Post 1 Sem 2 Russian Cuisine
Post 2 Sem 2 Self-portrait Using a screen capture
Post 3 Sem 2 Bio
Post 4 Sem 5 Lit analysis
Post 5 Sem 4 Story retell
Post 6 Sem 5 Comparing 2 characters
Post 7
Post 8
Post 9
Post 10
The following topics are samples of student work developed over 4 semesters at Lafayette. The classes meet 3 times a week for 50 minutes. Students work an additional hour per week with a Fulbright conversation partner.
Topics: Original poems, ads, self-portraits, transportation, weather
Post 1: Sem 2
Post 2. Sem 3
Post 3. Sem 4
Post 4. Sem 4
Post 5 Ind Study
Post 6 Lesson
Post 7 Sem 4
Post 8 Sem 1 Poem
A students elementary French class portfolio: includes a Twitter (writing) assignment, an extemporaneous speech (Skype) recording with another student, a video on La Belgique, and an ad promoting a French product.
They student’s goal was to visualize the Rabelais’s view of Utopia in a multimedia format after having written a paper on the subject. Her video will be accessible as a ressource to future French students, who would like to learn more about the topic.
A GILS course is very labor intensive, but there is a concerted effort to also connect the student and the language to the culture where the language is used. Of interest here is the poster about the Arabic spring (continued interest) from the 1st semester and then the student’s video about her family. Note the comments by evaluators.
View work.
Matt wrote this reflection as part of a capstone experience while looking back on a course that he took in his junior year. Of particular interest is his use of the CanDo self-efficacy terms found in the course surveys offered by the Department each semester. These survey terms are designed to scaffold students’ metacognitive skills and reflection on their progress and help them set up goals.
Visit the site.
This student is enrolled in the FLL methods class as part of his preparation to be a GILS conversation partner. Of note are the course outcomes and and the evidence that he provides as he completes each one. This is a team taught class, so he will have responses from several instructors.
Course outcomes and evidence provided by student.
Instructors: Hammouch, Toulouse, Qualtere, Geoffrion-Vinci, Lafayette College
We have a beta program where we are offering less commonly taught languages using the NASILP model. Do take a look at this student’s course page.
We are very happy with the use of course objectives and students providing “evidence” of having met these objectives.
The digital pen has been a real find; students are writing the alphabet in the 1st semester and saying the letters as they write. They tell me that this helps them hear their mistakes and forces them to read, not just draw. These pens should also make it easier for our off-campus evaluator to see their work.
We are insisting on a proficiency approach where students speak the language, not just write it and take tests as may be the case at another institution. Moreover, our students taking this independent study, have formed a small support group of heritage speakers and Americans; they are working together on both written and spoken proficiency –a true community of learners.
This sample site is the eportfolio of a Freshman; we’re looking forward to seeing her document her learning over the semester and the next four years.
Instructors: M. Toulouse, N. Hamouch, M. Geoffrion-Vinci
Conversation partner: Y. Selum Lafayette College
Mid-term project: a student business portfolio
Objectives: communicative competence (presentational (speaking and media composition), use of authentic materials
Instructor: M. Lamb-Faffelberger Lafayette College
Students retold the Onegin story from the perspective of one of its characters. They added authentic Russian music as background.
Communicative objectives: interpretive, presentational (speaking and media composition)
Instructor: V. Sajez Lafayette College
In this Spanish course on Pre-Colombian Latin America, students used images from a research data base created by the professor to “write” a documentary on a topic of their choice. This is a scaffolded project with a print draft and required practice pronunciation with a FLLRC native speaker proctor; most projects were collaborative with students learning from each other.
Communicative objectives: interpretive, presentational (speaking and “writing”).
Objective: to add a new communicative competencies to a course curriculum that previously only required an reading and writing component.
Sample one : students were asked to professionally subtitle segments of a French film (listening)
Sample two: students were asked to interview a French students on their opinion of the American elections and then subtitle the segment for the local American TV station. Quite serendipitously, one of the American students was in turn asked to be interviewed by his French counterpart, who was a communications major; the interview was run on Radio France and published on their website. (listening, interpersonal modes of communication)
Students worked with the Max Kade Center writer in residence to write and perform their own play. At the end of the semester, students used multimedia to compose aon their experience.
Instructor: M. Lamb-Faffelberger Lafayette College
Matt was an engineering major, Spanish minor. He is currently working for an international chemical firm in Pennsylvania. He has exported his original ePortfolio from Lafayette’s servers and is continuing to build it in his current job.
Please see here his self-reflections on his work in Spanish while at Lafayette.
Instructor: M. Geoffrion-Vinci Lafayette College
This is work done in an independent study with the objective of composing in multimedia using a number of communicative skills with a cross-disciplinary focus on the student’s major.
Instructor: T. Rom Lafayette College
This assignment was part of a process where first semester students were first asked to write up a self-portrait with the intention rendering it eventually into a movie.
Step 2: After the draft and rewrite, one of our native speaker proctors read each portrait and saved an audio file on our server which the students used for practicing their pronunciation.
Step 3: students made a first draft of their videos. This page represents this 3rd stage of the project. Ideally each student was to critique three of his/her classmates work; a rubric was given for this purpose. Unfortunately, we had some technical slow-downs, so students were only able to critique one or two.
Step 4: Create a final version taking into account the comments received from students and their instructor. Again, please note that these are not the final projects.
Objectives: developing 4 modes of communicative competence (listening, speaking, writing, and presentational) , developing the metacognitive skills to improve their personal learning, building a community of learners where students are given the opportunity to help others all while reinforcing their own personal, learning experience.
See authorized samples.
Instructor: M. Toulouse Lafayette College
Scaffolded assignment where students studied different forms of news media and produced an example. Targeted communicative skills: interpretive, speaking, presentational.
Instructor: N. Ikegami Lafayette College
Project Objectives:
-Communicative skills in development (speaking, reading, presentational)
-Functional purpose (demonstrates what students can do…)
Students recorded their speech once a week over the entire academic year so they could see their progress. Note the week “one” versus the “week 25”. chn_102_y1_sample
Instructor: K Venuto Lafayette College
A senior project in German describing the different learning experiences in this seminar course: intensive writing, discussions, web conferencing with students at a German university studying politics. This is a scaffolded assignment where students send in a written draft and then compose using images and video clips from the semester as well as reflect on and read from texts studied. Targeting all 5 communicative modes and connections.
Instructor: M. Lamb-Faffelberger
Lafayette College