Interdisciplinarity ACTFL2017

Fostering translingualand transcultural competence through interdisciplinarity

Gillian Lord

glord@ufl.edu

Context: Language enrollments

Context: Language enrollments

Context: MLA 2007 report

Goal

• Establish interdisciplinary endeavors to:

– generate interest in language study and increase enrollments

– broaden the view of what language study entails at the university level

– promote multilingualism across campus

Projects reported here

1. Profession-specific courses

2. Study abroad program

3. Interdisciplinary course

• BONUS: internationalizing the campus with beacon technology

1. Profession-specific courses[“Spanish for …”]

• Lower level:

– Building Construction

– (Agriculture)

• Upper level:

– Business

– Advertising

– Health Professions

– Legal Professions

– Education

– Translation

– (Journalism)

• Certificate in Spanish for the Professions

– 12 credits

• Conversation

• Service Learning

• Culture

• ONE professional course

2. Study abroad program

• Partnership with Biology Department

• Designed for pre-health students

– Biology 2 prerequisite

– Intermediate Spanish prerequisite

• Host family homestays

• Two courses:

– Emerging Disease in the Americas [English]

– Experiential learning [Spanish]

• 6-8 weekly hours as volunteers:– Hospitals; Medical clinics; Pharmacies;

Dental clinics; Pet stores; Alpaca farm

• Workshops/Guest lectures

• Excursions

3. Interdisciplinary course

• Chemistry in the cocina latina

• Co-taught:

– Spanish professor

– Chemistry professor from Argentina

• Taught in English

• No prerequisites

• Sample units

CULTURE(in classroom)

CHEMISTRY(in chemistry laboratory)

COCINA(in campus test kitchen)

CULTURE, HISTORY, VOCABULARY,

PRONUNCIATION

CONCEPTS,EXPERIMENTS

RECIPES, FOOD PREP

seafood denaturing proteins ceviche

potatoes breaking down carbohydrates causa peruana

peppersmeasuring capsaicin

concentrationswith uv spectroscopy

chiles rellenos

sugar, sweets carmelizing sugarsdulce de leche; alfajores; flan

CAMPUS-WIDE PROJECT: Beacons and internationalization

Project PIs: Spanish and Portuguese Studies; UF LibrariesApp development: Computer Science and Engineering studentsText: UF Cicerones student group; Office of the PresidentTranslations of text: Students in language classes at UF

Assessment of initiatives

Thank you.

glord@ufl.edu

http://www.spanishandportuguese.ufl.edu