Results in BLC Posts
Posted by Victoria Williams on July 6, 2016
This presentation investigates the use of Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) for viewing figurative art in Danish classes to enhance students’ cultural literacy. Although VTS principles have been tested in museums and in K-12 classrooms, they have never been applied in foreign language (FL) classrooms. My primary goal was therefore to test if VTS strategies would…
Posted by Victoria Williams on February 23, 2016
During the fall of 2015, I taught for the first time in the state-of-the-art digitally equipped Berkeley Language Center classroom, Dwinelle B-3. I was amazed at how effectively it facilitated active learning and long distance communication, thus potentiating the innovative features of Spanish 102C (Volunteering, Global Education and Good Writing). In this course, students volunteer…
Posted by Victoria Williams on September 17, 2015
My project addresses issues with composition in the second-year French language program. In response to concerns voiced in surveys by students and instructors, I designed four units and suggested lesson plans. The first provides color-coding analysis of sample essays, allowing students to visualize and parse the elements of an essay. The second unit walks the…
Posted by Victoria Williams on September 17, 2015
In my talk, I will present some of the materials I have made for an interdisciplinary intermediate Russian cultural curriculum, intended to combine the study of literature and film with historical readings. I will discuss challenges of preparing intermediate Russian students to read complex non-fictional texts, focusing especially on the following three areas: the choice…
Posted by Victoria Williams on September 16, 2015
In this presentation we will report on our efforts to norm the questions that will be used in the Japanese online placement test, to be administered for the first time this coming August. We will present our analysis of the norming test results and the measures we took to handle problematic questions. We will discuss…
Posted by Victoria Williams on August 4, 2015
The purpose of this project was to develop pedagogical material for a film module on historical memory in Intermediate Spanish, as part of a larger departmental goal of increasing the presence and effectiveness of cinematic resources in our literacy-based curriculum. This presentation will describe the development, piloting, and evaluation of a unit on historical memory…
Posted by Victoria Williams on January 27, 2015
From musical references woven into urban landscapes to the use of arias in films, opera has forged a certain idea of Italianness, whether ironic, serious or stereotypical. Because of its powerful cultural reach and multimedial and collaborative dimensions, opera is a gateway to approaching specific aspects of the Italian language. My project investigates the potential…
Posted by Victoria Williams on August 7, 2014
Will digital textbooks replace print textbooks as the standard material for teaching and learning languages? Will instructional design reach the point where computer-based learning systems do away with the need for instructors? Will continued advances in machine translation serve as further de-motivation for learning a language at all? To provide perspective on these questions, this…
Posted by Victoria Williams on August 6, 2014
Currently, Japanese lecturers create and give 60-minute walk-in placement exams for new students one week before each semester starts. The lecturers grade each test manually, so the results may vary depending on how and by whom the tests are graded and various subjective factors. Therefore, the Japanese Program needs a more efficient and objective method…
Posted by Victoria Williams on May 14, 2014
This presentation will focus on the creation of a diversity-based curriculum comprised of a series of six lesson plans designed to introduce intermediate students of Russian to the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Russian-speaking world, as well as to some of the problematics of cultural contact in the context of contemporary Russia. The goal…