(1) --- Forwarded Message from Dianna Murphy <[log in to unmask]> ---
Dear Jonathan, all,
A few things that we have are doing at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison that we believe (hope!) are having a positive effect
on enrollments in LCTL programs:
* make an ongoing effort to connect with academic advisors around
campus, providing information on the benefits of language study
more generally, and on reasons to study X language(s), in particular;
* work with colleagues from many departments and programs to
encourage their faculty to encourage their students to consider
LCTL study;
* participate in the university's summer orientation program for
freshmen, giving presentations and providing informational
materials on LCTLs;
* create and distribute materials each summer to students and
advisors on language programs and offerings, including "why study
X language" pages for each language offered;
* develop alternate delivery models for some languages: for
example, in Chinese, two course options for first-year Chinese,
one for 6 credits and one for 3 credits/semester, as well as a
two-semester sequence offered online;
* organize outreach programs to K-12 schools, to recruit
language-minded students to study come to UW-Madison;
* offer residential language floors (currently in Arabic, Italian,
Japanese and Nordic languages, in addition to French, German and
Spanish);
* hold weekly language tables, often involving international students;
* bring alumni who studied LCTLs back to campus to meet with
students, to show living examples of what the future might hold;
* convene a student advisory board to help us better connect with
students;
* around the times that students are registering for classes, put
out a "love languages" campaign with flyers, posters, etc.;
* provide methods preparation, support and ongoing professional
development for LCTL instructors.
Finally, in the last few years, we have been conducting research studies
on student goals and reasons for language study that have helped to
inform our efforts.
I am curious to hear what others are doing!
Best regards,
Dianna Murphy
********************
(2) from [log in to unmask]
I think one helpful thing might be to work with other disciplines, e.g.
business, to stimulate interest in Chinese, Arabic and other languages
that are important for globalization.
Japanese tends to attract fans of anime and manga and if there is a film
program on campus maybe you could get them to do a little festival and
advertise there.
Another thing is to work with teachers and maybe student groups to
attract heritage speakers. This is awkward because classes of mixed
heritage speakers and true beginners are hard to manage. But after the
course develops somewhat it may be possible to have a section just for
heritage speakers.
Yet another possibility is a "Portuguese for speakers of Spanish" type
class, where students can learn a language faster because they already
know one.
Judy Shoaf
**********************
(3) from [log in to unmask]
Hi Jonathan,
Actually we have had incredible success growing our programs in
Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Russian. What I can tell you is the
following:
1) The single most important factor is an innovative instructor with
strong pedagogical skill. While our program has grown from 92 students
to now over 325/semester (in 10 years) and average retention from fall
to spring semester of 65% or better, the struggling sections where we
have the most attrition are the ones with the weakest instructor and a
lack of a communicative language learning environment. Students don't
accept being lectured at in a language class. They thrive on
opportunities to use it and play with it in their own way and in their
own words.
2) We are incorporating numerous technologies in our courses. This is
what the students are used to having in their outside-of-class lives
and we are using many of those tools as part of their learning. We are
giving them lots of opportunities to communicate and share themselves
(what college student doesn't like to have a chance to talk about him/
herself) but they are doing it in the target language.
3) Japanese-anime. Our Japanese program is by far our largest and
fastest growing. We think it is the interest and curiosity that so
many students have about the pop culture surrounding it. Our other
courses we can only speculate that it is a combination of students
connected to/knowing people from that culture, professional
aspirations, and an interest in taking something that isn't what was
offered in HS. Many of our students are taking more than one language.
4) We have also developed some certificate and minor degree programs
that require a certain amount of language study in these languages. We
think this is helping with our retention rates as well, particularly
the spring to fall 2nd year courses whose numbers have grown over the
years.
Hopefully this is helpful.
Lauren Rosen
Collaborative Language Program
University of Wisconsin
618 Van Hise Hall
1220 Linden Drive
Madison, WI 53706
[log in to unmask]
608-262-4066 (voice)
608-265-3892 (fax)
http://www.uwosh.edu/cols/clp/
**********************
(4) from [log in to unmask]
For most of the years I was at Yale we put on an "LCTL Fair" every spring -- a
one-day affair in a very visible place on campus, on a date that (whenever
possible) coincided with the time when accepted pre-freshmen and their parents
came to Yale to be wooed. The individual LCTLs each had a table, with brochures
to hand out, music and/or a video playing, a teacher there to answer questions,
and a clip-board for people to sign up to get further information.
I can't swear that it actually motivated enrollments, but it did make for good
PR on campus generally.
Best,
Nina
*******************
(5) from [log in to unmask]
Dear Eduardo,
I'd love to get the complete bibliography of suggestions you are able to
compile -- perhaps others on the list would also benefit from it?
Any chance you are on Facebook and could create a Booklist there?
Best,
Annelie Rugg
--
Annelie Rugg, Ph.D.
Director
UCLA Center for Digital Humanities (CDH)
[log in to unmask] | 310.903.7691
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