The week before classes started, new instructors of languages as diverse as Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Swahili, Thai, Twi, Yoruba and Zulu came together for a 3-day workshop coordinated by the Language Institute on teaching foreign languages at the college level.
The workshop included lectures by Sally Magnan, Department of French and Italian and Monika Chavez, Department of German, as well as demonstration lessons in Japanese led by Naomi Geyer, Department of East Asian Languages and Literature, and discussions led by Diana Frantzen, Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
Participants in the workshop taught mini-lessons in their language to small groups of peers; these “micro-teaching” sessions were facilitated by faculty and experienced Teaching Assistants from the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature, French and Italian, German, Slavic Languages and Literature, and Spanish and Portuguese.
New instructors will continue throughout the academic year to learn from novice and experienced language instructors in many languages, through class observations facilitated by the Language Institute.
The Language Institute promotes collaboration for research, education and community outreach in world languages, literatures and cultures. The Language Institute is an initiative of the College of Letters and Science, with significant support from the Division of International Studies.