Institution: Whitman College

Language Area: Spanish

Project Type: TravelFellowship

Project Title: e-mail exercises with Mexican students

Duration: One week (in July)

Brief Descripton of Projects:

I propose to work with English teachers at the University of the Yucatan, in Merida, to develop specific exercises for bilingual e-mail communication between my beginning Spanish students and their students of English. For two years I have been doing this sort of exchange, though not electronically, with my students and ESL students at WW Community College. In 1998 I visited the language school at U. de Yucatan, where they are collaborating with us on study abroad, and they showed me their new e-mail facilities in the language lab. I have arranged to interview several people there and take them exercises for discussion that I have already used successfully in WW. Those people include F. Villalbos Castillos, Director of CODI (the language dept) and Zulema N. Aguilar, director of the school of education.

Outcome:

This project will enable students living in the Northwest to work collaboratively in both Spanish and English with Mexican university students on exercises that will be beneficial to both. In addition students will be encouraged to extend the contact to develop into a regular correspondence by e-mail. As we have found in doing this project in person at Community College, the Hispanic and American students develop respect and often friendship for each other as they work together on shared tasks that make use of both Spanish and English. The Northwest students will benefit by contact with the linguistic and cultural authenticity of Mexican students who have lived their entire lives in Mexico. Clara Yu told me recently that she very much supports this project and that she is not aware of anyone else who has done it.

Brief Time Line:

In July, 1999, I will visit the Universidad de Yucatan for a week. Then the e-mail exchanges will be carried out in beginning Spanish classes at Whitman during the 1999-2000 academic year.

Amount Requested: $600