The Spaces in Between is a weekly newsletter on culture, language, and technology written by Stephan Caspar. If you’re new here, then welcome, feel free to subscribe.
After a warm, sunny start to Spring in Pittsburgh, it has been cold, the heating has clicked on again and we’re all in long sleeves clutching warm drinks. It hasn’t been all that great, but I’m afraid slightly typical this time of year which can see temperatures fluctuate, early evening rain followed by rich red sunsets, and only glimpses of sunshine.
Things are unfinished this week, no time to complete our almond milk carton bird boxes, they’ll have to wait for the weekend.
The idea for these came courtesy of The Week Junior which features a making-spot. My favorite section of the magazine and some weeks more interesting than The Guardian Weekly which I subscribe to. Still, it is great to have them both drop into the letterbox and always hungrily consumed.
It has been another relentless week of news, of shootings, murder, police brutality, and a lack of justice for the victims and families, loved ones, communities that bear the brunt of the barbarity and lunacy of what goes for daily life in America. When you have a highly militarized police force, armed and afraid (because so many of the people you stop are armed) with the toxicity of racism and racial profiling then people will continue to die. There have to be consequences for these atrocities, and there should be a system of justice that protects the victims, that doesn’t put George Floyd or Daunte Wright on trial, but demands accountability of those that pull the trigger.
It is tough to carry on through all this and although we talk to our students and offer space for contemplation and reflection, you feel helpless and numb. The answer isn’t to look away, and all I can do is read and work, learn and educate others.
Perhaps too, my energies feel a little zapped by my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, I crashed and missed footy practice, my teenager took on the responsibilities with some help from our assistant coach and the team did some drills and had a good kickaround. We won 5-1 on Sunday, a great start to the season and lots of smiles all around.
Hey, I don’t say it as often as I should but thanks again for your support and encouragement, it is lovely writing for you, and thank you for your kind messages.
Stephan
Teaching & Learning
I’ll say more in a couple of weeks, but the reason I’m slightly late with today’s newsletter is that I spent the morning talking with the host of a rather brilliant educational podcast. I won’t reveal which one yet, but it was good fun and I blathered on about blended learning, making media for learning, and living in the US.
I have a meeting on Monday to talk to a colleague about my Everyday Learning Course, which is intended to teach students about the sorts of instructional design that we see on social media or distributed in libraries and community centers. In fact, these are two very different use-cases and I really am more interested in the latter than the former, having been inspired by the activity packs taped the window of PGH Workshop (see image above) during the early months of the pandemic.
I really wanted students to make their own versions of these packs, assemble materials, design lesson plans, and find places to distribute them, but instead, we ended up with more of the former which can see on the newly published Everyday Learning page on our website. I really enjoyed seeing what was created and so much inspired by the conversations and discussions we had as a class. I think though that I might focus on the packs, that there might be ways we can update them, explore some technologies so that we can offer more varied and innovative outcomes.
I’m also conscious that I don’t want students to produce anything that isn’t needed, that there needs to be consultation and community participation. I think that gives me a summer of finding partners and talking to potential collaborators. If you know someone who would be interested in this project, then let me know.
Life Lessons
Talking about Podcasts, my colleague Sebastien noticed an article about a student-produced Spanish Language podcast highlighting members of Northeast Wisconsin’s Latino community. This is the perfect outreach project, perhaps the type that I’m hoping for in my Everyday Learning class. The benefits of language learning are obvious, but more than this is the local cultural interaction that it facilitates. I’ve spoken a few times about the challenges involved in facilitating conversations between students and the communities they live in, there is definite bubble bursting going on here, and hope that this initiative stays its course and keeps going.
Podcasting seems to have gained a foothold within the language learning community and has seen a few examples showcased at various conferences and events. There are a few of these mentioned in the pages of the Twitterati Podcast. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, probably in a previous issue of the ML Digest, but if you’re new to the show, then time to revisit ahead of a new season coming soon (hopefully).
Lost and Found
If you’re interested in making podcasts, then there’s some info from a Medium article I wrote, which apparently inspired the podcast I joined this morning.
You can translate in Google Sheets by simply using the formula = Googletranslate (text, “source lang”, “dest lang”). It couldn’t be easier.
This is a handy tips website and I found a few gems for language instructors and their learners, for instance, Mac users - did you know you can set custom languages for different apps? If you want Safari to be in English, but Chrome to be in Arabic, then you can do that in the preferences.
Thank you
Thank you for the fun reactions to our backyard nature trailcam footage, I got a few videos in return and was amazed by the variety of all the wildlife that comes visiting sometimes late at night, but also during the day when people are about. Nature is kind of ballsy here in the US, it doesn’t mind humans that much it seems.
I’ve turned it off for a few days but will get it going again, hopefully, the weather will improve and there will be more to see.
We’re having Empanadas from our local Dominican restaurant this evening. I know I’m out of a cultural limb here, but they are kind of like Cornish Pasties. We’ve had them before and we didn’t notice how they label the flavors by crumpling them into the pastry, now we know. They are really good though, especially roasted pork or shredded chicken, or the guava and cheese..mmm can’t wait.
Let’s meet up next week, hoping the sun will make an appearance. Take care.
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