World Languages Day 2014

The World Languages Day planning committee is excited to announce that we have begun planning the Eleventh Annual World Languages Day. The event is scheduled for Tuesday, May 20, 2014 and will take place on the East Bank. Like last year, students will register for three language and culture classes. We will not offer large informational classes among the options for the three classes, but rather there will be an extended version of the schedule for schools that are interested in having their students attend a class on topics such as college readiness or study abroad.

We have decided that in addition to providing a light breakfast we will also offer a snack before the third class. We believe that this will help to keep students energy up and improve the dynamic in the third class. After all, language learning is hard work! As we move forward with the planning of the event we appreciate suggestions for the event and of course new ideas for language and culture classes are always welcome. We are looking forward to working with you and to making this the best World Languages Day yet! For the most up to date information on new developments or questions, don't hesitate to visit our website http://worldlang.cla.umn.edu/ or email us at wld@umn.edu.

The Language Testing Program Welcomes Anna Olivero-Agney

Please welcome Anna Olivero-Agney to the Testing development team. Anna has been an Italian instructor at the French and Italian Department for the past seven years teaching Italian at beginning, intermediate and upper levels. She holds a Laurea in Modern Foreign Languages from the University of Turin, Italy and a MA in Education, Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Minnesota. She is a native of Italy and prior to her move to the US, Anna lived in Germany for four years refining her skills in the German language.

In addition to teaching, Anna co-created the Italian LPE reading section and revised the listening section of the Italian Language Proficiency Exam (LPE) gaining familiarity with test item development. In her new position, she will be assisting Gabriela Sweet in the completion of the German LPE revisions, the piloting of Somali and Korean LPE, and the Self-Assessment project.

World Languages Day - Please Welcome Anna

Please welcome back Anna Kaminski to the Language Center. She will serve as the new World Languages Day Assistant. Anna says:

I am excited to start working on planning this important annual event at the U of M and work to make it the best WLD yet! After a year studying Arabic in Amman, Jordan, it is great to be back in Minneapolis and at the University of Minnesota. Prior to my year abroad studying at the Middlebury School in the Middle East, I worked both in the Main Office as well as in the TandemPlus program. I feel that these positions prepared for the large organizational task of planning WLD and hopefully this year will see lots of positive growth and changes. It's great to be back!

TandemPlus Registration Now Open!

TandemPlus registration is open for Fall semester. Those who have registered previously for a second-language partner with TandemPlus will notice that the registration form looks completely different this fall. However, the form is not the only thing that has changed -- the entire TandemPlus software system is new. The Language Center team has worked with CLA-OIT to create a powerful, dynamic TandemPlus software that allows users the ability to create and edit their own accounts, see other participants who are possible language partner matches (and extend partnership invitations to those participants), keep track of the hours they've spent on their partnership, leave feedback for TandemPlus staff, and much more. It's all part of our effort to make TandemPlus -- and second language studies overall -- fit into students' busy lives. To view the software, or to register for TandemPlus, go to http://tandem.umn.edu.

TandemPlus Summer Survey

The results are in from Tandem's Summer Survey!

• 81% of respondents reported hearing about TandemPlus in class or from a friend. Clearly word of mouth is working out well for TandemPlus.


• 69% of respondents reported meeting with their partner one or more times a week.


• Of those participants who did not meet regularly, 70% said this was due to them, or their partner, being too busy to meet.


• Meetings were fairly long on average, as 75% of respondents stated that their meetings lasted between one and three hours per meeting.

All respondents stated improvements in speaking and listening, as well as vocabulary, confidence using the language, and cultural understanding. There were no reports of negative interactions with Tandem Staff. All in all, this summer leaves TandemPlus with a sunny outlook!