Conferences

The Language Resource Center of Columbia University together with the Columbia Global Centers and the Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning is organizing a one day conference on the theme of "What Future for the Less Commonly Taught Languages?" This conference is the first in a planned series of conferences exploring topics germane to the teaching and learning of less commonly taught languages the Center will host in the coming years.  The conference aims to bring together language teachers, educators, administrators and other stakeholders to discuss, and share research, theory, and best practices on the current state and future of the LCTL as well as initiate a meaningful professional dialogue on this topic amongst those who are interested in sustaining the teaching and learning of LCTL at US institutions. 

Date: Saturday, April 30, 2011 
Location: Dag Hammarskjolds Lounge, 15th Floor, School of International and  Public Affairs, Columbia University 

PLENARY SPEAKER: Scott McGinnis, Academic Advisor and Associate  Professor, Defense Language Institute, Washington Office. 

Some of the topics that will be addressed by the speakers will include: How do we conjugate the national priority in LCTL with the overall neglect for LCTL at many of our institutions? How do we address the systemic lack of funding for LCTL within our academic institutions? What structures should we put in place in order to better develop and sustain LCTL? What role do heritage learners and bilingual speakers play in reinforcing LCTL programs? How can technology help us overcome some of the barriers that prohibit us from achieving critical mass in some LCTL? Is the rise of some LCTL (Chinese, Arabic, etc) accomplished at the detriment of other LCTL in terms of institutional support?  Is the emergence of lingua franca among the LCTL synonymous with diminishing support for other LCTL in the same geographic area?  How can we better coordinate our efforts to promote the teaching and learning of LCTL regionally as well as nationally? 

All are welcome to attend. No registration required but please RSVP. A full program will follow shortly with an RSVP link.  For more information, contact Stephane Charitos at sc758@columbia.edu

Please note this NCOLCTL Pre-Conference Workshop that will take place on April 7, 2011 from 1:30 to 5:30 pm in Madison, Wisconsin:

“Integrating Colloquial in the Arabic Curriculum: An Examination of Programmatic Input and Learners' Output”

Presenters: Mahmoud Al-Batal (Univ. of Texas at Austin), Kirk Belnap (Brigham Young University), Munther Younes (Cornell) 

This is an opportunity to see with your own eyes the results of more than 20 years of experimenting with implementing an integrated approach, including Cornell's recent experience with direct enrollment in a national university in Jordan. For more details, see:

http://www.ncolctl.org/conference/pre-conference%20workshops

And please do plan on staying for the rest of the conference. Arabic is well represented among the papers to be presented.

reprinted from Arabic-L

Tucson, AZ

January 26-29, 2012

Globalization, having brought individuals in contact with one another at an unprecedented scale, has also brought forth a general challenge to traditionally recognized boundaries of nation, language, race, gender, and class. For those living within this rapidly changing social landscape, intercultural competence--as defined by Michael Byram --is a necessary skill, and the cultivation of such intercultural individuals falls on the shoulders of today’s educators.

For this conference we are seeking papers that address issues of intercultural competence development and assessment in immersive environments, which include but are not limited to:

·        overseas stays (e.g., study abroad, internship abroad, service learning abroad, etc.)

·        virtual environments (e.g., Web. 2.0 technologies (e.g., blogs and wikis)

·        telecollaborative partnerships, social virtualities (e.g., Second Life), massively multiplayer online games (e.g., World of Warcraft), and synthetic immersive environments (SIEs)

·        immersion education (e.g., one way, two way, developmental bilingual education, heritage language instruction, indigenous immersion, Language Across the Curriculum (LAC), Culture and Language Across the Curriculum (CLAC), content-based language instruction)

The conference aims to bring researchers and practitioners across languages, levels, and settings to discuss and share research, theory, and best practices and to foster meaningful professional dialogue on issues related to the development and assessment of Intercultural Competence in a foreign or second language.

This conference is organized by the Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy (CERCLL).

For further information about the conference and the call for papers, please see: http://cercll.arizona.edu/doku.php/development/conferences/icc.

Online proposal submission: All proposals must be submitted using our online form: http://cercll.arizona.edu/icc_proposal.php.

Proposal deadline: 11:59 pm (Pacific Standard Time) on September 6th, 2011. Confirmation of receipt will be sent via email. Presenters will be notified by email of the program committee’s decision by October 17th, 2011.

Salamanca, Spain 28-30 September 2011

Dear Colleagues:

In 2011 we commemorate that exactly seven centuries ago the Pope Clemens V proclaimed a “canon” urging the universities of Bologna, Oxford, Paris and Salamanca to teach oriental languages. On this occasion the orientalists of the University of Salamanca have decided to celebrate the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE EOS 700, and to invite to it all researchers interested in analyzing, in the largest sense of the word, the development, the changes and the main research lines within these studies along their history. The Conference will take place during 28, 29 and 30 September 2011, and there will be parallel sessions according to the areas of subjects indicated in the inscription form.

Organizing Commitee and coordinators of the areas:

Director: Alberto Cantera (USAL)

Secretary: Ricardo Muñoz (USAL)

Anatolian Studies: Virgilio García (USC)

Central and South Asia: Ana Agud (USAL) & Alberto Cantera (USAL)

East Asia: Alfonso Falero (USAL)

Egyptology: José Manuel Galán (CSIC)

Arabic and Islam: Rachid El Hour (USAL) & Miguel Á. Manzano (USAL)

Hebrew and Aramaic: Ricardo Muñoz (USAL) & Efrem Yildiz (USAL)

Ancient Near East: Joaquín Sanmartín (IPOA, UB)

e-secretariat: eos700@usal.es

more information: http:///www.eos700.es

The languages of the Conference will be Spanish, English and French. Scholars wanting to present a paper should send an abstract before 30th June 2011. Papers will be subjected to evaluation by the scientific committee.

Best regards,

Miguel Á. Manzano

(mglmanzano@ono.com)

(mmanzano@usal.es)

reprinted from Arabic-L

I would like to draw your attention to the upcoming conference of NECTFL in Baltimore this coming weekend. For more information about the conference, please check out the NECTFL website at: http://www2.dickinson.edu/prorg/nectfl/Conference/Conference2011.html

There are many sessions of interest to all of you as Arabic teachers. (See list below!) However, there are many other sessions that will provide you with state of the art professional development and creative and practical ideas for how to improve your teaching. Even if you missed the pre-registration deadline, you still can attend and pay on-site. The conference will take place in the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, 700 Aliceanna Blvd, Baltimore MD 21202. (Click on the link for a map and directions:

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/maps/travel/bwiwf-baltimore-marriott-waterfront/

In addition, I will be chairing a special session about the creation of an association for Arabic teachers in our region. It is Session 217: Networking for Greater Washington Teachers of Arabic on Sunday, April 3, 4:15-5:30 p.m. in the Falkland Room of the convention hotel. Here is the description: "All Arabic teachers in the greater Washington area (Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia) are invited to attend this networking session and help establish a local chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Arabic (AATA) or their own local group tentatively called Greater Washington Association of Teachers of Arabic (GWATA).  The association will join forces with local groups such as MFLA, GWATFL, and FLAVA and will participate in their conferences. In English with examples in English and Arabic and of interest to educators at all levels of instruction."

Other Arabic sessions:

33.    The Essentials: A Handbook for Standards-based K-16 Arabic Teaching (Saturday, 9:30-10:45 - Atlantic Room)

57.    Strategies to Enhance the Chinese & Arabic Classrooms, Kane (Saturday, 11-12:15, Bristol Room)

92.    ES: Yale U Press: Teaching Arabic Effectively with Ahlan wa Sahlan, Shea, Saffar (Saturday, 2-3:15 in the James Room)

101. We Don't Teach Arabic Dialect but a Spoken Variety, Chouairi (Saturday, 3:30-4:45 in Bristol Room)

124. The Interactive Notebook: A Student-Centered Approach to Arabic, Cozzens, Mifdal, Hamid, Hasan (Sunday, 8:45-10 in the Bristol Room)

144. 2009 Arabic School Survey: State of the Arabic Teaching Profession, Johnson, Keatley (Sunday, 10:15-11:30 in the Atlantic Room)

173. MSU Arabic Language Flagship: Creating Global Professionals, Hassan (Sunday, 12:30-1:45 in the Falkland Room)

195. Differentiated Instruction in the Arabic Foreign Language Classroom, Hassan (Sunday, 2-3:15 in the Falkland Room)

217. Networking for Greater Washington Teachers of Arabic, Esa (Sunday, 4:15-5:30 in the Falkland Room)

Dr. Mohamed Esa
McDaniel College
Westminster, MD 21157