Kindly submit your articles for the Summer 2013 edition of the TFLA Journal!

The deadline for submitting articles is May 8 and current membership is required for publication.

Please follow these guidelines when submitting your article:

• Maximum 1,000 words
• Microsoft Word-compatible format
• Times New Roman 12 font

Please note that submission does not guarantee publication.

Email your submissions or questions to dtimmsorn@aol.com.

Thank you,

David Timms
TFLA Journal Editor

THEME
The Interface of Curricular Structures and Administrative Organization of Spanish Language Programs

Saturday – May 11, 2013
9 AM to 3 PM
CLA (College of Liberal Arts Bldg.) Glickman 1.302

BACKGROUND: Over the years we have noticed that, despite the geographical proximity among our institutions, we tend to work in relative isolation with little information shared across our programs.

OBJETIVE: To achieve the benefits of cooperation and collaboration among institutions and faculty, we have started a series of symposia to share information about accomplishments and challenges, best practices, new ideas and projects, and to receive valuable peer feedback from other participants. In essence, we wish to create a collegial “meeting of the minds” in which we can share and learn from each other.

PARTICIPATION: If you are planning to attend, please send an RSVP to Delia Montesinos admontesinos@austin.utexas.edu by May 3, 2013.

We will be providing breakfast, lunch and coffee breaks to all participants to encourage further discussion and social interaction.

PROGRAM: There will be three presentations with ample time for discussion and questions during and after the talks (see next page for a description of each presentation).

A Spanish High Beginners Intensive course: Moving up
Flavia Belpoliti
University of Houston
This presentation showcases the organization of a Spanish High Beginners course designed to address the wide diversity of incoming college students in our Spanish Program. The course design was based on the concept of differentiated instruction, and is focused on taking advantage of particular strengths that this diverse student population brings to the classroom to enable them to move up in the proficiency scale in an efficient and effective manner. The presentation includes a general description of learners’ profiles, enrollment procedures, course content, assignments and assessments, and ends with a short presentation of the class exit survey’s results and students’ comments.

To have or not to have a hybrid: That is the question
María Irene Moyna, Bertín Ortega, Patricia Timmons
Texas A & M University
In this presentation we report on the adoption and partial abandonment of a hybrid first year Spanish program at Texas A&M (2005-2011) intended to increase teaching capacity without an increase in staffing. The original two-semester sequence had four contact hours with the instructor and one lab period. In the hybrid courses, instructors had two contact hours with students, and two hours of work done with the online workbook Quia. This allowed instructors to teach two sections in the time they formerly taught one. The results were not optimal: although there were no obvious differences in student performance, there was a significant drop in student satisfaction with the course overall, attributed at the time to issues with the online platform. There were also concerns from the administration about the increase in workload to graduate student instructors. In 2011, the format was modified resulting in a distribution of 3 contact hours, 1 hour of online work, and 1 hour of lab. Considering input from several faculty involved in the program, we make suggestions for implementation of hybrid programs that both meets financial institutional demands and academic standards of pedagogical practice.

An analytic critical-thinking approach to Spanish college-level teaching: Have the cake and eat it too
M. Rafael Salaberry
University of Texas-Austin
This presentation describes the academic objectives, curricular organization and methodological approach of the Spanish Language Program at University of Texas-Austin. Over the last four years, the Spanish Language Program has incorporated an analytic, critical thinking approach to the traditional instrumental approach of the previous program. Some significant changes brought up by this restructuring process are: the expansion of required credits to satisfy the language requirement (from 16 to 18 credit hours), the expansion of the analysis of sociolinguistic variables that affect language use (e.g., inclusion of a broad view of Spanish varieties), the reorganization of class scheduling (3 times a week) and length of class sessions (2 hours each), the incorporation of a Tutoring Center to support academic demands, the expansion of the assessment of teaching practices beyond the use of simply students’ evaluations, etc.

CARLA summer institute participants—more than 4,000 to date—have come from all over the world. They have included foreign language and ESL teachers at all levels of instruction, as well as program administrators, curriculum specialists, and language teacher educators.

 Register soon for these popular institutes–they fill up fast!

Summer Institutes for Language Teachers

 Check out these options targeted at foreign language and ESL teachers from a variety of teaching contexts!

• Using the Web for Communicative Language Learning and Professional Development—online course
  July 8–August 11, 2013

• Using Technology in the Second Language Teaching
  July 15–19, 2013

• Content-Based Language Instruction and Curriculum Development
  July 15–19, 2013

• Developing Materials for Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTLs)
  July 15–19, 2013

• Culture as the Core in the Second Language Classroom
  July 22–26, 2013

• Focusing on Learner Language: Second Language Acquisition Basics for Teachers
  July 22–26, 2013

• Improving Language Learning: Styles- and Strategies-Based Instruction
  
July 29–August 2, 2013

• Developing Assessments for the Second Language Classroom
  July 29–August 2, 2013


 Summer Institutes for Immersion Teachers

 CARLA offers three popular institutes that are designed specifically for immersion educators that always fill up fast.

• Immersion 101: An Introduction to Immersion Teaching for Chinese and Japanese
  June 24–28, 2013
• Immersion 101: An Introduction to Immersion Teaching
  July 22–26, 2013
• Meeting the Challenges of Immersion Education: Biliteracy Development in Dual Language/Immersion Classrooms
  July 22–26, 2013

Information

Register: http://www.carla.umn.edu/institutes/registration.html

Questions? Email us at: carla@umn.edu

The institutes have been developed and are offered with the support, in part, of the U.S. Department of Education’s Title VI Language Resource Center program. The summer institutes are co-sponsored by the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development and College of Liberal Arts.

Advanced Practices in Second Language Teaching Certificate

This certificate offered by the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development provides an exciting opportunity for teachers of foreign languages and English as a second/foreign language to showcase their professional development work through the CARLA summer institute program by taking the institutes for graduate level credit.

More information about the courses needed to obtain the certificate, admission criteria, and application materials can be found at: http://www.carla.umn.edu/institutes/certificate.html

Embassy Suites, Frisco, TX

Conference Theme – Language and Culture: Where Passion and Education Meet

Call for Proposals (Proposal Deadline: June 1, 2013)

Conference Registration will open in August.  You must be a TFLA member to attend our conference.

- Above registration enables you to attend all sessions, exhibitor booths, and other free events.
- Above registration does not include conference workshops.
- Above registration does not include membership.  You must be a member to attend the conference.
- One presenter from each session/workshop may register without registration fees.
* Presenters must register during the Pre-Conference Registration period.  We consider this action as your commitment to present at our conference.

Conference Site: Embassy Suites Dallas – Frisco

PARKING
Parking in the open air spots surrounding the hotel is complimentary and available on a first come, first served basis.  For Garage Parking, there will be a charge of $5.00 per day and $10.00 for guest’s overnight self-parking. Valet parking is available for $14.00 per day.

Conference Hotel Guest Room Rate

*To reserve hotel rooms at the following rate, go to their website, click on “Add special rate codes”, type GUA in the Group Code field when submitting your dates.

Single – $149
Double – $149
Triple – $169
Quad – $179

Guest Room Reservation
Online – TBA
Phone – Call 972-963-9175 and make your reservation under Texas Foreign Language Association or TFLA.

CHECK-IN I CHECK-OUT
Guest accommodations will be available at 3:00 pm on arrival day and reserved until 12:00 pm departure day.

Flying?  Scroll down on this liked page and see directions from Dallas area airports.

Map of the conference location

View Larger Map

Since 2007,  Summer Language Institute for Spanish Teachers have offered a challenging and practical Master of Arts in Spanish Language Teaching. Their curriculum is designed to be completed in three summers in beautiful Guanajuato, Mexico  and is specifically designed for middle school, high school  and community college Spanish teachers.  Each session is hosted by a group of master teachers from around the nation, and the program provides practical courses to improve your teaching proficiency. This is a non-profit program through Southern Oregon University, an accredited public university. Our admissions deadline is March 4, 2013.

They also encourage teachers who wish to update their skills and/or earn continuing education credits to apply. 

Anyone interested, they also offer Summer Language Institute for French Teaching in Angers, France.

For details, please visit www.sou.edu/summerlanguageinstitute