Week two diary

Yesterday we had our second meeting. I gave some updates on what I've added to the course website and told the students about the research I hope to do about the course. I was happy to see that they seemed interested.

We talked about the three readings for this week—a couple of chapters from the Peace Corps book, a couple from Marshall's Whole World Guide to Language Learning, and one from Leaver et al's Achieving success in second language acquisition.  The campus bookstore only had two copies of the Marshall book, so one student (L) didn't have it yet, but the others seemed to find it useful.  I think it will be most useful for those who have a language conversation partner.  I found this other book that would have been good to assign, Individualized Study Plans for Very Advanced Students of Foreign Languages (also by Leaver), but I'm hesitant to assign a lot of reading for the course. E borrowed it, so I will ask her next week if she thinks it would be good to assign next time. If not, maybe I'll just have it put on reserve for those who want to use it.

Mostly we were getting to know each other still, sharing past experiences with language learning.  We had a really good discussion of their draft ISPs. I was surprised to see how different they were from each other in terms of both format and content.  I wonder if it would be better to dictate a specific format or if that individuality is actually positive. It's certainly fitting with the self-directed nature of their language learning. They had lots of good suggestions for one another and were very encouraging.

Next week we'll meet in the library to talk about finding resources!

Week one diary

African 670 and 697 met for the first time last Tuesday. Right before class I realized that the department administrator had never changed the room assignment in the timetable and I had no easy way to contact students because he'd also delayed in enrolling them. One was officially enrolled (N) and I knew of one other who had planned to (L). There was a third I'd heard was planning to enroll (C). I emailed the three of them and left a voice mail for N letting them know the new room.  Only L got the message in time, so she and I waited for a while until N showed up, along with E who I'd known was enrolling but inexplicably forgotten.  C decided not to take it because she didn't get a FLAS. I was hoping for more students in order to demonstrate the need for this course, but having three will make it an easy load for me. While L and I waited for the others, we chatted and I asked her if she thought she'd have taken the course without a FLAS, and she said yes because she really needs the language for her research. This is exactly why this course is needed.

I'd just started going over my introductory notes for L when E and N showed up, so I started over. N was the only student I didn't know yet, though I'd seen her in Yoruba classes and at our festival last spring.

E wants to do 4th year Swahili, N wants to do 4th year Yoruba, and L wants to do second year Luganda. We talked about the ACTFL standards and I showed them some sample progress indicators for Swahili, which they will use to help them set goals for their ISPs. I framed the class as an experiment that I'd like them to also help me assess as we go along, the same way they are assessing their own progress in language learning.

All the students are women. I wonder if it's still true that women tend to study foreign languages more than men do? It will be interesting to see if that is true as I teach this course over time. The first time I taught it at UCLA, there were four female students and no males. The second time, I think there were three female students and two males.

After class I set up the gradebook for 670 and the course website for 697.

I forgot to talk to the students about my own research on the course. I'll try to do that next week.