by Carol Reitan
Intrepid CCCFLC conference attendees and presenters made it to CCSF's new Chinatown Campus/Center in spite of the first day of the BART strike. Participants came from CCSF, Mt. San Antonio College, and Moorpark College. Languages represented were Chinese, French, Japanese, Pilipino, and Spanish.
For some of us, the day started really early with a great view of a SF Bay sunrise.
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The morning included a video welcome from CCSF's Jeff Lamb, the Dean of the School of English and Foreign Languages.
Dean Lamb's remarks sparked a discussion of different types of languages for the professions courses that had been offered at various schools and how successful they had been, or not been. It was decided to take Lamb's suggestion and investigate new versions of these courses, especially in the medical field in Spanish, Chinese, and Pilipino, going forward.
Next, Cengage showed us the features of their newest version of iLrn (digital component of many of their textbooks). Questions and spirited discussion followed.
Finally, our beleaguered presenter, Dr. Joi Barrios, made her way to Chinatown from Berkeley, having just learned of the strike that morning. We were so happy she made it! Her talk entitled, "The Filipino American Activist as Heritage Language Learner: Notes on Language and Diaspora Nationalisms" was fascinating.
Her presentation and subsequent discussion taught us about the history of the Philippines and the current situation there as well as much about the characteristics of the typical heritage language learner. Our Chinese and Spanish teachers were especially interested in the distinction made between heritage language learner and speaker and took away much to apply to their own classes.
Then we made a short trek to the New Asia restaurant. We were treated like royalty and the food was terrific.
In the afternoon, Dr. Barrios returned and participated in an animated discussion. Cengage also returned to show us how the new iLrn aids in the assessing and reporting of student learning outcomes.
The heart of the CCCFLC is the people that attend and make it happen. Thank you to all of you for making it happen once again this year.
(This inspirational poem and beautiful artwork is on the east side of the building.)
The CCCFLC Day in Pictures
