Open Up

Does Siglo de Oro literature intimidate you as much as your students? Discover free online resources that personalize learning, promote critical and creative thinking, motivate learner autonomy and offer academic support. Diverse activities build reader confidence and encourage a deep exploration and understanding of 11 chapters of the Quixote.&nbs […]

This year at the annual convention for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), COERLL will be sharing a booth with the 15 other federally funded language resource centers (LRCs). Come visit to find out more about all of the materials and events the centers produce, and receive a free USB drive!  COERLL representatives will also be at the following sessions: FREE STANDARDS-BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING RESOURCES FROM THE LRCSSat, 11/18: 8:00 AM  - 9:00 AM in Music City Center room 205B with Mandy Gettler (CASLS), Carl Blyth (COERLL), Joy Campbell (CLEAR), Karin Larson (CARLA), and Margaret Malone (AELRC)Come learn about free standards-based resources for teachers available from 16 Language Resource Centers funded by the Department of Education: no-cost teacher resource guides and manuals, online materials and assessments in specific languages, and more for teachers of all levels and languages. URLs for downloadable resources are provided. EASILY TEACH THE QUIJOTE WITH FREE OPEN ED CURRICULUM AND RESOURCESSat, 11/18: 4:00 PM  - 5:00 PM in Music City Center room 106C with Rose Potter (University of Texas at Austin) and Betsy ArnoldDoes Siglo de Oro literature intimidate you as much as your students? Discover free online resources that personalize learning, promote critical and creative thinking, motivate learner autonomy and offer academic support. Diverse activities build reader confidence and encourage a deep exploration and understanding of 11 chapters of the Quixote. FREE INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY TOOLS FROM THE LANGUAGE RESOURCE CENTERSSat, 11/18: 4:00 PM  - 5:00 PM in Music City Center room 202C with William Nichols (CULTR), Carl Blyth (COERLL), Julio Rodriguez (NFLRC), and Chantelle Warner (CERCLL)The panel will bring together four Title VI Language Resource Centers to showcase free technology projects with a live demonstration. The tools will address various areas of interest to k-16 language instructors including professional development, project-based learning, cultural literacy, reading proficiency, and online education.&nbs […]

 Join us for Language Matters in November when our own director, Tom Garza, will present!Bringing learners to Advanced levels of functional proficiency in a language—especially in the narrow context of a university course—requires instructors to design curricula that take maximum advantage of the limited hours of classroom instruction to develop communicative skills through interaction. This talk will show that by beginning with the desired outcomes for a class, the instructor can design the syllabus backwards toward these goals. The results are classes that are more satisfying for both learners and teachers, without sacrificing performance outcomes.Language Matters presentations apply to all languages! &nbs […]

 Dr. Jishnu Shankar, senior lecturer in the Department of Asian Studies, will discuss his work on the “Language for Health in Hindi and Urdu” website, a collaborative project which attempts to teach the language of health and medicine for higher level students of Hindi and Urdu. www.hindiurduhealth.orgPizza will be available.Jishnu Shankar is a Senior Lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin in the Department of Asian Studies and the Hindi-Urdu Flagship Program.  His longstanding interests in online efforts to teach Hindi include the joint creation (with NYU and Columbia University) of the “Language for Health in Hindi and Urdu” website which attempts to teach the language of health and medicine for higher level students of Hindi and Urdu. Besides teaching language Jishnu also conducts research on the Aghor tradition of ascetics in India and has also translated books from this tradition.  An international authority on the tradition, his main publications include titles in Hindi, Aghor Vachan Shastra (The Scripture of Aghor Wisdom) and Bhagawanramleelamrit (The Nectar of the Divine Play of Bhagwan Ram), and in English, The Book of Aghor Wisdom and Mysteries of the Aghor Master.  Dr. Shankar serves as the “Scientific Advisor” on the board of the Venetian Academy of Indian Studies (VAIS). &nbs […]

From developing confidence in using foreign languages in public, to improved pronunciation, intonation, and phrasing—not to mention gains in cultural literacy—language instructors use drama techniques and play performance to improve students’ overall language proficiency. This half-day workshop will showcase the experience of four instructors at the University of Texas at Austin who use drama in language courses from Novice to Advanced levels. Presenters will demonstrate the various techniques used in their courses, and discuss the kinds of performance they use in their classes. Techniques and methods discussed will be applicable to all languages and levels of instruction. […]