore, I studied my own attitudes and perceptions of learning through keeping a diary as I read in French for eight weeks.
PCMI Returnees & Packages By Heather Kokesch MA TESOL, PCMI & LPA Certificate Candidate This past Fall the MA TESOL program was re-graced with the presence of three of its returned Peace Corps Master‘s International (PCMI) students: David Chiesa, Ryan Damerow and Heather Kokesch. The three returned Peace Corps volunteers (RPCVs) were previously serving as tertiary-level education volunteers teaching English. David and Ryan served in China, while Heather served in the Philippines from 2007-2009. The three returned in the Summer of 2009 and began classes last Fall. Spring 10 will be their last semester at MIIS all three are MA TESOL and LPA certificate candidates. Current PCMI students in the field include Kristina Swamy serviing in China, Mica Tucci serving in El Salvador, and Kristine Balderelli serving in Kazakhstan. The GSTILE office has made a point to send them holiday cards, care packages, and most recently valentines. As it has become tradition to send packages to our volunteering students once again we were able to solicit assistance from local businesses such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe‘s to assist in sending out some pretty hearty packages. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to these packages to help support our PCMI students for all of their selfless service.
MA TESOL / TFL Program
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DISCOURSE & REPARTÉE
Faculty Updates Lynn Goldstein has returned full time from sabbatical this year and is now the program chair for the TESOL and TFL MA programs. She is currently working on several projects , focusing on folklinguistics, second language writing feedback and revision processes, and a critical look at research on feedback and revision . Her paper ―Finding ‗theory‘ in the particular : An ‗autobiography‘ of what I learned and how about teacher feedback‖ was just published in Practicing Theory in Second Language Writing (Tony Silva and Paul Matsuda [eds.]). John Hedgcock’s recent professional activities include the completion of Teaching Readers of English: Students, Texts, and Contexts, co-authored with Dana Ferris and published by Routledge in March 2009. John and his coauthor were honored to receive the 2009 David E. Eskey Award for Curricular Innovation as a result of this publication. John pursued his interest in L2 literacy education by presenting on that topic at the 2009 TESOL Convention in Denver and by co-teaching a course on ESL/EFL reading instruction at American University in July. In addition, he co-presented on his ongoing heritage language research at the American Association for Applied Linguistics meeting in Denver. With co-author Natalie Lefkowitz, he completed a chapter on academic literacy development among heritage students, to be published in the forthcoming volume, Learning to Write and Writing to Learn in an Additional Language, edited by Rosa Manchón. John‘s chapter on theory and practice in L2 writing instruction also recently appeared in Practicing Theory in Second Language Writing, edited by Paul Matsuda and Tony Silva. Having completed his final year as member of the TOEFL Committee of Examiners, John continues to serve on the Editorial Advisory Board of TESOL Quarterly. Kathi Bailey traveled to the United Arab Emirates this spring to give a plenary presentation and another talk at the TESOL Arabia Conference. She also gave a workshop on classroom research with Dr. David Nunan (Anaheim University) and organized a colloquium on research on the teaching and learning of English in the Arab world. Dr. Bailey will also give a plenary presentation at the TESOL Convention in Boston (again with Dr. Nunan and Dr. Andy Curtis at the Chinese University of Hong Kong). In September, 2009, she was elected president and Chairman of the Board og Trustees of TIRF – The International Research Foundation for English Language Education (www.tirfonline.org).
Leo van Lier has a new book… This book is the result of a decade-long effort in school districts to implement challenging instruction that is designed for classrooms that include English learners and that raises the bar and increases engagement for all learners. Classroom vignettes, transcripts of student interactions, and detailed examples of intellectually engaging middle school and high school lessons provide a concrete picture of the instructional approach developed by co-author Aida Walqui.
Patricia Szasz Director of the Institute's Intensive English Programs, will become Chair for the IEP level at this spring's CATESOL conference. She'll also be presenting "Top Ten Things Every New Language Program Administrator Should Know," which she co-authored with Dean Jourdenais. She's happy to report that the Monterey Institute will once again host the Fulbright Pre-Academic Program this summer. ESL will also be welcoming its first group of scholarship recipients from the Iraqi Education Initiative. These students will study up to one year of English before moving on to graduate degrees in the States.
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Monterey Institute of International Studies
SPRING 2010
Alumni Updates Sarah Young (MA TESOL 02) who works at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) in Washington DC, has helped to design an online training-of-trainers course titled, ―Adult English Language Acquisition for Teacher Trainers.‖ There are currently 18 adult ESL teacher trainers from around the country participating in this 6week course. The goal of the program is to provide the participants with a foundation in SLA content and some good practices for being teacher trainers so that they can go out and deliver their own professional development workshops on SLA in their home states. Sarah is one of four CAL instructors facilitating the course. Her module is on ―Connecting Theory to Practice.‖ In addition, Sarah will begin a doctoral program in the fall. Rebecca Present-Thomas (MATESOL 07) has started a PhD program at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. Her research project focuses on the Common European Framework of Reference and specifically on trying to expand the descriptors for the upper levels (B2C2) with regards to the specific written language skills that English language learners (should) have mastered at each level. She is also interested in exploring whether or not there are, in fact, several different "paths" that ELLs may take as they become more proficient speakers of English.
Kevin Jepson (MA TESOL 02) designs assessments and curricula for English language learners. He has contracts with CTB/McGraw-Hill, National Geographic, and Second Language Testing, Inc. At CTB, Kevin is working on an automated conversation assessment. As a part-time instructor at Monterey Peninsula College, Kevin enjoys bringing the community into the classroom and working with students on their speaking logs and language collections. Gary Sosa (MA TESOL 89) has been a FT faculty member of the ESL department at Palomar College for the past 5 years. I am also serving as the college's BSI (Basic Skills Initiative) co-coordinator and Title V Hispanic Serving Institution Activity Director. Frank Everson (MA TFL 03) and Keri Toma (MA TFL 03) are currently in San Antonio, TX. Frank is the Command Language Officer overseeing all language training for the US Army South. Keri is teaching Japanese at the University of Texas at San Antonio and Northwest Vista College, where she started the college's first-ever Japanese Program in the fall of 2008. Julie Vorholt, (MA TESOL 00) is teaching full-time in the Academic English Studies (AES) program at Lewis & Clark College in Portland. She is also mentoring new full-time and adjunct faculty, advising students, revising/updating curriculum, developing and more. She also enjoys freelance ESL/EFL materials writing, as time permits. Britt Johnson (MA TESOL 02) has been working at a non-profit Community Center in a culturally diverse, urban neighborhood on the north side of Chicago. She started there as an ESL teacher, and was demoted through the ranks to administration. The latest earned responsibilities include, by far the most rewarding, directing a Family Literacy Program in which students receive both ESL instruction and parent education, while their toddlers experience 'Creative Curriculum' activity with highly qualified Early Childhood Education staff. Lucky to be able to bring her own child there, she gets to experience daily the cacophony of languages and the somehow unexpected similarity of joyful expressions of several children from 10-20 different countries, learning and growing together.
Please let us know what you are up to!
MA TESOL / TFL Program
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MIIS Around the World
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