PACE Workshop: Incorporating Authentic Texts into the Language Classrooms

On February 19, 2016 the PACE Project hosted the Incorporating Authentic Texts into the Language Classrooms workshop. The workshop, led by Dr. Mahmoud Abdalla of the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS), focused on the integration of authentic materials from different media such as printed texts, social media, and multimedia. Dr. Abdalla holds a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from the University of Edinburgh. He has lectured at academic institutions in Egypt, Europe and the United States on the subjects of Arabic, linguistics, Arab culture, and the use of media in the classroom.

Approximately 30 language instructors and staff attended the event, representing Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, Russian, Italian, French, German, Korean, and the Language Center. After discussing the challenges for identifying authentic materials for Arabic, Dr. Abdalla challenged the audience to identify dialectical and register variations of sample videos. Speakers of Arabic were disbursed amongst the non-Arabic speakers to assist in the viewing of authentic video materials. Attendees were tasked to determine dialectical variations and registers, paying particular attention to visual cues in the array.

Are you interested in continuing the discussion about authentic materials? Whether or not you were able to attend the workshop, please join us at this Thursday’s PACE Swap Shop.