Language Collaboratory series of online talks and conversations for language educators, co-sponsored by a number of Big 10 institutions.
DOMINIQUE BUTLER-BORRUAT
Sylvie Carduner Collegiate Lecturer
Head, Residential College French Program, Residential College
University of Michigan
MABEL RODRIGUEZ
Intensive Intermediate Spanish Coordinator
Residential College
University of Michigan
3:30 pm CDT, Monday, April 24
on Zoom, Register HERE
Description: In this talk, Dominique Butler-Borruat and Mabel Rodriguez will present their community-based learning (CBL) courses in which the experiential component engages with communities of migrant workers and asylum seekers. The discussion will center around the best practices for instructors to consider in order to develop a successful CBL course. Challenges and rewards inherent to teaching that type of courses will also be highlighted.
About the discussants:
DOMINIQUE BUTLER-BORRUAT teaches in the University of Michigan Residential College where she is the Head of the French Program. Her language courses are enhanced by the use of technology: for example, she implemented the flipped class pedagogy early on, and is using a conversation partner platform for her students to communicate with French speakers from around the world. Her seminar courses draw upon various fields such as philosophy (Existentialism: The Human Condition and The Absurd), women studies (Are We There Yet? The Status of Women in Francophonie), as well as sociology and anthropology (“Au coeur de l’amitié”: A Multidisciplinary Study of the Concept of Friendship). She has also developed experiential learning opportunities in order for her advanced students to apply their language skills: her service-learning course collaborates with Freedom House Detroit, a non-profit organization offering shelter and services, including legal assistance, to victims of persecution seeking asylum in the United States.
MABEL RODRIGUEZ has been the Coordinator for Intermediate Intensive Spanish sequence at the Residential College since 1996. Her teaching focuses on designing individualized learning paths to maximize her students’ success, incorporating technology and multiple pedagogical frameworks in this effort. Currently, her courses adhere to gamified pedagogy. Her seminars reflect an array of personal interests, ranging from Tango to The Oral vs. The Spoken Word to Freire to Bilingual Education, but at the base of all her courses one will find collaborative learning, student empowerment, and creative expression. Until recently, she also co-taught the course Principles and Practices of Teaching ESL in Migrant Communities, which had a corresponding service-learning component in which students taught ESL to adults and language arts to children as well as provided translation services for medical clinics at nearby migrant camps during the summer.
Delivery format: Zoom meeting
Contact: Jana Martin, Associate Director, Language Institute. Email Jana for access to a recording of the session.
If you need accommodations to participate in this event, contact Adolfo Carrillo Cabello at least three business days prior to the event.
Sponsors: University of Iowa, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Language Media Center; University of Michigan, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) Language Resource Center; University of Minnesota, College of Liberal Arts (CLA) Language Center; Michigan State University, Center for Language Teaching Advancement; University of Wisconsin-Madison, Language Institute