CES-UT May 2013 Newsletter

Header May 2013

In This Issue

Conference Report: Texas-EU Summit

FLAS Fellowships Announced

Summer Language Workshops for K-12 Teachers

Texas-EU Summit: Report

The 2013 Texas-EU Summit, held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on April 24th, provided small businesses, policymakers and economic development professionals with an overview of how to target trade and expansion business opportunities in Europe.

Adeline Hinderer.

After an introduction by Adriana Cruz of the Austin Chamber of Commerce and welcoming remarks by Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, the keynote address was presented by Adeline Hinderer, Deputy Head of the EU Delegations Trade and Business Section, who discussed the future of the free trade agreement between the EU and the U.S.

The rest of the day included lively talks by prominent business leaders and government representatives discussing Europe's growing markets of Hungary and Turkey, opportunities in Scandinavia, and leading export sectors of Europe including the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands.

The Summit was co-sponsored by the EU Center of Excellence at the University of Texas at Austin and the City of Austin and organized by the World Affairs Council of Austin, Austin Community College, U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

Click here for a list of featured presentations available to view and bios of the day's presenters.

Save the date: The next Summit will be held on May 1, 2014!

FLAS Fellowships

Congratulations to the students who were awarded a Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship for the 2013 summer and 2013-2014 academic year from CES.

Summer 2013 Student

Eric Rogers, Department of Middle Eastern Studies

AY 2013-2014 Graduate Students

Nora Ankrum, LBJ School of Public Affairs

Jordan Bowers, Department of Anthropology

John Graeber, Department of Government

Kim Gouz, Department of Government

Catalina Iannone, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

AY 2013-2014 Undergraduate Students

Jacquelyn Chorush, Humanities Program and College of Communications

Eric Rogers, Department of Middle Eastern Studies

Juliette Seive, Department of History

Jacquelyne Walker, Plan II Honors

Fellowships are made possible by funding from the U.S. Department of Education through a Title VI grant.

Summer Language Workshops

Spanish & French for all Texas K-12 teachers

language dictionaries

CES is pleased to offer two foreign language workshops this summer in Spanish and French. Workshops are free of charge and open to all Texas K-12 teachers and CPE credits are available.

Spanish Workshop: A New Model for Spanish Lab Activities at UT

June 15th, 2013 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. UT Austin Campus

In this one day workshop, participants will learn about a new approach to integrating and evaluating oral production in language courses. This approach addresses pragmatic issues such as speech acts and fillers in a controlled lab setting. Also, participants will learn the process of creating activities, of guiding students as they complete the activity and of evaluating them.

The class is free but registration is required. We will be using a UT computer lab so seats are limited. Please register early! Lunch and parking are included at no charge.

Click here to register.

French Workshop: Fun Uses for Technology in the French Classroom

June 13th 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. UT Austin Campus

In this seminar, we will provide a brief survey of various free online tools whose applications can liven up any French classroom, by encouraging fun uses of the target language to learn and review new vocabulary, explore different facets of French culture firsthand and interact in real-time with fellow French learners and native speakers from around the world.

Just some of the tools we will be discussing include Quizlet-a site for making class-specific electronic flashcards that students can use to review on their iphones and ipads, Popling-an installable widget that helps teach vocabulary by popping up on the screen and quizzing on words/concepts at programmed intervals, FLEvideo-an online database of short videos and accompanying comprehension questions compiled by French Language teachers in France and CLEAR, an interface by Michigan State that allows students to respond in real-time to pre-recorded questions uploaded by their instructors.

We will present the highlights and features of each application in the first half of the seminar, and encourage attendees to develop some of their own materials in the second half, using the tools they find to be the most applicable in their own French language classrooms.

The class is free but registration is required. Lunch and parking are included at no charge.

Click here to register.

All language workshops provided by CES are free of charge. Workshops are made possible through a grant by the U.S. Department of Education and assistance from UT's Texas Language Center (TLC), the Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning (COERLL), and the Department of French & Italian.