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Friday, August 31, 2012

New Macbook Airs for Checkout

Our Macbook Air laptops have been much in demand due to their portability, ease of use and quick startup time. We are pleased to announce that we now have five Macbook Airs available for check out. Our older Mac computers have been retired. By Fall semester, we will have a portable CD/DVD drive that can be connected to a Macbook Air.

In addition, we still have five Dell Latitudes available for check out. They are not brand new, but have recently been updated, and have new cases.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Alyssa says goodbye!

Beginning this fall semester, I will no longer be serving the Language Center as the Classroom Support Coordinator.  Instead, I'll be starting a new journey at the University of Minnesota as a full-time ESL instructor in the Minnesota English Language Program (MELP), where I have taught part-time for five years.

While I'm looking forward to my new position in MELP, I will miss working with all of the great second language instructors here at the U of M.  Whether it's helping set up a class blog project or training the Mac DiLL software, I've really enjoyed helping instructors facilitate language learning through the use of technology. It's been really rewarding to be a part of this second language learning community here at the U of M!  

Jenny Boe, the current Office Coordinator, will be stepping in as the Interim Classroom Support Coordinator. In addition, former Classroom Support Assistant Meghan McFadden is now a graduate student, and she will be providing assistance in the morning throughout the month of September. You'll be in good hands with Jenny, Meghan and the student staff in Jones 5.  

Although I won't be helping in the classrooms as I have in the past, I'll certainly remain a frequent user and familiar face in the Language Center classrooms, and I look forward to seeing all of you then!

Alyssa Ruesch

Monday, August 20, 2012

Welcome Francisco, New World Languages Day Assistant

Please welcome the new World Languages Day student assistant: Francisco Salinas Vega. He is a senior majoring in Applied Economics. He is also a native Spanish speaker born in Queretaro Mexico. Francisco believes that learning a new language provides a person with different perspectives, and he has experience with event planning and outreach to the Latino community.

As an update on our previous assistants: Bethany Schowengerdt completed her BA in Global Studies and French, and a minor in Teaching English as a Second Language. Over the summer she taught ESL and worked for AFS, a cultural exchange organization. She is currently preparing for her Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) grant to travel to Rwanda.

Rachel Faynik Marbell completed her MA in International Education this past May. She is now working as the France Programs Coordinator at Intercultural Student Experiences, a non-profit educational organization that helps high school language teachers plan short-term immersion programs abroad with their students. She is still involved with the University of Minnesota through her position as the Assistant Coach of the Hockey Cheerleading Team.


Tuesday, August 7, 2012

TandemPlus and ESL at the St. Paul Saints Game

On Friday, July 27, TandemPlus co-hosted a night of baseball and fun with the Minnesota English Language Program. This is the first event co-hosted by these university programs and it was a great success! Both American and international students attended the Saint Paul Saints baseball game at Midway Stadium in St. Paul and spoke a variety of languages including Arabic, German, Japanese, Chinese, English and Spanish. Overall students had a great time and after 11 innings the Saints pulled through and won the game. The night ended with a spectacular fireworks show and celebration over the Saints win. We hope you will join us for our next event, and don't forget to mark your calendars -- Fall registration is less than a month away!