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This November, Mango Languages will be heading to Boston to attend the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Conference and World Languages Expo. There will be a wide variety of presentations, workshops, breakout sessions - you name it! There’s one presentation in particular that we’re excited about.
If you haven’t heard of ACTFL, they are the premier center for foreign language teaching in the U.S. Their system of assessing language proficiency is the standard for many schools, classes, and programs.
At the Conference and World Languages Expo, one of the presentations will be given by Michigan’s own Dr. Pasquale, a professor of Linguistics at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids. His talk is entitled Building Confidence and Motivation in a Language Class. Dr. Pasquale will be outlining how he created a course that addresses students’ anxieties with learning and speaking a new language and how it helps students reach a conversational level in the language over the course of the semester. Stop by Workshop Room #1 in Exhibit Halls A and B1 on Friday, November 18th from 1:30 - 2:20 to check out the presentation.
Dr. Pasquale’s course is formally called Language in Culture. At the beginning of the semester, students choose the language they’d like to study, then using Mango Languages - as well as a few auxiliary resources - Dr. Pasquale and the instructors help the students to gain conversational proficiency in the language of their choosing.
Guess what? Many students choose Mandarin, a language that is often thought of as very difficult. However, the students that do choose Mandarin show the most improvement by the end of the course!
This year’s conference theme at ACTFL is “ImpACTFL.” Besides the clever name, the ACTFL conference brings together over 6,000 language educators from all languages, levels, and assignments. Attendees have the opportunity to attend over 700 sessions throughout the weekend — whether they’re talks, breakout sessions, or keynotes, you’re sure to find something you enjoy. In addition, over 250 exhibitors will be displaying their products and services. Stop by booth 1723 to chat with some Mangos about language and culture!
If you would like to get a sneak peek of Dr. Pasquale’s talk, you can check out his guest post on the Mango Languages blog. You’ll have access to the presenter’s handouts starting November 14th.
See you in Boston!
Interested in how Mango Languages can help your university? Mango helped the Brazosport College library connect with their language department and helped promote engagement between the library, campus, and community. Click below to download the case study and read this university’s success story.
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