What: SOAL presents:  An afternoon with MATESOL alumni featuring: Elizabeth Cole, Kathryn Long, Akiko Ota, and Woods Stricklin

Former MA TESOL students will share their stories about what was most helpful in PSU's MATESOL program, what they did after they received their MATESOL degree, and what it's like to find work in our community. There will be 30-45 minutes for questions and answers. Coffee and snacks provided!

When and Where:

• Friday, 27-Feb-2009
• 2:00-3:30 p.m.
• East Hall 109

 Who: Meet your panelists:

•  Elizabeth Cole is an instructor in PSU's IELP program and at Portland Community College. She completed the MA TESOL program in 2005.

•  Kathryn Long, former ORTESOL President, is a linguist with an interest in second language acquisition and teaching methodology. She is currently employed by three educational institutions: Portland State University, Clackamas Community College, and Mt. Hood Community College. She has taught courses in second language acquisition for both the Department of Applied Linguistics and the Graduate School of Education at PSU. She also teaches for the ESL Department at CCC.  Her focus of instruction at MHCC is developmental reading and study skills in the Humanities Division.

• Akiko Ota is working at Portland Community College Cascade Campus ESOL department, Portland State University Office of International Student and Scholar Services, and Department of Education at Concordia University. Her focus and interests at PSU were Corpus Linguistics and materials development. Her current focus is NNEST issues, facilitating adult ESL student success in higher education, and creating accessible campus resources.

•  Woods Stricklin finished the MA TESOL in 2007 and has been teaching part time at PCC ever since. His project for the degree was to organize student-made teaching resources for the teaching practicum -- he urges all teachers in training to teach the practicum! His research paper was on his academic love, the translation of poetry.

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• Who? Akiko Ota and Nancy Dollahite
• What? Grammar Cards:  Using Color-coded Cards for Emerging Literacy Students
• When? Friday, March 6th, 3:00-4:00 
• Where? East Hall 109

More: How can we effectively teach complex English grammar concepts such as: be-verbs, regular and irregular verbs, singular-plural agreement, basic sentence structure, questions and negative forms?

This session provides an alternative hands-on way of teaching grammar using color-coded cards which address a variety of learning styles and give learners more autonomy.

Akiko Ota and Nancy Dollahite will present their experiences using the color-coded grammar cards in teaching emerging literacy students as well as teaching TESOL practicum students.

Participants will receive hands-on practice and handouts will be provided.

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• Who: LING students, family, faculty, staff, and anyone interested in language learning

• What: pizza and good company provided, beer and soft drinks available

• When: the First Friday of each month, when classes are in session.

• Where: Hot Lips Pizza, at the corner of SW 6th and Hall.

• Contact: John Jedeloh

• First Friday photos

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Did you know? There are available to help students attend conferences such as the TESOL conference in Denver in March. If you would like 
more information about TESOL 2009, please see ://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/convention2009/

We would like to help as many students as possible to attend. The SOAL funds can help offset costs associated with hotel, travel,  registration fee, or meals (per diem).

If you are interested, please  send a BRIEF email to soal@pdx.edu by Monday, February 23th, 2009 at  5:00 PM.

• Please include some justification for financial need for help and what you will use the funds for, i.e., hotel, travel, registration  fee, or meals.

We request that those who attend participate in a SOAL event such as  the Symposium held last spring to share what they learned at the conference. Please only apply if you will attend the conference. If  you are granted funds and do not attend, you must reimburse the group/SOC account or a hold can be put on your PSU account, etc.

Remember, these funds are only available for students!

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You are invited to a meeting of the Endangered Language Interest Group with Faculty Adviser Nariyo Kono, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics.

• Date: Monday, 09-Feb-2009
• Time: 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
• Place: EH 331

This is an informal gathering for anybody who is interested in endangered languages, language revitalization and language documentation. 

This meeting is supported by SOAL; some refreshments and food will be provided.

We will talk about a couple of possible events in Spring quarter.

Looking forward to seeing many of you there!

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for regularly scheduled social events in the Department of Applied Linguistics at PSU.

SOAL is always looking for creative new ideas to bring students together, provide useful information, and enjoy a relaxing hour or two.

Past events have included:

• "Meet Your Professors": find out more about our App Ling instructors, their research, and their travels
• First Friday casual gatherings for students, faculty, staff, families, and friends at local pubs
• Panel discussions on the metro Portland job market, with recent grads

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Post questions to the LINGFORUM list-serve: https://www.lists.pdx.edu/lists/listinfo/lingforum