Speaking Of Language

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.

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.  

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.

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.

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

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.

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  

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

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

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/

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.

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.

We are joined by Michelle Cox, Director of Cornell’s English Language Support Office. She talks about the programs they offer to support, empower, and engage international graduate and professional students on campus and in the community.

In our first episode of season 3, we speak with Dr. Jolene Rickard, Director of the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, about the United Nations 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages. In addition to offering some of her own personal history, Dr. Rickard talks about the benefits of honoring and learning about the language and culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and the world. Access the Speak Cayuga app here.

In our final episode of the season, Uttiyo Raychaudhuri, executive director of Cornell’s Office of Global Learning, discusses the importance of promoting global citizenship and international engagement. Listen to this important and moving episode! We will be back in the new year with new topics and guests. In the meantime, you can listen to our archived shows on our website or on iTunes. We wish all our listeners a wonderful holiday season.

Today, we welcome Christian Hilchey to our studio. Dr. Hilchey is a lecturer in the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies at the University of Texas, Austin and was a part of our LRC Speaker Series this semester. He gave a talk last week titled “Open Media and the Next Frontier in Open Education,” and we extend our conversations about open education and open-source software solutions on our podcast. The resources Christian mentioned in today’s conversation (and then some) are listed on this handout: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j0fSo3BYDLYtYbe-m5fEGxxPh5xA9-JjGcTGg2ua038/edit

Members of Cornell’s student organization Language Expansion Program discuss the importance of language learning on campus in a comfortable, encouraging environment. Their weekly event Language Corner takes place at the Language Resource Center in Stimson Hall G27.

Stéphane Charitos, Language Resource Center director at Columbia University, discusses current national trends in language study and suggests four practical recommendations that can help uphold visibility and the importance of world language education in the U.S. The reports Stéphane references can be found here: American Academy of Arts & Sciences report: Commission on Language Learning. The American Academy of Arts & Sciences. (2016). The state of languages in the U.S.: A statistical portrait. Retrieved from https://www.amacad.org/multimedia/pdfs/publications/researchpapersmonographs/State-of-Languages-in-US.pdf National K-12 foreign language enrollment survey: American Councils for International Education (2017). The national K-12 foreign language enrollment survey report. Retrieved from https://www.americancouncils.org/sites/default/files/FLE-report-June17.pdf MLA enrollment report: Looney, D., & Lusin, N. (2018). Enrollments in languages other than English in United States institutions of hig

Patsy Lightbown, Distinguished Professor Emerita in Applied Linguistics at Concordia University, joins our podcast to discuss form-focused instruction and the balance between form-focused and meaning-focused learning activities.

In this episode, Jeremy Thompson, Research Associate and Lecturer in Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, shares his experience with Jumpstart and Foreign Languages Across the Curriculum courses.