Learning Generation Project
Foreign language Cohort
The purpose of this cohort is to facilitate
access to authentic oral Spanish language to students of Spanish via the
Internet. Because the Spanish language is used in many geographical areas, with
many dialectal varieties, we plan to create a bank of Spanish oral samples,
showcasing the different accents and varied vocabulary and expressions found in
each of the Spanish-speaking countries. We would also like to try to facilitate
contact between real Spanish speakers and students via audio-mail, so learners
have opportunities to actually hear and speak to real speakers of those
varieties.
This cohort will bring together a foreign
language teacher trainer, a pre-service Spanish teacher, and a Spanish language
college coordinator and Spanish professor.
In addition, we will locate a local Spanish teacher and a school
student.
Our area of interest is the availability of real
oral Spanish language to students of Spanish with few opportunities to travel
and/or to have access to oral manifestations of the Hispanic culture.
Traditionally, oral language is presented to classroom students in the form of
audio and videotapes, in addition to the oral skills of the language teacher. Because the Spanish language is so rich in
dialects, students in the classroom are usually exposed to a very limited array
of these varieties. At the same time, opportunities to communicate orally with
actual Spanish speakers are also limited.
We plan to construct a website with two distinct
parts:
1)
A bank of oral samples from different Spanish-speaking countries
(Spain, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela…) showcasing the different accents,
as well as particular vocabulary and expressions (for example, Spaniards say
“coche” for ‘car,’ whereas Mexicans say “carro.”
2)
Native speakers of Spanish around the Hispanic world would be
contacted (via educational institutions) and asked to volunteer to be “oral
pen-pals.” The messages sent between these individuals and the users of our
website will be audio-messages, that is, short oral recordings will be made and
sent back and forth as audio-files.
That way, users will not only have an opportunity to hear actual
speakers of Spanish, from every variety, but they also will be able to practice
their own oral abilities for real communication.
1)
Manuela González-Bueno, Assistant Professor of Foreign Language
Education in the Department of Teaching & Leadership at KU, and a native
speaker of Spanish.
Dr. González-Bueno will help with the
conceptualization of the project, and will make sure that the methods and
objectives are appropriate to the goals of foreign language learning.
2)
Carmen Ruiz, a pre-service Spanish teacher, also a native speaker
of Spanish. Ms. Ruiz will investigate the feasibility of the project and
coordinate the technical aspects. In
collaboration with Dr. González-Bueno, they will provide the content and design
of the project.
3)
Todd Hernández, a graduate student of Foreign Language Education,
and a GTA at the Spanish and Portuguese Department, where he teaches basic
Spanish language courses. He is a
native speaker of Spanish, and is particularly interested in the study of
Spanish dialects.
4)
Rosalea Postma-Cartar, an Assistant Specialist and the Director of
the Basic Spanish Language Program in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese
at KU. Dr. Postma-Cartar will contribute by evaluating the project and its
impact upon learners of Spanish in a college classroom setting. She can seek
reaction and feedback from her own students and GTAs teaching Spanish in the
Spanish Department.
In addition, we will locate a local Spanish
teacher and a school student, who will contribute with their own ideas and
evaluation of the project, from the perspective of a School teacher and a school
student respectively.
1)
We will first develop an approximately two-pages long abstract of
the project, explaining its significance and pedagogical value to the community
of teachers and learners of Spanish as a foreign language.
2)
We will make some initial recordings (three or four samples of
Spanish language varieties), and pilot the format of the project.
3)
Once we agree on one final format, we will continue with the
recording sessions (initially, up to 10-12 samples, depending on speakers
availability.)
4)
We will pilot-test the project in two ways: First, we will test it
with ready-available undergraduates students of Spanish at KU, from whom we
will elicit extensive feedback. Second,
once refined with the undergraduates’ suggestions, we will pilot-test it with
grade school students.
Deliverables
1) White
paper: An abstract of the project, explaining its significance and pedagogical
value to the community of teachers and learners of Spanish as a foreign
language.
2) Pilot
project: A mini-website to test the feasibility, format, design, etc. of the
larger project.
3) Actual
website: An expanded version of the pilot, which will be as close to the final
version as possible (some adjustments are expected, of course.)
4) Formative
evaluation: Actual implementation of the project at both college and K-12
level, eliciting feedback from the users.
White paper Jan. 01
Pilot project March 01
Actual website May 01
Formative
evaluation: September 01
The main resource that the cohort needs at this
time is periodic training (of which Carmen and Todd will be the main
receptacle) and technical support (in the form of design, software, hardware…
etc.)
In addition, we will need magnetic tapes, a
digital tape-recorder, and a soundproof environment to do the recordings, so
they are of the highest quality.
If the project is done (in the way it has been
conceived so far), it will be available to every Spanish teacher and student.
Its content and possibilities could be expanded with the contributions of
future users. The design could be
shared with individuals learning other foreign languages (French, German…) who
might be interested in replicating the same idea (French oral varieties:
France, Belgium, Canada, Louisiana…; German oral varieties: Germany,
Switzerland…; etc.
Primarily the members of the cohort will
evaluate the product --the home page and links—, which are experienced
individuals in the fields of both teaching and learning languages.
Subsequently, the project will be tested with College level students (via Dr.
Postma-Cartar and Mr. Hernández) and K-12 students (via the two members of the
cohort representing a schoolteacher and a school student.)
In terms of the evaluation of how the group
worked together, we would administer periodic questionnaires, or request from
all members to write periodic reflective paragraphs.