Speaking of Language

S4E8 - Leah Sweet - Museums and Language Teaching

Leah Sweet, the Lynch Curatorial Coordinator for Academic Programs at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art on Cornell’s campus, discusses how museums can be integrated into language teaching. She also touches on the current Johnson exhibition of contemporary art about the movement of people across the globe.

Learn more about the Johnson Museum, including current, past, and upcoming exhibits, at https://museum.cornell.edu/

S4E7 - Margaret Malone - Language Assessment Literacy

Margaret Malone is the Director of the Assessment and Evaluation Language Resource Center at Georgetown University, a Research Professor at Georgetown, and she is also the Director of ACTFL’s Center for Assessment, Research and Development. She was on campus as part of our monthly LRC Speaker Series and gave a talk titled “What do students and instructors need to understand about language assessment and what do language assessment developers and researchers need to know about students and instructors?” We continue to discuss strategies for overcoming the potential disconnect between test users and test developers in language assessment in this episode.

A video of Meg's talk is available at lrc.cornell.edu/speaker-series and on the LRC's YouTube channel.

S4E6 - Allyssa Ford - 🎶 In the Navy 🎶

Allyssa Ford, a student at Cornell’s S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management, discusses her experience as a linguist for the United States Navy, and her time in their intensive language school as well as working with civilian language analysts in the NSA.

S4E5 - Nisa Burns - Heritage Learning, Multilingualism, and Global Change

Cornell undergraduate Nisa Burns shares her experiences learning multiple Southeast Asian languages and how study abroad has influenced her future aspirations for language revitalization.

S4E4 - Candace Black - State-Level Developments in World Language Education

How does a state government affect language education on a national or global level? Candace Black joins us from the New York State Education Department’s Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages to share her experience. More information about her office and the revisions to the New York State Standards for World Languages can be found at http://nysed.gov/world-languages/. Candace can be reached at candace.black@nysed.gov or 518-473-7505. Learn more about New York's language teachers' association NYSAFLT at https://nysaflt.org.

S4E3 - Edvan Brito - Language Variation, Race, and Migration

Edvan Brito joins us to discuss what the Brazilian settlements called favelas can teach us about how language, race, and geography intersect.

Dr. Brito is Assistant Professor and Director of the Portuguese Program at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He was on Cornell's campus as part of the monthly LRC Speaker Series, and gave a talk titled “Using Social and Cultural Issues to Promote Language Learning and Cultural Awareness: Language Variation, Race, and Migration.”

Watch Dr. Brito's talk here.

S4E2 - Joseph Rhyne & Ryan Hearn - Do You Speak Torfan?

This week, we take a trip to the movies as we investigate how two Cornell PhD students created an alien language for the blockbuster film Captain Marvel. LRC Media Manager Sam Lupowitz speaks with Joseph Rhyne and Ryan Hearn, two PhD candidates in Linguistics at Cornell. Joseph and Ryan created the “ConLang,” or “Constructed Language,” of the planet Torfa for this entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which stars Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson.

S4E1 - I Know What You Did Last Summer

Speaking of Language returns for a new academic year! Cornell LRC Director Angelika Kraemer fills us in on lessons learned during summer travels to conferences, both domestic and international. Media Development Manager Sam Lupowitz remembers by the end that he went on his honeymoon.

Call for chapter submissions to the 2021 Language Center Handbook.

S3E13 - The Importance of Language Learning: An Undergraduate Perspective

Cornell undergraduates Hezekiah Thompson and Justin Kang talk about what they have gained from their language learning experiences, and their advice for incoming freshmen, or any prospective language student.

With this episode, our third season of Speaking of Language comes to an end. We will be back in September with new topics and guests. In the meantime, you can listen to our archived shows on our website at lrc.cornell.edu, on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts. We wish all our listeners a wonderful summer.  

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.