We’re grateful to Marc who has supplied the bulk of this week's news and links. This week it's the end of a Finnish Radio station's Latin news broadcast, there are dangers for Australia's indigenous languages and we’re including news about some exciting summer events at CMU.
The highlight this week has been reading this brilliant Public Source article about the need for ESL teaching and resources for Pittsburgh's growing immigrant population. There's a pressing need as Brashear Principal Kimberly Safran says:
“You have to have so much patience. You also learn how hard it is for people who don’t speak the language. How hard it is to navigate the systems,” Safran said. “Teachers have to identify and battle their own implicit biases and learn about the various cultures and religions."
It's interesting to see that the challenge is as much cultural as linguistic and it's in this space that we contribute positively as language teachers and researchers, supporting our colleagues experiencing new cultures for the first time.
Shahid Alowemer, a Syrian refugee, started her American education at Brashear High School where she spent two years before graduating. She recently completed her freshman year at the Community College of Allegheny County. (Photos by Kat Procyk/PublicSource)
Links and Stories
Each week in this newsletter we recommend films and sometimes link to streaming sites such as Netflix and Kanopy. People with a hearing impairment may be using audio descriptions, but these are often only available in English. This Public Radio International story reports on the upswing of Description Audio Descriptions for films in Spanish and other languages.
European settlement wiped out half of Australia's indigenous languages, and about 100 more are in danger of being lost. This BBC video report on Miriwoong: one of these languages which barely anybody speaks.
A second BBC report looks at a Finnish Radio station that is dropping its weekly Latin news bulletin after 30 years. What started as an experiment has become an international phenomenon in modern Latin studies, while also reporting on major events like the Asian tsunami and the Twin Towers attack in New York".
There are several bills working their way through various state legislatures, including Kentucky and New Mexico that would allow high school students to take computer programming classes for foreign language credit. This impassioned plea "Yes we code," but we can't communicate" asks us to remember that coding isn't a replacement, providing the evidence for a flawed and potentially damaging movement.
Are you interested in using VR (or XR) technology in your classroom? Do you think there is more we can do to promote the ethical use of VR? The Immersive Pedagogy Conference is excited to announce that we will be having public keynote talks from Juliette Levy and Angel Nieves next week that will touch on these topics.
Juliette Levy will present on “How Not to be a Replicant: working towards a useful VR” at 9 am on Thursday the 27th.
Angel Nieves, will present “Developing a Social Justice Framework for Immersive Technologies in Digital Humanities” at 9 am on Friday the 28th.
Global Languages & Cultures Room - Funding
The steering committee for the Askwith Kenner Global Languages & Cultures Room invites students and faculty to apply for funding for new projects that provide opportunities to create media content highlighting multi-cultural activities and contribute to the resources of the room by way of exhibiting screening, or publishing outcomes. We will also consider proposals to investigate the effectiveness of multimedia technology to foster cultural learning and intercultural competence. Visit the Global Languages & Cultures website for more information.
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Take care on your travels and look forward to speaking to you next week.