[http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com]
As I write this, I am sitting in my room on the 21st floor of the New York Marriott Marquis. The hotel is located on Broadway in the heart of Times Square. My room is not on the Broadway side of the hotel, so I can't look out on Times Square from my window. However, I can see some of the theaters from my window. I'm planning on taking in a show or two while I'm here.
I'm in NY to attend the annual convention of the American Translators Association (ATA), which is also a celebration of the ATA's 50th anniversary. I love attending ATA conventions. For one thing, as I make my way through the mass of people during coffee breaks, I hear more languages than I can keep track of. Often, I have no idea what language is being spoken when I overhear a conversation. It must be kind of like going to a U.N. function. I love it. However, the best part of attending ATA conventions is the abundance of very practical workshop sessions they offer. The downside to that abundance is that you have to make hard choices. Typically there are 14-16 sessions running simultaneously at each time slot. For instance, the sessions start on Thursday and I am already faced with 54 different workshops I could attend just today. Multiply that by 3 (the convention runs through Saturday) and you can see how frustrating it is not to be able to be in two places at the same time. I am skipping the time slots devoted to plenary ATA business sessions so that I can get some other work done (like write this blog post), which leaves me the opportunity to attend 10 sessions over 3 days. (No evening sessions other than opening and closing receptions, which gives time for exploring, seeing shows and generally just getting out and about.) In the past, I usually have concentrated on the Spanish sessions (sessions are categorized by language and by topic). This year, I am focusing all 10 workshop sessions I plan to attend on translation pedagogy or on sessions that in one way or another relate to Southern Nazarene University's B.A. in Spanish-English Translation.
Last night at the opening reception I spoke with a current student and a recent graduate of Kent State's M.A. in translation program. It was interesting to hear a little about that program and listen to the students' responses to some of my questions. One of the insights I walked away with is that real-world internships are very important in translator education. At Southern Nazarene University, we have an internship built into the program. However, I also want to continue exploring ways to involve students in real world translation scenarios from the very beginning of their translation studies. I'm looking forward to the rest of the convention and to what I can get out of it that I can take back to my students.
On another subject, if you haven't read Erin's and Rhea's latest blog posts from Costa Rica, check them out at http://erin-fitz.blogspot.com and http://rheaincostarica.blogspot.com.
Finally, congratulations to two of our Spanish majors (both double majors in Spanish and another area) who are studying abroad next semester. Paul James is going to Costa Rica and Stephanie Di Pego is going to Russia. ¡Felicitaciones a los dos!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
¡Nicaragua!
[http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com/]
If you are not following Erin's, Destry's & Rhea's blogs from the Latin American Studies Program in Costa Rica, you are missing out on some tremendous experiences. I just read Rhea's post about her time in Nicaragua. Her post shows how study abroad experiences start changing your life long before you get back to the U.S. Read it at http://rheaincostarica.blogspot.com/.
If you are not following Erin's, Destry's & Rhea's blogs from the Latin American Studies Program in Costa Rica, you are missing out on some tremendous experiences. I just read Rhea's post about her time in Nicaragua. Her post shows how study abroad experiences start changing your life long before you get back to the U.S. Read it at http://rheaincostarica.blogspot.com/.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Are you a nitwitted monolingual boor with overweight kids?
[http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com/]
The question is mine. The quote is from an Op Ed piece by Lisa Degliantoni on Newspaper Tree (http://www.newspapertree.com/opinion/4215-degliantoni-your-parents-not-telemundo-will-make-you-multilingual). In a very personal and opinionated way, which makes for entertaining reading, Lisa states her case that everybody in the U.S. should embrace bilingualism. She jumps on monolinguals who think that neither they nor their children should bother to learn another language, and she compares them to parents who never teach their children that apples and exercise are good and junk food and sitting on the couch all day are bad.
Lisa outlines her own linguistic and cultural heritage involving her maternal grandparents who immigrated from France. Although Lisa's grandmother spoke French at work, home and in her social life, and barely spoke English, she taught very little French to Lisa's mother. Lisa's mother, in turn, did not teach French to Lisa. Lisa says, "[B]y the time my generation came around we knew no French and embraced the culture in only three ways; we celebrated Bastille Day, drank red wine and went to annual parties at the Alliance Francais."
Lisa now finds herself in El Paso and surrounded by people who take speaking two languages fluently as a natural occurrence. It is a natural occurrence for them because they grew up speaking two languages as part of the environment in which they lived. Lisa says that she is trying to rectify her monolingual heritage by studying Spanish at a community college in El Paso. I wish her luck.
One of the most important tasks that I am trying to accomplish at Southern Nazarene University is to be a part of the cure for the monolingualism that infects our campus and campus culture. I say part of the cure because a lot of other people are making great strides forward. The intensive English programs for foreign students help those who want to study at SNU and need to develop the English skills required for university-level study. From my perspective, it is just as important that the intensive English programs make possible a multilingual presence on campus, a presence that challenges English-speaking students to open up to a large part of the non-English-speaking world. The International Studies Program (ISP) attracts foreign students who come to SNU to study and who also make a multilingual and multicultural impact on campus. The ISP also attracts U.S students who want to be part of the global community and are willing to make the commitment to develop the business, history, political science and language & culture skills they need to compete and contribute in that community. I'm also very excited about Dr. Don Dunnington's new role in promoting global engagement by all SNU students. Great things are going to happen as part of that initiative.
We haven't found the cure for SNU's monolingualism, but we're making progress, and its fun to be part of the cure.
JUST SAY "NO" TO MONOLINGUALISM. LEARN ANOTHER LANGUAGE.
The question is mine. The quote is from an Op Ed piece by Lisa Degliantoni on Newspaper Tree (http://www.newspapertree.com/opinion/4215-degliantoni-your-parents-not-telemundo-will-make-you-multilingual). In a very personal and opinionated way, which makes for entertaining reading, Lisa states her case that everybody in the U.S. should embrace bilingualism. She jumps on monolinguals who think that neither they nor their children should bother to learn another language, and she compares them to parents who never teach their children that apples and exercise are good and junk food and sitting on the couch all day are bad.
Lisa outlines her own linguistic and cultural heritage involving her maternal grandparents who immigrated from France. Although Lisa's grandmother spoke French at work, home and in her social life, and barely spoke English, she taught very little French to Lisa's mother. Lisa's mother, in turn, did not teach French to Lisa. Lisa says, "[B]y the time my generation came around we knew no French and embraced the culture in only three ways; we celebrated Bastille Day, drank red wine and went to annual parties at the Alliance Francais."
Lisa now finds herself in El Paso and surrounded by people who take speaking two languages fluently as a natural occurrence. It is a natural occurrence for them because they grew up speaking two languages as part of the environment in which they lived. Lisa says that she is trying to rectify her monolingual heritage by studying Spanish at a community college in El Paso. I wish her luck.
One of the most important tasks that I am trying to accomplish at Southern Nazarene University is to be a part of the cure for the monolingualism that infects our campus and campus culture. I say part of the cure because a lot of other people are making great strides forward. The intensive English programs for foreign students help those who want to study at SNU and need to develop the English skills required for university-level study. From my perspective, it is just as important that the intensive English programs make possible a multilingual presence on campus, a presence that challenges English-speaking students to open up to a large part of the non-English-speaking world. The International Studies Program (ISP) attracts foreign students who come to SNU to study and who also make a multilingual and multicultural impact on campus. The ISP also attracts U.S students who want to be part of the global community and are willing to make the commitment to develop the business, history, political science and language & culture skills they need to compete and contribute in that community. I'm also very excited about Dr. Don Dunnington's new role in promoting global engagement by all SNU students. Great things are going to happen as part of that initiative.
We haven't found the cure for SNU's monolingualism, but we're making progress, and its fun to be part of the cure.
JUST SAY "NO" TO MONOLINGUALISM. LEARN ANOTHER LANGUAGE.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Latin American adventures!
[goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com]
It has been a good spring, summer and now fall for Southern Nazarene University students studying in Latin America. In the spring, Rachel Ekdahl studied at the Latin American Studies Program (LASP) in Costa Rica and Rachel Cadwallader, Abby McCrummen, Lindsey Rochester and Mat Wood studied at the Nazarene International Language Institute (NILI) in Ecuador. The students at NILI were joined by Dr. Howard Culbertson who spent a sabbatical semester teaching a class and studying Spanish at NILI. Then Kyle Sides studied at NILI over the summer. Now we have four more students at LASP for the fall semester. Erin Fitzgerald, Destry Howland, Sarah Stocks and Rhea Woodcock arrived in San José, Costa Rica, just a few days ago. I heard that at least one of them had a little bit of an adventure getting there but finally made it.
For any SNU students interested in studying at LASP (or just thinking about it), this semester is a great opportunity to keep up with some first hand accounts of what it is like to study there. Erin and Rhea are writing blogs (http://erin-fitz.blogspot.com/ and http://rheaincostarica.blogspot.com/) and Destry has an open Facebook group going called Destry in Costa Rica. Follow Erin's and Rhea's blogs and Destry's group and keep up with the adventure.
It has been a good spring, summer and now fall for Southern Nazarene University students studying in Latin America. In the spring, Rachel Ekdahl studied at the Latin American Studies Program (LASP) in Costa Rica and Rachel Cadwallader, Abby McCrummen, Lindsey Rochester and Mat Wood studied at the Nazarene International Language Institute (NILI) in Ecuador. The students at NILI were joined by Dr. Howard Culbertson who spent a sabbatical semester teaching a class and studying Spanish at NILI. Then Kyle Sides studied at NILI over the summer. Now we have four more students at LASP for the fall semester. Erin Fitzgerald, Destry Howland, Sarah Stocks and Rhea Woodcock arrived in San José, Costa Rica, just a few days ago. I heard that at least one of them had a little bit of an adventure getting there but finally made it.
For any SNU students interested in studying at LASP (or just thinking about it), this semester is a great opportunity to keep up with some first hand accounts of what it is like to study there. Erin and Rhea are writing blogs (http://erin-fitz.blogspot.com/ and http://rheaincostarica.blogspot.com/) and Destry has an open Facebook group going called Destry in Costa Rica. Follow Erin's and Rhea's blogs and Destry's group and keep up with the adventure.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Education with an expiration date
[http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com/]
This morning I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that takes on college rankings (Those Little Lists: What College Rankings Tell Us,). The impetus for the article was U.S. News & World Report's newest rankings of universities and liberal arts colleges. Not surprisingly, Harvard is ranked #1. What I particularly liked about the article is the basic question it asked. What is most important to consider when thinking about the real value of a college or university: social status, starting salary or the content of an education? Of course, the article came down on the side of content. It also came down on the side of a more traditional liberal arts content. The article ended with this: "The irony of modern education is that the faster the world moves the more value there is in the dusty old undergraduate curriculum. Train for a specific technology and chances are it will be obsolete before the ink is dry on the diploma. Indulge in the academic fad of the moment and you may find it hard to change your bell-bottomed intellectual wardrobe when styles shift. Who wants an education with an expiration date?"
I think Southern Nazarene University holds up well to an analysis like this. It does a good job of combining a strong emphasis on a liberal arts core curriculum and innovation and responsiveness to changing educational insights and career opportunities. Thinking specifically about our GoGlobal majors at SNU, the International Studies Program provides a strong grounding in three areas that are vital to any student interested in pursuing an international oriented career: business fundamentals, global historical, political and geographical understanding, and language and cultural competency. That is not an education with an expiration date. Our new Spanish-English Translation major is a direct response to globalization and the accompanying demand for global communication. It is an innovative major that up to now is available in only a few schools at the undergraduate level. However, it is also built on a foundation of excellence in the core competencies of developing high-level reading, writing and research skills in both English and Spanish. That is not the kind of intellectual wardrobe that will need changing with shifting styles.
This morning I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that takes on college rankings (Those Little Lists: What College Rankings Tell Us,). The impetus for the article was U.S. News & World Report's newest rankings of universities and liberal arts colleges. Not surprisingly, Harvard is ranked #1. What I particularly liked about the article is the basic question it asked. What is most important to consider when thinking about the real value of a college or university: social status, starting salary or the content of an education? Of course, the article came down on the side of content. It also came down on the side of a more traditional liberal arts content. The article ended with this: "The irony of modern education is that the faster the world moves the more value there is in the dusty old undergraduate curriculum. Train for a specific technology and chances are it will be obsolete before the ink is dry on the diploma. Indulge in the academic fad of the moment and you may find it hard to change your bell-bottomed intellectual wardrobe when styles shift. Who wants an education with an expiration date?"
I think Southern Nazarene University holds up well to an analysis like this. It does a good job of combining a strong emphasis on a liberal arts core curriculum and innovation and responsiveness to changing educational insights and career opportunities. Thinking specifically about our GoGlobal majors at SNU, the International Studies Program provides a strong grounding in three areas that are vital to any student interested in pursuing an international oriented career: business fundamentals, global historical, political and geographical understanding, and language and cultural competency. That is not an education with an expiration date. Our new Spanish-English Translation major is a direct response to globalization and the accompanying demand for global communication. It is an innovative major that up to now is available in only a few schools at the undergraduate level. However, it is also built on a foundation of excellence in the core competencies of developing high-level reading, writing and research skills in both English and Spanish. That is not the kind of intellectual wardrobe that will need changing with shifting styles.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
McNair Scholars Program
[http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com/]
A couple of days ago in my GoGlobalatSNU blog/FB note, I wrote about how pleased I was to teach at a university that helps women prepare for leadership roles in society. Southern Nazarene University has created programs designed to help a variety of students, both women and men, achieve all that they can. One of those programs that I think is fantastic is the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program. The McNair Program is designed for first generation university students. Specifically, it is for students who meet the following criteria:
*U.S. citizen or permanent resident
*First generation and income eligible student OR a member of an underrepresented group: African American, Hispanic, Native American or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
*Must have completed 56 credits by the time of initial entry into the program
*Must have a minimum cumulative GPA of: 3.0
*Must express a desire to attain a Ph.D
McNair scholars enjoy benefits like
*conducting original research under a faculty mentor ($2,800 stipend included);
*having the opportunity to present their research at a McNair Research Conference or a professional conference in their discipline;
*receiving tutoring and academic assistance;
*participating in graduate school workshops and seminars;
*going on graduate school visits;
*receiving help with GRE preparation;
*receiving graduate school fee waivers; and
*participating in special cultural activities.
Nicki Pope was a 2008-2009 McNair Scholar and a May 2009 graduate with a Spanish major. Nicki has been accepted into a master's program in translation and is the first SNU graduate to pursue a graduate degree in translation. The McNair Program was an encouragement for her to go on and pursue graduate study.
Any SNU student who meets the criteria listed above should check out the McNair Program and see if it is right for them. Visit the McNair website at http://www.snu.edu/mcnair.
A couple of days ago in my GoGlobalatSNU blog/FB note, I wrote about how pleased I was to teach at a university that helps women prepare for leadership roles in society. Southern Nazarene University has created programs designed to help a variety of students, both women and men, achieve all that they can. One of those programs that I think is fantastic is the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program. The McNair Program is designed for first generation university students. Specifically, it is for students who meet the following criteria:
*U.S. citizen or permanent resident
*First generation and income eligible student OR a member of an underrepresented group: African American, Hispanic, Native American or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
*Must have completed 56 credits by the time of initial entry into the program
*Must have a minimum cumulative GPA of: 3.0
*Must express a desire to attain a Ph.D
McNair scholars enjoy benefits like
*conducting original research under a faculty mentor ($2,800 stipend included);
*having the opportunity to present their research at a McNair Research Conference or a professional conference in their discipline;
*receiving tutoring and academic assistance;
*participating in graduate school workshops and seminars;
*going on graduate school visits;
*receiving help with GRE preparation;
*receiving graduate school fee waivers; and
*participating in special cultural activities.
Nicki Pope was a 2008-2009 McNair Scholar and a May 2009 graduate with a Spanish major. Nicki has been accepted into a master's program in translation and is the first SNU graduate to pursue a graduate degree in translation. The McNair Program was an encouragement for her to go on and pursue graduate study.
Any SNU student who meets the criteria listed above should check out the McNair Program and see if it is right for them. Visit the McNair website at http://www.snu.edu/mcnair.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Bright and capable women
[http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com/]
Yesterday at our church we heard a powerful testimony from Maziel Dani. Maziel is a Latina from Puerto Rico who is studying at Brite Divinity School in Ft. Worth. In her testimony, Maziel spoke about the support and encouragement she has received from First Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, to fulfill her call to ministry. She contrasted the support from FBC OKC with the lack of support she received from another church where she had been a member. In that previous church, it was made clear to her that a woman’s ministry in the church could only be exercised within narrowly defined limits, limits that did not include pastoral ministry. I am very happy to be part of a church that supports women in responding to God’s call to ministry without the culture-bound, artificial barriers erected by so many other churches.
Thinking about our church’s role in Maziel’s journey leads me to think about Southern Nazarene University’s role in helping women fulfill God’s calling in their lives. I am also very happy to teach at a university that takes women seriously and helps them prepare for the leadership roles to which God is calling them. The women students in my own department at SNU (Modern Languages) are some of the brightest and most capable women with whom I have worked anywhere. I truly believe that God has called them to make significant contributions to society and that under God’s leadership they will make a major difference for good in our world. Some of them will do that within careers that are directly church and mission related. I think most of them will make their contributions outside of traditional ministry related careers. Whatever their career paths, my hope is that SNU will always be a significant part of their response to God’s call to minister wherever they are and whatever they do.
Yesterday at our church we heard a powerful testimony from Maziel Dani. Maziel is a Latina from Puerto Rico who is studying at Brite Divinity School in Ft. Worth. In her testimony, Maziel spoke about the support and encouragement she has received from First Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, to fulfill her call to ministry. She contrasted the support from FBC OKC with the lack of support she received from another church where she had been a member. In that previous church, it was made clear to her that a woman’s ministry in the church could only be exercised within narrowly defined limits, limits that did not include pastoral ministry. I am very happy to be part of a church that supports women in responding to God’s call to ministry without the culture-bound, artificial barriers erected by so many other churches.
Thinking about our church’s role in Maziel’s journey leads me to think about Southern Nazarene University’s role in helping women fulfill God’s calling in their lives. I am also very happy to teach at a university that takes women seriously and helps them prepare for the leadership roles to which God is calling them. The women students in my own department at SNU (Modern Languages) are some of the brightest and most capable women with whom I have worked anywhere. I truly believe that God has called them to make significant contributions to society and that under God’s leadership they will make a major difference for good in our world. Some of them will do that within careers that are directly church and mission related. I think most of them will make their contributions outside of traditional ministry related careers. Whatever their career paths, my hope is that SNU will always be a significant part of their response to God’s call to minister wherever they are and whatever they do.
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