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bine Italian language courses with culture courses, these last held in Florentine museums and other historic buildings. Extra‐
curricular excursions and recreational activi‐ties in the Tuscany countryside are also part of the program. The program starts on June the 30th and ends on August the 5th 2008. All participants will earn 6 language credits from Salem State Col‐lege. Tuition prices are affordable, and you can stay in a family hotel (pensione), within walking distance of the
university, or with an Italian family. For more information, contact Dr. Anna Rocca (arocca@salem‐state.edu) or Dr. Elizabeth Blood (eblood@salemstate.edu).◙
Participation in a study abroad program is more than an aca‐demic experience. It is a bene‐ficial and unforgettable adven‐ture that will help build your future ca‐reer. It will also have a lasting and positive influence on your life. As soon as you im‐merse yourself in a different culture, in‐teract with people coming from all the world, and experience alternative perspec‐tives on viewing the world, you can fully maximize the value of your education. In Florence, in particular, you will also be literally immersed in the artistic, historical and cultural heart of the city, within walking distance of the most prestigious monuments of the Romanesque, Gothic,
and the 15th century art. At the University of Florence, Italian language courses are
offered at all levels, from ele‐mentary classes for those stu‐dents who are just beginning to learn the language, to those with a more advanced comprehen‐sion of the language. You will study Italian language or com‐
ANDIAMO IN ITALIA? DEPARTMENT EXPLORES NEW SUMMER STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM IN FLORENCE, ITALY! B Y D R. A N N A R OC C A
GOOD READ: SPANISH NOVELIST ARTURO PEREZ-REVERTE B Y P A T R I C K M CD E R M O T T, S P A N I S H M A J O R
Did you know?
You can practice listen-ing skills and expand your world by watching up-to-date news videos in French, Italian, or Spanish for free through the Internet on your home computer. Follow-ing are some news web-sites to get you started! French: www.tv5.org, or www.tf1.fr, or www.radio-canada.ca
Italian: www.rai.it Spanish: www.tve.es, www.univision.com
All countries: wwitv.com, bbc.co.uk/languages
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :
Department News: Updates and Info!
p. 2
Community: Teachers’ Pets!
p. 2
Study Abroad: Spanish Programs
p. 3
Poetry: Student Poems in Spanish
p. 6
Culture: Discovering Spain
p.6
Research: MaFLA 2007
p. 7
Film Review: El Orfanato
p. 8
Foreign Languages MLA Survey
p. 4
MAT News p. 5
F a l l 2 0 0 7
V o l u m e 5 , I s s u e 1
sea. This second tecnique comes as no surprise, considering that in real life Pérez‐Reverte, born in Cartagena, Spain, enjoys sail‐ing alone on the Mediterranean. Another recurring element in Pérez‐Reverte’s works are his references to Spanish history, often Spanish maritime history. If you are the type of reader who likes to cross‐reference facts, you will find some real gems. His novel La Carta Esférica, for instance, is about the search for a mysterious Jesuit ship that went down off the coast of Spain in the late 1700s. In addition to numerous allu‐sions to Moby Dick and Miles Davis, this book has some great
(Continued on page 6)
who specializes in late‐night smuggling runs of hashish and tobacco in his boat, the Phan‐tom, eluding the Spanish Guardia Civil and the Vigilancia Aduanera in the Straights of Gibraltar. Tereza then uses her new‐found technical experience with boats to build her own em‐pire, mixing with the Russian mob in the Andalusian city of Marbella, and tangling with the already established Gallegos along the way. Although La Reina has a fast‐paced and at times action‐packed plot, Pérez‐Reverte’s real skill is in the construction of deep characters, developed through their relationships with their pasts as well as with the
Those of you looking for a good read this winter would do well to pick up one of the works of Spanish novelist Arturo Pérez‐Reverte. His novel La Reina del Sur offers a great introduction to his books. La Reina begins in Culicán, Si‐naloa, Mexico, where Tereza Mendoza has just learned that her husband, a pilot with the Juárez drug cartel, has been murdered. Tereza, alone and vulnerable, has to run because now her own life is in danger. Using her late husband’s con‐tacts, she makes it to Melilla, a Spanish city on the Moroccan coast. There, she gets into the hashish trade with her new boyfriend, a speedboat pilot,
L I N G UA F R A N C A A B I - A N N U A L N E W S L E T T E R P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT AT SALEM STATE COLLEGE WWW.SALEMSTATE.EDU/LANGUAGES/LINGUAFRANCA
¿ Q U É PA S A ? Q U O I D E N E U F ? D E P A R T M E N T N E W S coming elections in April. ( www . s a l em s t a t e . e d u /languages/italianclub) The Spanish Club, led by BA Sarah Silva, is also fully recog‐nized and funded this year. They kicked off the season with a movie night and sev‐eral meetings. The club is looking for more members! They have some fun activities planned but more student participation is needed. (www . s a l em s t a t e . e d u / languages/spanishclub)
Alumni
Stephanie Izzicupo (French Minor, Class of 2007) is cur‐rently teaching English in France thanks to a French government grant. She is working in a high school in
Nancy, in the Lorraine region. You can read all about her adventures on her blog at s i z z i cupo .b logspo t . com . Meanwhile, Rachel Smith (Spanish Major/Foreign Lan‐guage Minor, Class of 2006) has recently been accepted into the Peace Corps. She will serve two years in Nicaragua, and hopes to continue to do volunteer work afterwards in other parts of Latin America or in West Africa.
N.B.: Please send alumni and other relevant news to Dr. Aske for inclusion in future issues of LF.◙
Program News
Foreign Language programs continue to grow and prosper in the department. Arabic started its second year with a very experienced new instructor, Abdelkader Ber‐rahmoun, from Algeria. He will also be teaching French courses in the department. The Spanish major is quite healthy with almost 70 stu‐dents enrolled, of which 22 are evening students. We have increased our offerings in the post‐intermediate, 300 level, so that all those courses are now offered every year. The Spanish MAT program is also growing by leaps and bounds; there are now 37 enrolled students (see the article on p. 5) Italian, which was first offered during the day three years ago, now has a minor and has beefed up the elemen‐tary level offerings. With a new full‐time faculty member, Dr. Anna Rocca (see Lingua Franca v. 4.2) dedicated to promoting the pro‐gram, the sky is the limit. Actually, Italy is the limit (see p. 1). The department is still hoping to be able to offer new courses in the near future, such as Spanish for Medical Personnel, for which there is great demand locally, as well as new world languages, such as Chinese and Portuguese. This will require greater awareness at all levels about the importance of being mul‐tilingual and multicultural in today’s world.
Faculty News
Congratulations to Dr. Nicole Sherf, who has been named first Vice‐President of the Massachusetts Foreign Lan‐guage Association (MaFLA). She will be chairing the an‐nual MaFLA Conference on
Oct. 30‐Nov. 1, 2008, and has already begun planning and publicizing the event. Go to the MaFLA website (www.mafla. org) for more information and to become a member of the organization. The Department is in the proc‐ess of interviewing to hire a new full‐time Spanish profes‐sor to begin next fall. We ap‐preciate the participation of all members of the Department (students, faculty, staff) as the process continues this spring.
Club New s
The French Club is planning some exciting spring activities, including dinner at a French restaurant in Boston, a visit to the MFA, a cooking or baking class, a service program in
local schools, and the annual “Petanque Picnic” at the end of the semester. They are looking for new members, particularly anyone who would like to take on a leadership role as a club officer. Join our email list to get notices of upcoming meetings and events! (www.salemstate. edu/languages/frenchclub) The Italian Club, is now offi‐cially recognized as a club and funded by the College. They just completed their 50/50 Raffle Fundraiser. They en‐courage students to join as members and are also looking for candidates to run in up‐
L I N G U A F R A N C A
TEACHERS’ PETS Can you match the pet
to the prof ? Do animals reflect certain physical or emotional characteristics of their human companions? What do you think? Try matching these animals with their owners in our department (full‐time faculty only this time). Be careful! Some professors have more than one animal companion and not all of these animals are ours! Good luck!
Instructions: (1) Write down one of the following names next to the animal: Aske, Blood, Doll, Rocca, Serra, Sherf, Nobody. (2) Go to this page to check your answers: www.salemstate.edu/languages/pets
P A G E 2
A. _______________________________
C. _______________________________
Departmental presenters with Dr. Sherf at the Undergraduate Research Sym-posium, May 2007. Support your colleagues by attending on May 2, 2008!
A. _______________________________
B. _______________________________
ance of a classroom teacher for 12 hours per week in a Spanish elementary or secon‐dary school. They receive a stipend sufficient to pay rent and living expenses. The assis‐tants have the opportunity to learn about Spanish language and culture and use their ex‐perience upon their return, thus helping to develop cul‐tural understanding between the citizens of Spain and the United States and Canada. The registration period will open in December. Please, check the following website next month for specific registration requirements: www.mec.es/exterior/usa/es/programas/auxiliares_us/aux_us.shtml There are also three‐week Spanish programs for Teach‐ers of Spanish in Spain, aimed at education professionals, K‐12, college, university teach‐ers and administrators. Visit www.mec.es/exterior/usa/e s / p r o g r am a s / c u r s o s /portada.shtml for more infor‐mation. If you have any questions on these or any other programs in France, Quebec, or Italy, contact Dr. Serra at: fserra@ salemstate.edu. There is also much information at the Department’s site: www. salemstate.edu/languages. ◙
Study Abroad with us! There are still spaces for our Sum‐mer Program in Spain during the month of July. Earn six credits while you enjoy Span‐ish life and Spanish classes at the Universidad de Oviedo. It is educational, fun and af‐
fordable. Other study abroad options are available in Oviedo, such as semester programs, Hispanic Heritage courses for advanced speak‐
ers, and business and transla‐tion classes. To learn more go to www.uniovi. es/cepe/. There are other opportunities abroad for Spanish students, such as grants for North Ameri‐can Language and Culture Assis‐
tants. This Program is aimed at American and Canadian stu‐dents in their last year of col‐lege, or those that have recently graduated. The assistants work under the supervision and guid‐
S T U D Y A B R O A D P R O G R A M S I N S P A I N BY DR. FATIMA SERRA
P A G E 3 V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 1
M Y E X P E R I E N C E I N O V I E D O BY JANEL THOMAS, STUDENT (OVIEDO 2007)
If I could describe Oviedo in one word it would be AMAZ‐ING! I am so happy that I did the summer program in Oviedo. It was a life changing experience for me. I felt one hundred times more confi‐dent in speaking Spanish to native speakers after the program, due to my im‐proved pronunciation and ability to respond effort‐lessly. Learning in Oviedo was not only educational but also very enjoyable. Not only
did I grow intellectually, I also grew as an individual. After com‐
ing back from Oviedo I felt more confident in traveling, making quick and smart decisions, and learning how to be responsible. I also loved Oviedo for its culture, traditions, and its people. Oviedo will forever be a sweet memory and an im‐portant turning point of my life. I highly recommend this program to everyone. ◙
D. _____________________________
F. _____________________________
G. _____________________________
H. _____________________________
J. _____________________________
Students in Oviedo, Spain, Summer 2007. More pictures at the departmental site: www.salemstate.edu/languages/pictures.
I. ______________________________
E. _______________________________
L I N G U A F R A N C A P A G E 4
MLA SURVEY SHOWS SIGNIFICANT INCREASES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY AT U.S . COLLEGES (New York, NY, November 13, 2007) ‐‐ Interest in language study at American colleges and universities has increased broadly and significantly since 2002, according to a compre‐hensive new survey, Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2006, released today by the Modern Language Asso‐ciation of America (MLA) and funded by the United States Department of Education. The survey found significant in‐creases in enrollments in nearly all of the most popular languages studied on Ameri‐can college campuses. Lan‐guage enrollments on United States campuses are at their highest since the 1960 MLA survey. Interest in language study has been increasing steadily since 1998. While the study of the most popular languages, Span‐ish, French, and German, con‐tinues to grow and together represents more than 70% of language enrollments, their dominance is slowly decreas‐ing in the face of growing in‐terest in languages such as Arabic (up 127%), Chinese (up 51%), and Korean (up 37%). Enrollments in American Sign Language increased nearly 30% from 2002, making it the fourth most studied language on college campuses, slightly ahead of Italian. The more than doubling of Arabic enrollments moved the Middle Eastern language onto the top 10 most studied list for the first time. The number of institutions of higher learning offering Arabic has nearly doubled since the last survey, from 264 in 2002 to 466 Ara‐bic programs offered in 2006. “This significant growth in language study, and the diver‐sity of languages being stud‐ied, is very good news for edu‐cation in the United States,”
said Rosemary G. Feal, execu‐tive director of the MLA. “Students increasingly see their futures taking place in a multilingual world, and they want language preparation to help them function in that world. Students recognize that having the ability to function across cultures and languages is an enormous advantage.”
The new MLA survey includes data from 2,795 colleges and universities measuring enroll‐ments in the study of 219 lan‐guages other than English, from the most popular, includ‐ing Spanish, French and Ger‐man, to less commonly studied languages such as Navajo, Farsi, and Welsh. Global Developments May Affect Language Choices Trends in language enroll‐ments appear to mirror signifi‐cant national and global devel‐opments, including the rise of Asian economies, the steady increase of Spanishspeaking residents in the United States, and concerns about the gaps in understanding between Eng‐lish‐ and Arabic‐speaking so‐cieties. From 2002 to 2006, the enroll‐ments in 11 of the 15 most popular languages grew faster than the overall 6.2% increase in the number of college stu‐dents during that period. The most popular languages on college campuses in fall 2006 were: 1)Spanish 52.2% +10.3% 2) French 13.1% +2.2% 3) German 6.0% +3.5% 4) ASL 5.0% +29.7% 5) Italian 5.0% +22.6%
6) Japanese 4.2% +27.5% 7) Chinese 3.3% +51.0% 8) Latin 2.0% +7.9% 9) Russian 1.6% +3.9% 10) Arabic 1.5%+126.5% 11) A.Greek 1.4% +12.1% 12) B.Hebrew 0.9% ‐0.3% 13) Portuguese 0.7% +22.4% 14) M. Hebrew 0.6% +11.5% 15) Korean 0.5% +37.1% The MLA survey also found a 31.2% increase in the number of languages outside the top 15 (known as less commonly taught languages, or LCTLs) being offered for study. These LCTLs include languages such as Swahili, Persian, Hindi, and Catalan. A total of 204 LCTLs were offered for study on American campuses in 2006, up from 162 offered in 2002. The largest increases in LCTLs were found in Middle Eastern and African languages, where enrollments grew by 55.9% between 2002 and 2006. United States Language Study Still Far Short of Historic Highs While interest in language study is high, the current rate of 8.6 language course enroll‐ments per 100 total student enrollments is still well short of the 1965 rate of 16.5 lan‐guage course enrollments per 100 total student enrollments, which was the highest rate recorded in the forty‐eight years that the MLA has con‐ducted this survey. For the first time, the 2006 MLA survey also compared enrollment figures for intro‐ductory (first‐ and second‐year) versus advanced lan‐guage study. Students are nearly five times more likely to be enrolled in a first‐ or second‐year course than in advanced language study. While increas‐ing numbers and proportions of students are taking intro‐ductory language classes, the majority do not pursue the advanced study necessary to
(Continued on page 5)
Language enrollments rise 13% from 2002; Arabic, up 127%, hits #10 on the most studied list; Asian language study grows significantly
Founded in 1883, the Modern Language Association of America pro‐vides opportunities for its members to share their scholarly findings and teaching experiences with colleagues and to discuss trends in the academy. For over a hundred years, members have worked to strengthen the study and teaching of language and litera‐ture. MLA members sustain one of the finest publishing programs in the humanities. The MLA Language Map (www.mla.org/map_main) and its Data Center provide information about more than 47,000,000 people in the United States who speak lan‐guages other than English at home. The MLA weekly radio program, What’s the Word?, can be heard on more than 160 radio stations across the United States. The 2007 MLA Annual Convention will be held in Chicago, 27–30 December. For more information about the MLA, please visit their Web site (www.mla.org).
The Massachusetts Foreign Language Association is a non‐profit service organization committed to the professional growth of its mem‐bers and to the teaching and learning of languages and cultures. The Massachusetts Foreign Language Association represents over 2000 second language teachers in the state of Massachusetts. They advocate for foreign language education because it opens the world to students, develops their understanding of other cultures, enhances many cognitive skills, and provides needed linguistic resources for national security and our global economy. Visit www.mafla.org.
P A G E 5 V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 1
S P A N I S H M A T N E W S B Y D R . N I C O L E S H E R F
There is quite a bit of happy news to share about the Mas‐ter of Arts in Teaching pro‐gram. After a flurry of new acceptances over the sum‐mer, enrollment has swelled to 37 students. Over 20 of the students and the entire full‐time Spanish faculty met with Graduate School Dean Glasser and then had dinner to‐gether in October, pro‐viding for an interesting evening of conversation and food, as well as the opportunity to get to know the new members of the program who came. Seven students, sponsored by Drs. Doll and Sherf, presented the results of their graduate research at the Annual Conference of the Massa‐chusetts Foreign Lan‐guage Association in late October. To read more
about this, see the article on the topic later in this newslet‐ter. At a lovely ceremony at the Hawthorne Hotel in late November, eight MAT in Span‐ish students were honored at the Graduate Fall Honors Pro‐gram for their hard work: Jessica Celano, Renee Botti‐celli, Erin Croteau, Liliam
Duffy, Nancy Mirra, Jennifer Tufts and Julie Wall. It is im‐pressive that more than a fifth of the MAT in Spanish student body have attained the de‐partmental requisite of a GPA of 3.85 after 18 credits of study in the program; cer‐tainly no small feat due to the rigorous nature of the depart‐
From left to right at the top, Renee Botticelli, Kristine Doll, Karine Poulin, Nicole Sherf, Jon Aske, and Julie Wall; and in the center, the Bethel sisters: Jessica Celano and Jennifer Fitzgerald.
INTERNATIONAL
PHOTO CONTEST
2008 The Foreign Languages
Department announces the third edition of its successful
international photo contest.
The Department will select the top 12 photos to be published in
a calendar for 2008-2009.
The best 24 will be made into a free screensaver.
We still have a few copies left of the 2007-2008 calendar.
Call x6258. Only $8.
Proceeds will support student scholarships.
For information on sending your pictures,
go to this page
www.salemstate.edu/ languages/photocontest
There you can also view the previous years’ entries
and download the free screensavers.
Deadline: March 1, 2008
Only high-quality digital
photos will be accepted
◊ Do you know Spanish, but do not have an official cer‐tificate to accredit it?
◊ Have you studied Spanish, but would like to know your level of proficiency?
◊ Do you want to have a di‐ploma for Spanish which is valid throughout the world?
The DELE’s (Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera or Diplomas of Spanish as a Foreign Language) are is‐sued by the Ministry of Educa‐tion of Spain. They offer an official accrediation on the degree of mastery of the Span‐
ish language for citizens of countries where Spanish is not the official language.
Because the DELE is interna‐tionally recognized, those who obtain the diploma will be at an advantage when entering the increasingly multilingual job market.
In the Spring semester, the Department offers SPN 212, a second semester Intermediate Spanish course, which pre‐pares you for the basic level DELE test. Although SPN 212 is the DELE alternative for SPN 202, it is not necessary to take the course to take the DELE, and that if you take SPN 212 you do not have to take the DELE exam. For more information, talk to Dr. Serra or visit the page w w w . s a l e m s t a t e . e d u /languages/dele. ◙
SIGNIFICANT INCREASES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY
achieve fluency. “We are still a long way from a golden age of language study, when fluency in foreign lan‐guages is seen as a key part of
(Continued from page 4) a college education,” noted Michael Holquist, president of the MLA. “Higher education today is offering students more areas of study, like information technology. We are encouraged
to see that in this stimulating educational environment, stu‐dents are increasingly recog‐nizing the importance of lan‐guage study.”◙
BE A WORLD CITIZEN
TRAVEL THE WORLD
STUDY ABROAD
Salem State College is the DELE test site for New England. Tests take place every May. The deadline to register is in March.
SEMINAR IN THE CULTURES OF SPAIN: A JOURNEY B Y D R. F A T I M A S E R R A
We are about to conclude an‐other section of the graduate seminar on Spanish Cultures. We have been enjoying the latest Spanish news, music and landscapes of Spain. We have also discussed hot topics like immigration and women’s lives. In regards to the latter, in October we had a lecture by Dr. Mercedes Balcells from MIT. Dr. Balcells spoke about women in the Spanish work‐force, the state of the sciences in Spain, and Spain’s relation‐ship with Europe and other countries. Of particular inter‐est in her speech were her linguistic abilities (she speaks five languages) and how this has contributed to her promo‐tion as Director of the MIT‐Spain Program. She was a true inspiration to our students, and gave us very valuable in‐sight about the life of a middle class, educated Spanish woman. She finished her talk
with these encouraging words: “Si quieres, puedes” (If you want to, you can) . We also welcomed Dr. Clara Gómez Jimeno, the Spanish Embassy Education Attaché to the class in November. She explained the Spanish Educa‐tion system to our students and different milestones that students have to achieve in their education. Perhaps the most significant difference is that Spanish students get their
L I N G U A F R A N C A P A G E 6
GOOD READS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1) historical information. In one scene, a treasure hunter boasts of his prowess by displaying a English victory coin he recov‐ered from a shipwreck while diving of the coast of Cart‐agena, Colombia. It turns out that the victory the coin com‐memorates, that of a certain Edward Vernon over the Span‐iard Blas de Lezo, never mate‐rialized because Blas de Lezo routed Vernon in a spectacular
naval battle. The coins sunk into history with Vernon’s ships. The English prema‐turely minted these victory coins for the Battle of Cart‐agena de Indias in 1741, which they lost. Pérez‐Reverte’s books make for great reading if you learned Spanish as a second language because the plots are interesting enough to
keep you reading and well‐written enough to keep you learning new vocabulary and structures. Both La Reina del Sur and La Carta Esférica, are available in the Spanish sec‐tion of the Lynn Public Li‐brary. If you are not up to reading the Spanish versions, both are also widely avail‐able translated into English in libraries and bookstores. ◙
POETRY BY STUDENTS Poesía original
As part of the activities of SPN 353 “Readings from the Hispanic World,” Dr. Kristine Doll encourages students to explore what it is like to write a poem, to analyze a professional essay, and to act in a play. Reprinted here are excerpts from original poetry written by students in the class this semester.
“A la princesa de mis sueños” Así como el sol nos calienta en sus brazos A medio día con su calor Así quisiera yo tenerte en mis brazos Para abrazarte con mi amor.
-Benjamín Coronel
“Misterio no resuelto”
¿Qué hay después de vivir? No sé si es curiosidad
Si después es oscuridad Solo expreso mi sentir.
¿Dónde vamos todos a dormir Y despertar de toda maldad Para encontrar la bondad? Solo quiero saber para ir
¿Será éste un lugar brillante Donde el sol canta
Y las estrellas son asombrantes?
A ver si con esta carta Puedo ver qué hay más adelante Y encuentro la respuesta que me
falta. -Melissa Feliciano
“Los secretos” Mi amor es un diario Tu corazón es la llave
Ven a abrir los secretos Pero no tires nunca la llave.
-Mary Vassallo
high school diploma by com‐pleting all the courses. How‐ever, they need to pass an entrance exam to enter a college. Dr. Jimeno also pro‐vided us with materials from the Ministry of Education that our MAT participants, already teachers at the local schools, can use in their classes. After watching stu‐dent Nancy Mirra’s presen-tation of a brilliantly de-signed activity in which high school students perform a webquest on El Camino de Santiago and create a bro‐chure with MS Publisher, Dr. Jimeno invited our MAT stu‐dents to participate in the next issue of Materiales, the Education Office of Spain magazine, with their peda‐gogical materials. As a fun culminating activity, the class visited Dali Tapas Restaurant in Somerville and enjoyed delicious Spanish cuisine and great service , all in Spanish. It has indeed been a memorable semester in which, once again, the high
Dr. Balcells with graduate and undergraduate Salem State students before her talk.
FACULTY AND STUDENTS PRESENT AT MAFLA 2007! B Y D RS. D OLL AND S HERF
high school students in EDG 950S Clinical Action Research in Teaching Secondary Span‐ish. Renee Botticelli pre‐sented her investigation on the preferred and most suc‐
cessful reading strate‐gies of her students in Burlington High School. Catherine Frost from Miles River Middle School studied the effects on student performance of the discrete conjugation review using the site “conjuguemos.com,” and analyzed student results and interest in the process based on their categorization in Gardner’s Multiple
Intelligences. And Julie Wall from Masconomet Middle School investigated how the integration of Internet‐based activities can enhance the teaching of culture and benefit and motivate students. Drs. Doll and Sherf presented a session on program develop‐ment and assessment entitled “Administrative Dialogue.” They addressed strategies for establishing departmental mission statements and goals, frameworks for internal and external evaluation mecha‐nisms, and examined various leadership styles for depart‐mental chairpersons. They regularly address such themes in their column “A View from Higher Ed” for the MaFLA newsletter. Dr. Elizabeth Blood also pre‐sented at the MaFLA confer‐ence. With a colleague from Simmons College, Dr. Louissa Abdelghany, Dr. Blood pre‐sented a session on “Using Art to Teach Language, Culture, and Literature”. The well‐attended session explored ways in which works of art may serve as springboards for meaningful communication and review of vocabulary and grammar structures in the foreign language classroom while at the same time intro‐ducing students to cultural trends. ◙
The faculty and graduate stu‐dents of the Department of Foreign Languages was well‐represented at this year’s an‐nual conference of the Massa‐chusetts Foreign Language Association, a re‐gional organization promoting foreign language teaching and learning. The Department’s MAT in Spanish program is widely recognized for its academic excel‐lence and profes‐sional importance. The fine quality of course content, the high calibre and credentials of the faculty, and the encourage‐ment and opportunity for graduate students to present at professional conferences are several indicators of such pro‐grammatic excellence. Continuing the tradition of academic dialogue and schol‐arly research established when the program began, a group of seven MAT students accompa‐nied Dr. Kristine Doll and Dr. Nicole Sherf to the Massachu‐setts Foreign Language Asso‐ciation’s 41st Annual Confer‐ence in Sturbridge, MA this past October 2007 to present their original research at sev‐eral conference sessions. The “standing‐room only” session “Reflejos de España” showcased the work of four of Dr. Doll’s students of Spanish literature: Jessica Barber (Norwood High School) dis‐cussed the nature of reality in
Calderón de la Barca’s La vida es sueño; Ellen Bergner (she just loves literature) presented on the historic and societal contexts of El Poema de mio Cid; Carolynne McCormick (Wake‐
field High School) traced the development of the Don Juan character in Peninsular litera‐ture; and Bryan Vosseler (Danvers High School) exam‐ined the use of contrast and synthesis in San Juan de la Cruz’s “Noche oscura.” A lively question‐and‐answer period followed, as those attending the session found the presentations intellectually engaging. They also were guided by the Salem State students through various applications of these themes and concepts to the classroom setting. The session entitled “Investiga‐ción activa en la clase de español como lengua extran‐jera” featured the results of well‐designed action research projects developed by three students in Dr. Sherf’s SPN 762 Research in Teaching Spanish and performed with middle and
P A G E 7 V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 1
POETRY BY STUDENTS The great Spanish poet Antonio Machado (1875‐1939) will always be remembered by his beautiful verses about Spain. Campos de Castilla is a virtual anthropology of Spain’s land and common people. In Dr. Serra’s Spanish 402, Intro‐duction to Spanish Literature II, students wrote poems about their homeland imitating Machado’s style. Here is one student’s inter‐pretation.
Nasca mi amada Recuerdos que yo no olvido de aquel hermoso gran valle, donde florece la viña y acacias sombran la calle. Explorase Maria Reiche perfectas líneas plasmadas, grabadas en sus mesetas que dan orgullo a mi amada. Gentes que viven felices sin importarles el hambre, orgullosas de mi tierra ensanchan sus torsos grandes. Ciudad que me viera nacer allá por los años mozos, cuando mi padre rondaba la niña de ojos hermosos. Cuantos recuerdos añoro de Nasca la más amada, recuerdo el día de río cual casi mi vida acaba. Escribo el poema en verso para contarle a la gente, que aunque yo no esté presente mantengo a Nasca en mi mente, como a nadie, más amada. -Lino Salazar Este poema fue inspirado por los recuerdos de mi niñez y por la nostalgia en la que estoy inmerso al recordar a mi gente y al recordar al pueblo que me vio nacer.◙
El Orfanato ‐The Orphanage, Spain 2007. In theaters December 28th. Juan Antonio Bayona, Director. Sergio Sanchez, Screen Writer. Guillermo del Toro, Producer. Featuring Belen Rueda. A young couple prepares to open a school for disabled children in a majestic old mansion in northern Spain, the site of a former orphanage. The mother had been raised on the property and wanted to relive the happiest years of her life and give back to other disadvantaged children. Soon after they move in, Simon, the couple’s HIV posi‐tive adopted son, starts playing with imaginary friends. And then, the child disappears. The story unravels as the des‐perate mother faces some horrifying mo‐ments. What works so well about this movie is that it defies conventions of genre. It is a family drama with a supernatural element. It takes place inside a home and amidst the celtic, misty, grey skies of Asturias. The unknown or supernatural even touched the reality of the production. Director Bayona casted actress Belen Rueda, (Mar adentro), as the main character because he thought she had certain intensity that would make her perfect for the role. It was not until later, while they were actually filming, that the director learned about Rueda’s personal drama: she lost a young child not that long ago. The actress was heartbroken while filming the movie, and she transmits these feelings to the audience. We understand her need to do every‐thing possible or impossible to meet her child again. “The Orphanage” falls into the same realm as “The Others” (2001) by fellow Spaniard Direc‐tor Alejandro Amenabar and “Pan’s Laby‐rinth” (2006) by Guillermo del Toro from Mex‐ico. Actually, del Toro produced “The Orphan‐age” because in 1974 he was impressed with the talent of Director Juan Bayona, then just 17 years old. Bayona went to a press conference in Madrid, posed as a reporter‐‐somehow he sneaked in the conference room‐‐and was able to interview the Mexican Director. Del Toro soon noticed the youth and the lack of creden‐tials of his interviewer, but was deeply im‐pressed by his questions, his passion and the depth of his critiques. They forged a lasting relationship that culminated in “The Orphan‐age.” Del Toro produced his film in the same spirit that Pedro Almodovar—the most inter‐nationally well‐known Spanish film director—
produced his early works. After reaping their own success, both felt compelled to give a break to young, talented directors by providing creative freedom and a budget! While watching the film, my friend and I were restless in our seats and grabbing each other arms. How can this happen in a low budget movie with a single set and five characters? Bayona and Sanchez claim that they tried to create fear by reversing the current Hollywood
Horror Movie tech‐nique: instead of having creeping sounds and many things happening at the same time, they anguish the audience with one set (the house), five characters, darkness and silence. They truly and slowly create anguish in the viewer, and when you think you cannot take it any longer, the ten‐sion culminates and
gives way to relief by some fast “cheap” scary scene. A brilliant formula that fuses the tradi‐tion of Spanish directors like Antonio Saura—Cria Cuervos, 1976—and Victor Erice—El espíritu de la colmena, 1973—and the present American entertainment industry. Saura and Erice were masters of the use of silence. The director and the screenwriter of the Orphanage conscientiously retook and transformed this technique as a hommage, in admiration and belief in its power. In the same spirit, they casted Geraldine Chaplin, the star in many of their 70’s movies. The young artists trans‐formed the works of their predecessors with a new twist. They retook a Spanish tradition and they blended it with new global trends, giving way to a magnificent product. This is intertex‐tuality and globalization at its best. I learned this information and other insights about the movie in a Q & A session with the director and the screenwriter at the first screening of the movie in Boston. Needless to say, I was impressed by the freshness, the tal‐ent, and the approachable personality of both Juan Bayona and Sergio Sánchez. They re‐minded me of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon when they won their Oscar for “Good Will Hunting”. Who knows, there may be an Oscar for them, too. Now, you may be wondering what this movie is really about. Is it a ghost story or a drama? Is it about Peter Pan or about the lonely mother by the window waiting for her children? Is it about faith or the cruelty of hope? Is it uplifting or is it devastating? You decide for yourself starting on December 28th. ◙
F I L M R E V I E W: “ E L O R F A N A T O” B Y D R . F A T I M A S E R R A L I N G U A
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R E A D P A ST I S S U E S O N L IN E
A Bi-Annual Newsletter Published by the
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languages
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Dr. Serra with writer Sergio Sanchez and Director Juan Bayona at the Boston premiere of “El Orfanato”
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