Spring 2025 BLC Fellows Forum

Instructional Development Research Projects


Sounding Solace: To Hold Arabic in Our Hands Like a Bird

Nathalie KhankanNathalie Khankan pic

Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures

Teaching Arabic in the US since October 2023 has heightened both my sense of language teaching as urgency and its fraught linguistic, political and emotional implications. This project is inspired by the student encampments’ use of sound (an ‘acoustemology’ in Feld’s terms) and extends my previous work on ephemeral soundscapes for language learners. It opens two main dialogues with my students: How are we (really) doing? And, how can our first year Arabic language classroom also be a room where we inquire into and move our bodies towards solace?

Bio: 
Nathalie Khankan teaches Arabic language and literature in MELC.


Communicating Grammar: Making Explicit Grammar Teaching an Organic Part of the Curriculum

Nora KoaNora Koa pic

South & Southeast Asian Studies

The aim of this project is to seamlessly incorporate explicit grammar teaching into a communicative style approach in an advanced proficiency heritage class. It includes the development of real-life, input-based, personalized assignments that encourage learners' autonomy, and cover four advanced grammar topics over the course of one semester.

Bio: 
Nora Koa's background is in Hindi, Sanskrit, and Second Language Teaching. She taught at Delhi University and Charles University in Prague. At present, her research focuses mainly on Second language teaching and acquisition. Her other research interests are Early Modern languages and literature of North India, and modern Theravada Buddhism.


Ladino en Kaza (Ladino at Home): Towards an At-Home Language Nesting Kit for Ladino Revitalization

Julia PeckJulia Peck pic

Linguistics

This talk introduces a new tool for the revitalization of Ladino, the endangered language of the Sephardic Jewish diaspora. The tool supports learners to create a language nest: a room in their house where they commit to speaking Ladino as much as possible, empowering them to bring the language home and make space for it in their lives.

Bio:
Julia Peck is a PhD student in Linguistics. She primarily works on Ladino revitalization, as well as the linguistic effects of the language's contact with Turkish and French. Julia holds a master's degree from the University of Oxford as an Ertegun Scholar in the Humanities. More importantly, she holds a language nest for Ladino in her own kitchen.


Friday, May 2, 2025
B-4 Dwinelle & Zoom, 3-5 pm
This lecture is sponsored by the College of Letters and Science.
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