East Asian Languages and Civilizations workshop gave me insights as to how I can use various tools with appropriate objectives in my mind. The notion of “scaffolding” is something I learned from the three-day workshop. Some tools require simpler communication in a safer environment and the others more complex with greater risk. The notion of scaffolding encourages the idea that Instruction should move from simpler and less risk-taking task to more complex and more…

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The South Asia Center, a Title VI Center at the University of Pennsylvania, collaborated with the Penn Language Center for its 2009 STARTALK teacher training program for Hindi & Urdu. The program, directed by Dr. Vijay Gambhir, had 21 pre-service and in-service teachers of Hindi & Urdu from heritage schools, public schools and universities. It was a two-week long (July 13-24) residential program where teachers met daily for 5 hours. The main goal of the program was to provide knowledge… Continue

I am using Blackboard to create interactive exercises. The main goal of these exercises is to support the process of language learning by providing the additional, self – checking tool, which can be used at students’ own pace. I use Blackboard assessment tools such as: fill in the blank, jumbled sentence, multiple answer, multiple choice & hot spot. Also, I use Wimba for audio assignments. I have created three types of these exercises for different areas of knowledge: grammar, vocabulary… Continue

Videos and Wikis.pptxIn “Authentic Videos and Wikis in Business Spanish,” I focus on using authentic video content as the basis for business case studies. Through these lessons students see the practical applications of business concepts and explore cultural differences, while the wikis give them the opportunity to create definitions. These are illustrations of ways that current Bb tools… Continue

This panel will discuss the use of Elluminate to teach online and offer students extra language practice. We will explain features in Eluminate that lend themselves to creating collaborative learning environments and to keeping students focused on tasks. Presenters will discuss ways for faculty to introduce Elluminate to their students and for preparing them for the similarities and differences between teaching online and face-to-face instruction. As we are in the process of considering… Continue