Job Opportunity

Thu Feb 3 17:30:59 UTC 2005

I am simply posting this announcement.  Please do not respond directly
to me:

Multimedia Language Centre: Computer-Assisted Language Teaching
Consultant

The Multimedia Language Centre will soon be renovating its premises and
equipment, and seeks assistance to maintain its commitment to excellence
in computer-assisted language learning.

In consultation with the Language Labs Advisory Committee, the Director
of the Language Laboratories invites applications from qualified
candidates to perform a number of duties to ensure a smooth transition
to the renovated facility.

These duties include identification, evaluation and recommendation of
open-source and/or low-cost language learning software suitable for use
in the MLC, as well as the development, in consultation with the
Director and instructors, of language learning materials to supplement
those provided by textbook publishers. Some conversion of existing CALL
materials into formats suitable for delivery over the World Wide Web may
also be required.

Qualifications: experience as a language teacher and knowledge of at
least one second language taught at Memorial (and preferably French,
German, Spanish or Russian); familiarity with computer-assisted language
learning pedagogy; ability to perform rudimentary programming for
Internet applications. Knowledge of WebCT or other virtual learning
environment, and any CALL authoring tool, would be assets.

This position is available immediately and will continue until the end
of the Winter semester 2005. It is paid at the rate of remuneration for
per-course teaching, and is expected to require approximately 160 hours
of work. The position is subject to renewal in the Spring semester 2005.

Please forward applications by 8 February 2005, including a curriculum
vitae and a clear indication of your qualifications for the position, to

Karin Thomeier, Director, Language Laboratories, SN-4022, Memorial
University, A1B 3X9.

*************************
Dr. Frederick H. White
Memorial University  SN3056
German and Russian
St. John's, NL   A1B 3X9
Ph: 709-737-8829
Fax: 709-737-4000
Office: 709-737-8831
*************************

-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] On Behalf Of Nora Favorov
Sent: Thursday, 03 February, 2005 10:24
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: [SEELANGS] Anchorage Students Learning in Russian

Today: February 03, 2005 at 4:32:44 PST

Anchorage Students Learning in Russian
By RACHEL D'ORO
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The littlest students at one Anchorage school
are
learning their lessons in Russian, the complex tongue of Alaska's former
owner and a language increasingly important for improved international
relations.

Kindergartners and first-graders at Turnagain Elementary School attend
two
three-hour sessions a day - one in Russian, one in English - in a
program
described by foreign language experts as a first for a public school in
the
United States.

It's serious stuff tackling the 33-letter Cyrillic alphabet and many
consonant sounds not found in English. Russian is spoken as a first
language
by 170 million people; it's a second language for at least 100 million
more.

"This language takes so long to learn, so this is a great way to do it,"
said Janice Gullickson, coordinator of the Anchorage School District's
world
languages office. "We envision a grand product."

The age of the students is what makes the Alaska program unique, experts
say. Many schools nationwide offer Russian as a second language to
middle
and high school students.

"What Anchorage is doing is indeed new," said Dan Davidson, director of
the
Washington-based American Council of Teachers of Russian. "I think
Alaska
has really hit on what we'd like to view as a new model."

The program is being launched with a $490,000 three-year grant from the
U.S.
Department of Education's foreign language assistance program. Officials
with the 49,000-student district plan to expand it each year at the
365-student school, ultimately offering it in all grades.

Two Russian natives are among the four teachers assigned to the program.
On
a recent January morning, Katerina Huelsman held up flash cards before
16
attentive first-graders.

"SLOO-shai-teh mee-NYA," she said. Translation: "Listen to me."

Up went a card showing slumbering children and up went a dozen hands.
"Spaht!" called out a girl, correctly pronouncing the word for "to
sleep."

Only six of the students come from Russian-speaking homes. About 5,200
people - less than 1 percent of Alaska's population - claim Russian as
their
primary heritage, according to 2000 census figures. Still, the program
was
born in a state with long ties to its Slavic neighbor.

The link began thousands of years ago with Siberian nomads who are
believed
to have migrated over the Bering Strait. Eighteenth-century Russians
explored the Alaska coast, imparting geographic names and remnants of
their
culture that remain today. Traders established the earliest modern
settlements in the territory purchased by the United States for $7.2
million
in 1867, almost a century before Alaska was admitted as the 49th state.

The relationship took on boundless promise with the end of the Cold War,
said Elena Farkas, coordinator of the Russian Immersion program. Farkas
campaigned for such a program for more than a decade, almost from the
time
she arrived from Magadan, Anchorage's Russian sister city since 1991.

The way she sees it, the new program is building a corps of future
ambassadors.

"The time is right," she said. "People look at Russia differently, not
as an
enemy anymore. We need to establish a national relationship with Russia
-
and one way to establish a relationship is to know the language and
culture."

Russian - along with Arabic, Chinese and Korean - are identified as the
most
crucial languages to learn in international relations, said Davidson of
the
Russian teachers council, a division of the nonprofit American Councils
for
International Education.

Mastering those languages is critical for improving international
relations
and the same skills are greatly needed in trade, research, fisheries and
oil
development, Davidson said.

Aside from the global implications, language immersion exposes students
to a
rich cultural experience, said Tom and Meg Kibler, who enrolled their
5-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn, in one of the two kindergarten classes
offered
through the program. Their fourth-grader daughter, Haley, also gets
brief
lessons in Russian through Turnagain's program for non-immersion
students.

"I want our girls to know the world is bigger than Anchorage or Alaska
or
the U.S., for that matter," said Tom Kibler, a former Russian linguist
with
the Army who now leads language classes for parents of immersion
students.
"The more we learn about different cultures and people, the more we
recognize we have so many
similarities."

Kaitlyn just likes Russian.

"It's fun, really fun, to learn a different language," she said.

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