Back again this week after a busy fortnight, school started back and it was all go, meeting new students and catching up on projects. We opened the Global Languages and Cultures Room, with new times for Spring Semester. Remember if you're planning a visit with your students, then don't hesitate to get in touch and we can get that arranged.
One of the joys this semester is teaching a course called "Language Learning & Technology", which is a chance to talk about the ever-changing role that tech has in our classroom practice, but also in the creation of online and distance learning. The class has already provided insight into tools, apps, and platforms that are new to us all, so I'll gently feed them into the newsletter over the coming months.
A few photos for you this week and links to a fantastic online film festival. Remember to give us your suggestions for sites, news, and future events. Happy to receive your emails, in fact, you can just reply to get in touch.
People, Places, and Things
Beautiful Photos from this year's Spring Festival Culture Event at CMU. Around 200 people participated in a celebration that included dancers and martial artists, Chinese food, and cultural activities. The event was organized by Prof. Gang Liu and colleagues in the Chinese Program in Modern Languages.
This incredible French basketball court photographed by Sebastien Erras was built in Paris' Pigalle district, there are more photos on Sebastien's site and you can find out more by clicking the image below.
A few reminders of some old favorite tools that we talked about in class. Firstly Canva.com is the easiest way I can find of making posters, slides for display screens, finding templates for social media, and much more. It really hard to design something badly with this platform.
Secondly, a shout to Padlet.com which we are using to share technologies, hopefully when we have more content I'll share our class padlet with you and I'd be interested to invite you to add a few more suggestions. Used by thousands of educators over the years, it still provides a fantastic collaborative space for ideas, contributions, thoughts, and responses. The iPad version is sensational, with the ability to record audio and add video at the moment. Perfect for language learners.
On Screen
My French Film Festival is an annual online showcase of new French-language cinema. Read a review of this year's festival in The Guardian and follow the festival online. Films are screened on youtube, Vimeo, and some partner platforms including Kanopy, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and Chili. Short films are free!
Thank you for reading, we really appreciate your support and would love to hear more about what you like and what you've seen that might be useful to share. If you have anything you'd like to include in future issues, let us know.