SEALL 2002

conference schedule 


The SEALL 2002 annual conference is hosted by The Lovett School

Friday April 5, 2002

4:00 pm -4:45 pm

Latest and Greatest Software Programs

I will demonstrate programs which have been released in the last year. Which programs will be shown will depend on the interest of the participants. We have software for elementary school children to adult in many languages, from beginning level to advanced and business. Recent releases include: Standard Deviants Spanish, Antidote MP in French, ROME - Caesar's Will, Exercise Generator Plus, Harry Potter CD-ROM in French, German and Spanish, New Version of the Grammar Tutor - now in French, Spanish, German, Latin and English for Spanish Speakers, New Version of the Diccionario del Uso de EspaÒol de Maria Moliner and Ser/Estar y El Futuro, to name a few. The objective will be to give at least a brief overview of as many programs as possible, time permitting.

Cindy Shapiro Tracy, President, World of Reading, Ltd.

4:45 pm -5:10 pm

INTERNEF.and French cultural programming

This session is mainly designed for French instructors and lab directors. We will present a selection of educational and cultural programming from France available free of charge through the AV bureau of the French Cultural Services in New Orleans. These programs are relayed by over 40 educational and PBS stations, and are available for use in the classroom. Hundreds of teachers across the U.S. have participated in workshops to create classroom exercises for these programs. Detailed descriptions of these shows, as well as related teacher exercises and details on how TV stations can relay these programs, are available on the French Cultural Services website: www.frenchculture.org/education/teaching

In addition we will present the resources available to French teachers through the web site INTERNEF.

Karine Larcher, Attaché Linguistique, The French Consulate in Atlanta & Marc Mallet, Lab Director, The Lovett School

4:00- 4:50 Does Technology Enhance Learning?

Is technology necessary in today's classroom? What can you do with it? The presentation will show how two instructors deliver worksheets, vocabulary activities, games, self tests, and PowerPoint presentations through WebCT, a course delivery system, and Quia, a Web site that allows one to create their own activities, quizzes, and Web pages without having to take a single technology workshop. Students have responded favorably to accessing classroom material from any computer terminal to prepare for tests and quizzes. Preliminary indications are that those students who consistently use these materials tend to do better than those who do not use the materials afforded to them on the Web.

Georgia Schlau, Director of the Language Resource Center, and Karen Berg, Instructor, The College of Charleston

6:00-7:00

Reception in the Board Room, followed by dinner in a local restaurant

Saturday April 6, 2002

8:00-8:50 Riding Together, or Sharing the Wheel instead of Re-inventing it

Once in a while, a language teacher walks into my office and says, "I want to do something really cutting edge and cool with technology." He or she has perhaps heard of a PowerPoint presentation done by a professor in the Business School, or an interactive software program being used for the introductory math course. There are, of course, two problems inherent in this statement. First, the assumption that technology used for its own sake is useful or "cool." It surely goes without saying here that this is not the case. Second, the assumption that what works for math or business will work just as well for language teaching is just as false.

Yet there are lessons to be learned from what is being used across campus or across the hallway. And many of us do not have (or take) the time to tap into resources and ideas from across our institutions. In this presentation I will discuss specific ways to research, evaluate, and implement ideas and technologies from across my institution for language teaching and learning. It is my hope that what I present can act as a model for the SEALL audience.

Gamin Bartle, University of Alabama

9:00-9:50 Online Lab Orientations

On-line Lab Orientations

One of the most time-consuming and intrusive activities that are undertaken in Labs each semester are the orientations sessions for new students on how to use the Lab services .and facilities. At the University of Miami we use to have to close the Lab for about four weeks at the beginning of each semester in order to conduct orientation sessions to the various language classes. We have now created an on-line orientation program which can be accessed individually by students, either at the Lab or remotely, and which precludes the need to close the Lab during orientation sessions. The program consists of web-pages that contain information, instructions and screen captures on the various available programs. Students click for their specific courses and are guided through all the material that are available for that course. User surveys show a strong overall favorable reaction to the program but have also identified certain problem areas which we can now correct.

Rachida Salama Primov, University of Miami

10:00-10:50 Music for the Spanish Classroom

These web pages and the accompanying audio CD were made possible by a grant from Middlebury College's Center for Educational Technology Project 2001. During the fall of 2000, 400 surveys were sent to Spanish faculty at the 62 participating institutions. The response rate was 25%. It was found that music is a common element of elementary and intermediate Spanish courses: 90% of the respondents use music at least once per semester as a course supplement.

The 25-track audio CD is an original, amateur recording by Professor Fisher. Each song has a link to a page with lyrics, cultural notes, and recommended versions.There are also links t0 suggested grammar topics with interactive JavaScript exercises. A limited number of audio CD's (500) are available at cost from the author. I hope that you and your students find these pages and this music anthology to be helpful and interesting.

Karl W. Fisher, University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.

11:00-11:50 Using video on the web to promote cross-cultural understanding

This presentation will show how the use of students' created videos can promote cross-cultural understanding. I will recount the pitfalls and successes I encountered as I conducted a web based video project between the students of the university of Niigata in Japan and Middle School students at The Lovett School. I will discuss some of the technical aspects of the video editing process using i-movie as well as the educational objectives of the project.

Marc Mallet, Lab Director, The Lovett School

12:00-1:00

Lunch

SEALL business meeting


1:00-1:30

ASC Lab Orientation

This presentation will be held at the Westminster Schools

The All Digital Goizueta Language Lab

This session will showcase The Westminster Schools' new language lab. Gone are the days of toting cassettes to and from school. We will discuss how a fully digitalized lab has made life easier for our teachers and students, and we will explore how second language acquisition is enhanced by digital technology.

Kristen Terbeche, The Westminster Schools

2:00-2:50 Fun with Your New Tandberg Lab

The University of Florida recently acquired a digital language lab to replace the old Sony audiocassette system. Deciding on a system, installing it without disturbing users (much), and getting it going as a venue for testing and classes has been a series of political and pedagogical adventures. This paper will recount some of the obstacles, compromises, pleasant surprises, and triumphs of the UF lab.

Judy Shoaf, University of Florida

3:00-3:50 "Inclusive Technology: Lessons from a Heritage Student-Centered Learning Environment"

This session will present (1) the implications of teaching Spanish for the heritage speaker with different levels of language skills, (2) the implementation of relevant material using technology to create an inclusive, interactive, and dynamic course, (3) teaching activities to be used in a "smart classroom" as well as a computer lab setting, (4) designing an interactive web page using Microsoft FrontPage 2000, (5) creative writing through the use of threaded discussion boards, (6) reading updated authentic material, (6) creating digital audio clips of music, poetry, and phonetics lessons, (7) creating digital video clips for written or oral narration or discussion, (8) using a constructivist -based approach to promote writing, reading, and oral communication in a Spanish for the heritage speaker class, (9) utilizing digital photography to take pictures during class field trips, (10) establishing a class list-serv and posting student and professor email addresses to encourage communication outside of class, (11) using web-based forms to distribute and collect student quizzes, (12) using desktop scanners to convert printed material to electronic format, (13) maintaining a list of additional web resources for students to visit.

Tulia Jimenez-Vergara, College of New Jersey