Language Center Staff Graduations!

After this spring semester, five long-term Language Center employees will complete their undergraduate programs. All of them held unique positions in our department and made valuable contributions to language education at the University of Minnesota. Please join us in congratulating the following graduates, and wishing them the best in their future endeavors!

Will Benton, Classroom Support Assistant, will graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Individualized Studies, focusing on Chinese, Business and the History of Technology. After graduation he hopes to make his way to China and teach English while becoming more fluent in Mandarin.

Mackenzie (Kenzie) Haws, Multimedia Lab Lead Student through Fall 2013, will graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain and Operations with minors in International Business and Spanish Studies. This August, Kenzie will move to Nashville, Tennessee to begin working in a plant for General Mills. Before her move, she plans to spend time with her family in Chicago and enjoy country music concerts.

Anna Kaminski, TandemPlus and World Languages Day Assistant, will graduate with a Bachelor's degree in both Art and Global Studies with a triple minor in Art History, Asian Languages and Literature, and Social Justice. She plans on continuing to make art over the next year and remain in academia by eventually pursuing a PhD in either Art History or Philosophy.

Saoirse McMahon, Main Office Assistant and Elsie Speaks Editor, will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. She will continue working at Fraser with children with special needs and hopes to obtain a position working in clinical mental health then pursue graduate school to become a therapist.

Alaina Witt, AV Assistant, will graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Korean Language and Literature and a minor in Linguistics. She will continue working in the AV Studio throughout the summer. She hopes to teach in Korea this upcoming academic year before returning to the U.S. to attend graduate school.

"Yes They Can! Planning the Journey" Workshop on May 21-22, 2014

The Language Center and the Committee on Second Language Education (ComSLE) is pleased to announce an opportunity for all CLA second language instructors. A two-day workshop on May 21 & 22, 2014 will serve as a sequel to the "Yes They Can!" workshop that was held on February 28. Martha Bigelow will facilitate and lead the group in a discussion of how to implement the Can Do Statements were developed by each language department during the previous workshop.

Martha Bigelow is an Associate Professor with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and Interim Director of the Educator Development and Research Center. She has worked with several universities around the globe, including Vietnam, Malaysia, and Costa Rica, and has applied the theory of "backwards design" to create new curricula and materials for their various language programs. We hope that Martha's presence at our May workshop will help us to move forward with the Can Do statements that we have developed.

Wednesday, May 21 & Thursday, May 22, 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Breakfast and lunch will be provided
Location: TBD

Feel free to bring a laptop or tablet (not required). If you have any questions, you can contact Caroline Vang at cevang@umn.edu.

Spring in to Annie's Parlour with TandemPlus

Spring (and Spring Jam) is almost here -- celebrate one day early with TandemPlus! On Wednesday, April 23, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m., TandemPlus will hold its final event of the semester at Annie's Parlour in Dinkytown. All current TandemPlus participants are invited to come and enjoy fries, malts and more while conversing in their first and second languages. TandemPlus will cover the cost of the first round of appetizers; come early to get the free snacks. Participants who want to attend should email tandem@umn.edu to let us know you'll be there.

Congratulations to the 2014 SELPie Winners

Did you know that the Language Center employs approximately twice as many undergraduate student staff as continuing non-student staff? Our undergraduate student staff provide primary assistance to students and instructors in public areas like the Main Office and Multimedia Lab, and provide Classroom Support for our four classrooms. In addition, undergraduate students play a vital role on the following teams: Dev Studio, TandemPlus, Technical Support, Testing, Instructional (Moodle) and World Languages Day. The Language Center could not run without our dedicated and skilled undergraduate team members.

The Student Employee Leadership Program (SELP) provides an opportunity to recognize student employees who go above and beyond expectations in their work at the university through the annual SELPie awards for Outstanding Student Employees. Award winners will be honored Wednesday, April 23, 2014, 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. in McNamara Alumni Center, Memorial Hall.

The 2014 winners from the Language Center are:

• Maya Christensen: TandemPlus and Main Office Assistant


• Jonathan Prestrud: Classroom Support Assistant


• Hunter Slack: Moodle and Main Office Assistant

TandemPlus Spring Partnership Highlight

For Katia Paz and Sangho Yun, meeting twice a week for coffee, Korean and English conversation is just a part of their routine. Every Monday and Friday, Paz, a freshman from St. Cloud studying nursing and Korean, and Yun, a PhD student from Seoul, South Korea studying electrical engineering, meet at a campus Starbucks for their TandemPlus language exchange.

At their meetings they speak half of the time in Korean and half of the time in English and both help each other to improve their language. Paz feels that she can comfortably ask Yun language questions and ask for clarifications on grammatical concepts, while Yun feels that Paz helps him by correcting mispronunciation of English words. They often talk about cultural, social, and political differences and both feel they have gained crucial cultural insight over the past few months. In addition, both participants feel that their confidence has greatly improved in speaking their second languages. Paz feels that due to her growing confidence she is "more vocal in class." Both students share the goal of using their second languages in a future career; Paz hopes to work at a base in Korea, and Yun hopes to use English regularly in a career for multinational technology company. Both participants feel that Tandem language exchanges are essential to improving their language.