Speaking of Language

S3E12 - Charlene Polio - Language Difficulty

Charlene Polio discusses facts and myths about the challenges of language learning, and suggests strategies for framing the learning process, whether your students are motivated or anxious.

Dr. Polio is Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic, Asian & African Languages at Michigan State University, where she teaches in the Master’s Degree Program in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and also in the Second Language Studies Program. She gave a talk last week as part of our monthly LRC Speaker Series titled “Are Some Languages Really More ‘Difficult’ to Learn?” and we will extend our conversation about language difficulty on our podcast.

S3E11 - Amanda Seewald - Early Language Learning, Music, and Advocacy

Amanda Seewald of Learning Kaleidoscope grew up in a monolingual household. By the time she was in college, she was advocating for language education in Washington, D.C. Later on, she founded Maracas, a homegrown language immersion program that uses music and rhythm to teach Spanish to young learners. This week, we hear her story, and learn about what you can do to help build a global, multilingual future.

S3E10 - Sarah Mercer - Teacher Wellbeing

Sarah Mercer discusses the importance of teacher wellbeing for effective language teaching and offers concrete steps for preventing burnout.

Sarah discusses the “Greater Good in Action” website in her interview; that can be viewed here: https://ggia.berkeley.edu/

Donations in memory of Dan Gaibel can be made to Hospicare of Ithaca, https://www.hospicare.org/. Dan also established a GoFundMe to support his young son: https://www.gofundme.com/khm42-dan

S3E9 - Sara Lee - Language Learning and Dyslexia

Sara Lee talks about language learning and dyslexia and offers helpful suggestions for supporting dyslexic learners in and outside the classroom.

Learn more about the Orton-Gillingham Approach Sara mentions and check out this recent article about Dyslexia, Bilingualism, and Learning a Second Language.

S3E8 - Daniel Bass - Music Across Cultures

We speak with Daniel Bass, of Cornell’s South Asia Program, and host of WRFI’s Monsoon Radio, about music, cultures, and languages.

For more information on Daniel's show, visit the links below:

https://www.facebook.com/MonsoonRadioWRFI/

https://www.radiofreeamerica.com/show/monsoon-radio-w-daniel-bass-wrfi-community-radio

 

S3E7 - Theresa Schenker - Telecollaboration and Intercultural Learning

Theresa Schenker discusses the benefits of telecollaborative photo exchanges for language learning and intercultural competence.

S3E6 - K-12 Outreach and Language and Culture Learning

Brenna Fitzgerald, Arbias Llolluni, and Thamora Fishel talk about the Afterschool Language and Culture Program that is offered through Cornell’s Area Studies Centers in the Einaudi Center and the Public Service Center. The program provides opportunities for Cornell undergraduate and graduate students to share their knowledge of a language and culture with curious students from local schools.

If you are interested in getting involved as a foreign language teacher volunteer or school partner, please contact the Program Manager at outreach@einaudi.cornell.edu.

https://seap.einaudi.cornell.edu/afterschool-language-and-culture-program

S3E5 - Andrew Campana - Gaming, Poetry, and New Media

Andrew Campana joins us to share his research into audio games, cinepoems, and other boundary-breaking forms of media emanating from Japan. Dr. Campana and the LRC’s Sam Lupowitz discuss the ways in which media and literature can be reimagined to communicate ideas in new ways, to previously overlooked communities.

More information on Dr. Campana and his work can be found at the links below:

https://asianstudies.cornell.edu/poets-artists-game-makers-and-new-media

https://asianstudies.cornell.edu/andrew-campana

Andrew’s articles referenced in the episode can be found at the following link:

https://killscreen.com/articles/real-sound-audiogames-blindness-shadow-history-gaming/

S3E4 - Mona Eikel-Pohen - Language Learning and Disabilities

Mona Eikel-Pohen joins our podcast to talk about language learning and disabilities and some strategies and considerations for creating inclusive classrooms.

Her article titled “Assessing Disability-Inclusive Language Teaching Methods with Multimodality and Universal Design Principles” will appear in the spring issue (52.1) of the AATG journal Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German.

A brief description of the seven principles of Universal Design Mona mentions on the episode can be found at deploy.lrc.cornell.edu/sol/7principles.pdf.

A full text transcription of this episode can be found at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mBaFsh1ereF0wy1kwQ3spDii6tjzBdR4BShydgVipmw/edit?usp=sharing.

S3E3 - Shared Course Initiative

The Shared Course Initiative uses high-definition videoconferencing to connect language classrooms at Cornell, Columbia, and Yale. By sharing instruction across three sites, the SCI increases the number of languages available at each university. Listen to the language center directors of these three universities (Columbia’s Stephane Charitos, Yale’s Nelleke Van Deusen-Scholl, and your host, Angelika Kraemer) discuss the SCI and what it takes to make this cross-institutional collaboration work.