--- Forwarded Message from "Mariana Stone" <[log in to unmask]> --- >Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2005 08:22:32 -0500 >From: "Mariana Stone" <[log in to unmask]> >To: <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: #7821 Language Labs Living On Borrowed Time? THe thoughts you just expressed crossed my mind so I have looked for alternatives about what students can do in our lab and this are the current things that we have going for them: 1. Each FL faculty assigns pair work recording as a homework for which the lab tech is required. Instead of just asking written homework from their students and lab manuals in which they only listen now faculty are assigning oral production homeworks. We developed a feedback system to help faculty respond to the student's recordings. 2. Enhanced our video library (about 300 movies for Spanish for example). Videos have become a major source of entertainment for them and therefore learning. THey are expected to watch at least 4 movies a semester and prepare mini reports on them. Beginning level students can write the mini report in English but they received the whole input of the movie in the target language. 3. Alternative software. We have been purchasing slowly software that helps them with grammar, pronunciation at different levels of their language learning path. 4. Songs: we have put our upper level / Spanish Ed majors to work developing activities based on particular grammar structures covered at the lower levels. In a way having the whole lab manual and more online has helped students increase the contact hours with the language. We encourage them to complete their lab assignments online from home and have them come to the lab for more resources, which amounts as I said to more contact hours. I heard from many that "so what if it all becomes virtual/cyber, maybe labs will become obsolete....for the better". BUt I guess I enjoy what we do here so much that I can't see it happening. Sayonara, Mariana Mariana Stone Language Lab Director Language and Literature North Georgia College and State University Dahlonega, GA 30597 (706) 864-1682 *********************************************** LLTI is a service of IALLT, the International Association for Language Learning, and The Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning (http://consortium.dartmouth.edu). Join IALLT at http://iallt.org. Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask]) ***********************************************