World Languages

The Justo Lamas Experience
Submitted by Jan Coone

Recently, I took my students to the concert of Edgar Rene, a young inspirational Puerto Rican singer with the Justo Lamas Group.  This company has offered these concerts for 12 years in North Platte. The students love it and look forward to it every year and they learn a lot from the songs.

The Justo Lamas Group Concerts is looking for more locations in Nebraska for late October 2019. The JLG Program is an educational and inspiring program promoting the study of the Spanish language through music. Students enjoy learning the songs ahead of time (all songs and lyrics are available on the website), singing along and participating in the interactive activities at the concert. The concert lasts about 90 minutes and students may stay after for photos and autographs.

Concerts may be hosted by schools or Educational Service Units as long as the auditorium has a stage and will hold 200-300 students. Justo Lamas Group works with the school or ESU to reserve a date, and provides planning materials. The host location only needs to provide some supervision, and help with a seating chart. JLG takes care of all the reservations and billing of the schools. Scholarships are available to schools who do not have the funds needed for student tickets.

For more information or to make a reservation for your school: http://www.justolamasgroup.com

I helped host the concert in North Platte with ESU #16 starting 12 years ago until North Platte High School  took over about 7 years ago.  Please feel free to contact me for more information as well: Jan Coone, jcoone@mac.com.

13^th Annual Colloquium on Language Teaching
Saturday February 9, 2019
10:00 AM-4:00 PM, Mammel Hall (UNO Scott Campus)

The MALT Annual Colloquium on Language Teaching seeks to create a community of local area language teachers & learners, promote interdisciplinary collaboration, and encourage research in the field of Language Education. The event is free and open to the public.

Event Schedule:

10:00-11:00: Keynote address by Dr. Carolyn Gascoigne (Angelo State University): “Reviewing Reading: From Models to Practice”
11:15- 12:15: Presentations
RECESS
1:10- 1:40: Poster Sessions
1:55- 2:55: Presentations
3:10-4:00: Round-Table & Open Discussion: “World Languages inside and outside the K-16 Classroom. Standards, Practices, and Insights towards Deep Listening and Understanding”, with the participation of experienced teachers and stakeholders from our community

We invite proposals for either Presentations (Track A & Track B) or Poster Sessions. Find below a description of Presentations and Poster Sessions.

Proposals will address the following areas:

Language teaching/learning strategies
Language learning styles
Pedagogical innovations in language teaching, assessment & evaluation
Language & culture
Teaching literature and/or civilization within the language class
Language & technology
Second/foreign language acquisition: connecting theory to practice,
Literacy, applied linguistics, and sociolinguistics

Proposals from teachers at all levels of instruction and of all world languages and ESL/EFL are welcome; however, first priority will be given to proposals that are accessible to teachers of all languages and levels.

We strongly encourage graduate students to participate by submitting a proposal.

Description of Presentations and Poster Sessions

Presentations Track A: Pedagogical and interactive presentations. The specific goal of this track is to introduce pedagogical innovations and open the floor to conversations among fellow teachers.

Presentations Track B: Research-oriented presentations to introduce or discuss new research and its application to the classroom. The specific goal of this track is to familiarize the audience with current research and theories, and their potential classroom use.

Poster Sessions: digital or physical posters (48″ x 36″) accepted. The specific goal of this track is to share classroom-based research projects with a larger audience.

 No lunch will be provided. Light refreshments only.

 DEADLINE: All proposals must be received by January 7, 2019. 

 Submission Process:

Proposal submissions should indicate the selected track, and include a title, a 250-300 word abstract, and a 50-word summary for the conference program.

All abstracts will be submitted for blind review. Thus, the following submission guidelines should be closely followed:

• All submissions should include selected track, abstract, title, and 50-word summary.
• DO NOT include any identifying information in the abstract itself.
• Include your contact information (name, email, phone, school affiliation) in the body of your email only.
• Proposals must be submitted via email to csgarcia@unomaha.edu.

Upon submission, you will receive an email confirmation indicating that your proposal was received.

(submitted by UNL Office of Global Strategies)

The following list is just a start. We encourage you to be creative in planning events for IEW and let us [UNL] know about your activities.

1. Incorporate information on a country or culture into your regular lesson plan, even if you do not teach social studies.

2. Explore international aspects of the arts music, film, theatre, visual arts, literature, and dance by creating, performing, or studying artworks with an international component. This could include a field trip to a museum or concert or showing a foreign film in class.

3. Adopt a school in a developing country and donate school supplies, reference materials, and other items.

4. Trade questions and answers with students from another country through the Internet, pen pal clubs, or a Digital Video Conference.

5. Encourage cultural understanding for students using the online resource One World: Connecting Communities, Cultures, and Classrooms. Sponsored by the National Football League and Scholastic Inc., this unique education resource designed for teachers. The free, web-based program may be downloaded here.

6. Organize a cross-cultural potluck lunch in which students bring in or make foods from their homeland or ancestors’ homeland.

7. Ask students to write essays on countries they would like to visit and why they chose those countries.

8. Feature local international experts as speakers: Fulbright Students and Scholars, former diplomats or Peace Corps volunteers, business leaders working for multinational corporations, or journalists.

9. Participate in a Model UN.

10. Assign students to produce a video or website about their cross-cultural experiences. The video could explore issues of cultural idiosyncrasies, stereotypes, and/or their own experiences in another culture.

(Submitted by Dr. Claudia Garcia)

The Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures and MALT Program at UNO announce the 13th MALT Annual Colloquium on Language Teaching, to take place Saturday February 9, 2019 from 10:00-4:00 PM at Mammel Hall (UNO Scott campus).

This year’s event includes a Keynote Address by Dr. Carolyn Gascoigne from Angelo Sate University on “Reviewing Reading: From Models to Practice” (10:00-11:00); Presentations (11:15-12:15; 1:55-2:55) and Poster Sessions (1:10-1:40); and a Round Table & Open Discussion on “World Languages inside and outside the K-16 Classroom. Standards, Practices, and Insights towards Deep Listening and Understanding” (3:10-4:00). Find more information on the colloquium, and about how to submit a proposal in the attached flyers. If you have questions, you can contact:

Marie Lee at mglee@unomaha.edu
Dr. Claudia Garcia at csgarcia@unomaha.edu