TMC Full of Placement Test Takers

This past Sunday, September 4th, between the hours of 8am and 4pm the Tucker Multimedia Center was packed full of new students. Incoming students, or returning students that have not previously studied a particular language at W&L, must take a language placement test to place them into a particular level and course. Some students who have received AP credit for their language skills do not need to take the placement exam. However, the TMC still hosted approximately 200 students this past Sunday. Language learning is obviously becoming a priority for many students at W&L.

Presentation from Mary Albertson from Vista Higher Learning

On Wednesday September 1st, Mary Albertson presented in the TMC to French, Spanish, and German teachers. She helped teachers learn how to get the most out of their text material by explaining the workings and the ins and outs of multiple resource teaching.

TMC Hosts W&L’s Friday Afternoon Ice Cream Social

Every Friday afternoon during the Summer time in Lexington, Washington and Lee University holds an ice cream social on the patio of Cafe ’77. On Friday, July 16 the TMC was lucky enough to host the ice cream event, and we had a lot of fun doing it! Tracy Richardson (not seen in the photo below), Kathrine Farrar, and Robbie Day served Pralene Pecan and Road Runner Raspberry ice cream flavors… to say the least, they were both a big hit! Feel free to comment if you were in attendance or if you are otherwise excited about ice cream!

Kathrine Farrar and Robbie Day serve Ice Cream to the W&L community

TMC T-Shirts Are Shown Off by 4Imprint!

Technical Assistants Tracy and Robbie are now models!

Our friends at 4Imprint were nice enough to use the 2009-2010 TMC T-shirts as the focus of a promotional article on their website. Check out the blurb on the 4Imprint site by clicking here.

Teleconferencing Enables Meeting Despite Volcanic Eruption

Due to the volcanic ash eruption from Iceland, Barbara White, Director of Advanced Studies in England, and Jonathan Hope, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, were unable to attend the annual Board Meeting of Advanced Study in England held this year at Washington and Lee University. Advanced Studies of England has an annual, working board meeting of all the affiliate schools. Locations of the meeting generally alternate between Bath, England and one of these affiliate universities in the United States. The purposes of the April 2010 meeting held at Washington and Lee were planning for the future of the organization, success and challenges they have had this year and what is coming up in the future. The affiliate colleges represented were Boston College, Bucknell University, Christopher Newport, Denison University, Franklin and Marshall, Gettysburg College, Hampton University, Hobart and William Smith, University of Mary Washington, University of Rochester, Saint Michael’s College, Skidmore College, Spelman College, Washington and Lee, Wells College and the College of William and Mary. Attendees were able to teleconference with White and Hope using the TMC’s facilities and Skype, an online chat tool.

Portuguese Students

Students from Portuguese 113 discuss final presentations at the end of Fall Term. Professor Pinto-Bailey makes her point as students listen attentively to her comments. Anyone want to go to Rio to get away from the freezing temperatures in Lexington?

Parents and Family Weekend 2009

Visiting family members take a break from German class during Parents and Family Weekend 2009

Parents Weekend Presentations

The TMC hosted presentations over the weekend that showcased preliminary looks at honors theses and research topics. 

An overview of the presenters:

Sarah Keckler

Sarah Keckler ’10 is translating a popular Japanese novel into English.  The novel was written on a cell phone,  like five of the ten 2007 best-selling  novels in Japan.  Her thesis will explore the genre as a whole, including its implications for Japanese society and a study of the authors and publishing process. Keckler is double-majoring in Business Administration and East Asian Languages and Literatures, with a concentration in Japanese.

Nicholas D. Lanoue

Nicholas D. Lanoue ’12 presented on the cultural role of European football (soccer) in Germany, focusing on the 2006 World Cup.  His research project explained the organization of the German Bundesliga and addressed the phenomena of German regionalism and the revitalization of German nationalism at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Lanoue is triple-majoring in Accounting, German, and Philosophy in preparation for a career in international finance.

Kelsey Wright

Kelsey Wright ’10 presented her thesis project, which investigates the influence of  the regional Andalusian culture on the works of Spanish authors from this region. The project especially emphasizes representation in poetry. Wright is a Mathematics and Spanish double-major.

Dr. Cristina Pinto-Bailey

Dr. Cristina Pinto-Bailey discussed the importance of Portuguese as a world language in countries such as Angola, Mozambique, East Timor, and Brazil, with a focus of Brazil as an emerging power in the Western Hemisphere.  She also presented an overview of the new Portuguese program at W&L.

The TMC Becomes an Arena for Test Takers

 

Middle of the semester means mid-term examinations in the TMC.  And in preparation, there are audio exercises to do, videos to view, and workbook activities to complete prior to asking the TMC Assistant for the exam.

TMC Assistant Appears on French Television

TMC Technical Assistant Tracy Richardson (Class of 2011) from Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA,  was interviewed by reporters from France’s TV5 while attending classes at the Alliance Française in Paris where she is doing a semester abroad.  TV5 is celebrating its 25th year on the air.  See the news story at  –  http://www.tv5.org/TV5Site/publication/galerie-285-16-TV5MONDE_et_les_Alliances_francaises.htm