Issue #41 - Modern Languages Digital Digest

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The mid-point in each semester should provide a moment for reflection, but more often than not it is just a marker that we pass by at speed. We should be listening to our students all the time, but in this age of teaching compromise, we might feel helpless to adjust or change what we're already doing. We only hope that our students are meeting us halfway and cognitive of the less than ideal situation that we find ourselves in.

There was a great deal of discussion in a meeting this week around the tyranny of black screens and whether it was right to ask students to turn their cameras on. Certainly, while we might respect the reasons why many students wish not to, many of us related the difficulties this presented, whether in monitoring engagement, building rapport, or fostering community.

Perhaps you have a view? If so, we'd love to hear from you. This is a community space, and we're keen to share some of your thoughts and recommendations. Please feel free to introduce us to your colleagues and feel free to share and dip into our fast-growing archive. We are currently looking at a mechanism by which the archive might be searchable, using keywords or folksonomy, by which you let us know what is useful and worth revisiting. Keep an eye out for more details soon.

Each week we provide links to stories and news from around the world, useful resources, and tools that you can use in teaching & learning. If you would like to comment on the content or have something to share then we invite your contributions and responses either by hitting reply and sending us an email or through our social media channels Instagram and Twitter.

Ryota Kikuchi: 60°, 2015 - Using his unique perspective as a free-climber, Ryota Kikuchi visualizes different domains and boundaries hidden in cities and landscapes seen @guardianuk showcase of Japan’s Kana Kawanishi Gallery

People, Places, and Things

If you're using google translate, you may find other AI (Artificial Intelligence) search engines useful, including Ludwig Guru which is a project originating from MIT that lists results of similar or comparable sentences and phrases from a wide variety of research, journalism, and literary sources. The free version is limited to around 15 searches per day, but this is definitely worth investigating.

Similarly, Hemingway provides an AI analysis of your writing and makes suggestions. While colleagues who are confident writers will find it pretty useless and in some cases as annoying as the old paperclip in Microsoft Word (for readers of a certain age), it may be useful to students and ECR's interested in scoring or exploring their use of language.

The Global Communications Center at Carnegie Mellon University has a fast-growing archive of videos to support academic writing, communication, and research.

Finally (and it all seems to be about writing this week), the NCFDD's writing challenge kicks off to encourage daily writing practice.

Highlighting Black Intellectuals/Artists & Cultural Agents

As part of the work of the Anti-Racist Working Group in Modern Languages, at CMU, we would like to highlight the work of Black Intellectuals/Artists/Cultural Agents throughout the world. If you have suggestions then use this form for you to submit your nomination. This week we feature Sonia Sanchez.

We received twenty nominations this week and really grateful to you for taking the time and choosing someone for this project. Keep them coming!

On Screen

This remarkable gallery of BLM murals and art on boarded-up windows of shops and businesses comes courtesy of The Verge.

It's good to remind ourselves of the many conversations around education, and Giroux's piece to camera seems particularly pertinent at this time. "All education is an introduction to the future..."

Tools and Resources

Having a plan B is important when technology fails, so here are some tips which also include some interesting activities and teaching strategies.

Zingword offers jobs for online translators, there are some tips for first-time visitors, and we were wondering if anyone had used the site with students? Let us know.

Come on, one more useful tool for you - there are zoom filters in the latest update with masks, hats, and other strange paraphernalia that you add live in a session. Go on, give it a go. Maybe it will solve the camera-off issues...or maybe not.

Last week we included Werner Herzog, and in this informal series, we were quite impressed by Vigo Mortensen's multilingualism.

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.

This newsletter is produced by The Askwith Kenner Global Languages & Cultures Room, in the Modern Languages Department, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University.

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