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Monday, November 25, 2013

Spanish Students: Help pilot a new resource and receive a free gift certificate!

December 11, 2013, 3:00-4:30 p.m., Jones 35

The Spanish and Portuguese Studies department and the Language Testing Program are collaborating on a new resource to help students assess their own Spanish language abilities, called an Advanced-Level Self-Assessment Instrument. It is intended for Spanish majors and other students in higher-level courses to help them understand and describe their own abilities.

The Advanced-Level Self-Assessment Instrument will be piloted for the first time on December 11, 2013. We are looking for Spanish students to help us improve the instrument by coming to a workshop, completing the assessment, and providing feedback to the developers. We are particularly interested in receiving feedback from Senior Spanish major students.

All students who help pilot the assessment will receive a $20 gift certificate to their choice of the University Bookstore or Bordertown Coffee as a thank you for their participation.

Registration of interest is required. Space is limited, and priority will be given to Senior Spanish major students. If you are interested, please submit this interest form by Friday, December 7, 2013. You will be informed the following Monday if we are able to accommodate you at the event. If we are not able to accommodate you at this first pilot, don't worry, there will be additional opportunities to take the self-assessment during Spring 2014.

Please keep in mind that this is a pilot of the assessment instrument. Your participation will help us to refine the instrument and make it even more useful to advanced-level Spanish students.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Join TandemPlus for Turkey Bowl!

The TandemPlus Culture and Conversation Program will host Bowling Night on Friday, November 22 at Goldy's Gameroom in Coffman Union from 4:30-6:30 p.m. The event is open to all TandemPlus participants, both paired and unpaired. TandemPlus will cover the cost of games and it is Free Shoe Friday. As an added bonus, it is Turkey Bowl at Goldy's, meaning if you bowl 8 pins with no tap, you win a plush turkey, or other prizes. Join us for fun, food, plush turkeys and foreign languages!

Monday, November 4, 2013

Parlez-Vous Pizza?

TandemPlus hosted a Pizza Social at Punch Pizza in Minneapolis on Tuesday, October 29. This event, which was attended by approximately 60 TandemPlus participants, provided language learners with an opportunity to use their first and second language skills while enjoying free pizza and beverages.

Native Spanish speaker Malca Garavito commented, "It's nice being here because you have the opportunity to listen to native English speakers, or people who speak the language you're practicing, so you get used to it.

Native English speaker Chris Senn said, "I'm really happy I found someone who can help me with my Chinese."

The next (and final) TandemPlus event of the semester, which is open to all participants (both partnered and unpartnered) will be bowling at Goldy's Game Room in Coffman Union on either November 21 or 22; stay tuned for more details.