Looking in and Listening in

Looking in and Listening in

Perspectives on Community-Based Activities in Language Courses

Community-based activities affect student engagement, motivation, understanding, and retention of course content, and we have firsthand evidence of this in our language courses. We have seen what it means when our students “look in” and “listen in.” We invite you to join us for an informal overview of key community-based activities we have implemented in four advanced Spanish courses at Duke:

Spanish 305: Spanish for Heritage Speakers
Spanish 309S: Spanish in the U.S.
Spanish 310: Advanced Spanish Translation
Spanish 311: Food Production and Consumption in N.C. and Peru

During the first 30 minutes we will present selections of community-based activities from these four Spanish courses and share what we have taken away from the experience. Then we will reserve 15-20 minutes for Q&A and discussion.

This talk is organized by Joan Munné and Melissa Simmermeyer, Lecturers in the Department of Romance Studies. Our community-based activities have received support from the Forum for Scholars and Publics, Humanities Writ Large, the Mary D.B.T. and J.H. Semans International Exchange Fund, Story Lab at Duke, Romance Studies, Duke Service-Learning, Spanish Language Program and Trinity Language Committee.