--- Forwarded Message from "Leslie Graul" <[log in to unmask]> ---
>Sender: [log in to unmask]
>From: "Leslie Graul" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-to: [log in to unmask]
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum
<[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #7475.2 Second-year Spanish (!)
>Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2004 09:52:57 -0400
>Priority: normal
Hello, Robert...
I would be really interested in knowing more about your
program; I'll bet that many other subscribers to this list
would be interested, too. Foreign language study
is not a priority among the students at our school, and
some of the languages, which have been demoted to minor
status, may be eliminated if we do not get more
enrollment.
I'll be watching the listserv for your next
message. Leslie Graul
> --- Forwarded Message from "Robert G. Brito"
> <[log in to unmask]> ---
>
> >Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
> >From: "Robert G. Brito" <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: "Language Learning and Technology International
> Information Forum " <[log in to unmask]>
> >Subject: RE: #7475 Second-year Spanish
> >Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 15:59:34 -0400
>
> Hello Ann,
> First of all, you must find out why your students,
> at your school, are not interested in Spanish, which goes
> against all of the recent trend surveys. A perfunctory
> reading of current enrollment data shows that there are
> about 5 Spanish-lang. students per other languages, French
> being the second closest at 4 to 1. So, you need to do a
> little needs assessment.
> Secondly, you need to take a look at what sort of
> curriculum, methodology, and materials are being utilized
> in Spanish One. And ask some real hard questions: how's
> the course sequence articulation being carried out.
> Apparently, something is amiss... I have some ideas, but
> you need to assess your own situation.
> Thirdly, why are you looking into an electronic
> answer to the problem of foreign language underenrollment
> in Spanish classes? A foreign language lab often times
> conspires rather than inspires in the pursuit of a foreign
> language, or as Krashen would put it, L2 acquisition.
> Finally, have you considered introducing--I have
> no idea what sort of curriculum you have at your
> school--real-world, real-work Spanish? In other words,
> people seek what they can use. If university students
> cannot gauge possitively the spending of umpteen hours of
> mindnumbing foreign language study, they will seek greener
> pastures like, in WA, environmental studies, ecology, the
> sort of growing the best coffee bean. Many, many years ago
> I experienced a similar underenrollment reality check at a
> great big ten university I was attending for my PhD: From
> Spanish One to Spanish Two the attrition rate was greater
> than being attacked by the plague in the Middle Ages.
> Students chose other languages that offered more zing and
> some razmahtass... Well, Spanish one had a great lab,
> scripts, and something called psychometrics, which by the
> term itself you can gauge how these college students felt
> about Spanish... I dropped out to my chagrin, because I
> was powerless.
> I am only a high school instructor, teaching
> Content (Task) Based Spanish for Specific Purpose classes:
> Medical Spanish, Computer Spanish, Automotive Spanish,
> Culinary Arts Spanish, Pharmacy Spanish, Business
> Spanish... How can poor little ol'me do ALL that? The
> students do all the work, and I guide them... The approach
> is heuristic, lots of sweat, pain, and satisfaction. My
> classes are noisy. No one can take a snooze. Mind you,
> these are teenagers undergoing a rigorous academic program
> , and preparing themselves for two years of gruesome
> technical instruction leading to certificates, etc. (We
> have something called Workforce Development program.) By
> the way, my school, McFatter Technical High School was
> chosen as Florida's model high school by the State Chief
> Education Officer, one of thirty in the United States. By
> the way, my classes take place in a foreign language lab
> full of PCs connected to the Internet, and running Windows
> 2000 software. I could give you more information on this
> in another email. We do not have a Tandberg, a Sony, or
> any other type of high end lab. Let your student support
> your media, and not the other way around...
> I hope my comments can be of some use...
>
> Robert G. Brito
> [log in to unmask]
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> > [Original Message]
> > From: LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > Date: 4/5/2004 10:36:25 AM
> > Subject: #7475 Second-year Spanish
> >
> > --- Forwarded Message from "Ann Therkelsen"
> <[log in to unmask]> --- >
> > >Subject: Second-year Spanish
> > >Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2004 11:53:13 -0800
> > >Thread-Topic: Second-year Spanish
> > >Thread-Index: AcQY7LQruoZbrfxVSymt2Vd7HwL00A==
> > >From: "Ann Therkelsen" <[log in to unmask]>
> > >To: <[log in to unmask]>
> >
> > Dear colleagues,
> >
> > What wisdom can you impart regarding ways to offer
> second-year Spanish (or any
> > other under-enrolled language course) in which low
> > enrollments make it impossible to offer them as a
> > regular class? Presumably a well-equipped language lab,
> which we hope to acquire shortly, can support that, if not
> > as an online or independent study course, perhaps in
> some sort of hybrid class/lab
> > arrangement or...what? How can our lab help us make the
> courses available,
> > pedagogically effective and cost effective? Not a new
> question...If anyone has
> > been satisfied with student outcomes in online language
> > courses or a lab equivalent, I'd love to know about that
> , as well as any other creative solutions
> > to the problem of under-enrolled classes that seem to
> work. Also, does anyone
> > know of a second-year Spanish text that is well
> supported by digital media,
> > comparable to, say, ?Sabias Que?
> >
> >
> >
> > I will much appreciate any experience or information
> you're willing to share.
> >
> >
> >
> > Ann Therkelsen
> >
> > Whatcom Community College
> >
> > Bellingham, WA
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