2007-02-20 Julie Sykes (22:33 mp3)
Today I interviewed Julie Sykes, who represents a wonderfully-interesting blend of the worlds of language acquisition and technology leadership. Julie is a doctoral student here at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and also is picking up her School Technology Leadership graduate certificate from CASTLE. Julie and I talked today about her Spanish Pragmatics Project, which is using virtual world software (like Second Life) to help postsecondary Spanish students learn how to communicate effectively with native Spanish speakers. Julie and I chatted in her department's language learning lab, so you may notice a slight hum in the background (as well as occasional noise in the outside hallway).
Julie generously agreed to include some screenshots of her virtual world (see below) and to field questions from listeners. Comments about this conversation are both welcome and encouraged. Here are links to some other resources:
Happy listening!
Screenshots (click on each to see larger picture)
Way to go Julie! What an exciting possibility for Spanish Language Learners, and eventually all language learners. I think about this for our ELL students in our public schools. Amazing to think how quickly and comfortably they can learn a new language. Not just the words, but the other aspects of language as well. Many of our ELL students are exited from the program because they have the vocabulary but they lack the nuances of the language. Things like idioms and colloquialisms are very confusing to them. I've finally broken the habit of asking ELL students if they are "all set". A program like yours would give them a great opportunity to practice with these nuances.
Thanks again for sharing.
Posted by: Dave Zukor | February 22, 2007 at 08:36 AM