In the past several years, Language Institute sponsored a number of impactful projects through grant competitions such as Innovation and Committed to Change grants, and Academic Staff Professional Development grants. The projects include:
Bilingual Children’s Books Digital Library (Spanish-English)
A project by Saylín Álvarez, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, who worked with Spanish 311 courses (Advanced Language Practice) to create short stories for the Bilingual Children’s Books Digital Library. The library has been electronically published and shared with teachers and children in the Madison Metropolitan School District. The authors of the books are UW undergraduate students who have taken Spanish language classes. Language Institute’s Innovation grant helped to fund this project.
Yorùbá Dictionary Project for Foreign and Second Language Learners
A project developed by Adeola Agoke, Department of African Cultural Studies, which provides proficiency-based and contextualized language learning resources for learners of African languages. It is published as an open education resource. Language Institute’s Innovation grant helped to fund this project.
Voces: Video Interview Series
A project developed by Saylín Álvarez, Department of Spanish and Portuguese that addresses topics of representation in Spanish language classes and gives the word to a group of UW-Madison students from the Black, Latine, LGBTQ+, and non-binary communities. They express their views on the content of language courses as it pertains to their diverse identities and experiences. The videos also feature interviews with instructors and advisors, who share their teaching approaches or mentoring work, in a continuous dialogue on how to promote more inclusive practices in language teaching. Language Institute’s Committed to Change grant helped to fund this project.
Innovation Grant Awards and Projects
Adeola Agoke, Department of African Cultural Studies, developed the Yorùbá Dictionary Project for Foreign and Second Language Learners which provides proficiency-based and contextualized language learning resources for learners of African languages. It is published as an open education resource and can be accessed here: https://wisc.pb.unizin.org/yorubadictionary/.
Jaerin Ahn, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, explored in a research study the transformation of teaching practices of language teachers teaching novice level at the University of Wisconsin-Madison during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant allowed to pay for a student hourly position to transcribe interviews of ten language teachers. The researchers analyzed the interview transcripts to understand the transformation of language teaching practices and their potential influence on language learners.
Saylín Álvarez, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, worked with Spanish 311 courses (Advanced Language Practice) to create short stories for the “Bilingual Children’s Books Digital Library” (Spanish-English), which has been electronically published and shared with teachers and children in the Madison Metropolitan School District. The authors of the books are UW undergraduate students who have taken Spanish language classes, and the Digital Library itself is an outreach resource.
Jeanne Schueller, Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+, used the grant support to develop and didacticize German curriculum (German 101, 102, 203, and 204) materials that are meaningful and relatable to students and reflect diversity and inclusion regarding culture, gender, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, education, social class, occupation, and religion.
_______________________________________________
About the grant
In 2022, this grant aimed to support academic staff and instructors with language teaching and learning projects that addressed the needs of diverse language learners, and/or increased student engagement in language learning.
Contact
Questions about this Language Institute Grant? Contact Dianna Murphy.