The Institute of World Languages and the Chinese Language Program of the Department of East Asian languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Virginia humbly present two online events to serve the global Chinese language teaching community. The two events aim to share open educational resources and foster professional exchange through the UVA STARTALK Leaders for Tomorrow Series. You are cordially invited to join us in discussing the future of Chinese language teaching and learning in the post-methods era. The events are free of charge and open to Chinese language educators in the globe. Please contact Dr. Pei-Ying Gosselin at peiyinggosselin@gmail.com for further information or assistance.

ZOOM link: 3806269628

https://virginia.zoom.us/j/3806269628

Registration: https://forms.gle/WgjgRudoNC5UCPFT8

EVENT 1: Open Educational Resources

Date: Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Time: 7:00-8:30PM (Eastern time in the US)

Topic: Open Educational Resources: Navigating the OER Pressbooks Platform for Free Downloads

Presenter: Miao-fen Tseng 曾妙芬 (Daniels Family NEH Distinguished Teaching Professor, Director of the Institute of World Languages, University of Virginia)

Moderator: Ran Zhao 赵冉 (Associate Professor, General Faculty, Director of the Chinese Language Program, University of Virginia)

Following the completion of the NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) talk series in fall 2022, the four recorded videos are now accessible on YouTube. In this presentation, the presenter will review the essentials for creating the technology-mediated task-based course and demonstrate how teachers and students can navigate and interact with the OER platform and download materials. Units on Siheyuan and Chinese cuisine are highlighted and seamlessly connected with pre-tasks, core-tasks, and post-tasks to embody authenticity.

EVENT 2: UVA STARTALK Leaders for Tomorrow Series

Date: Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Time: 7:00-8:30PM (Eastern time in the US)

Topic: Designing Student-Centered Tasks by Using Authentic Materials

Presenters: Daphne Monroy 李佳芳 (The Haverford School)

Yan Liang梁岩 (Washington International School)

Pei-Ying Gosselin林佩颖 (The Archer School for Girls)

Pei-Chi Chuang 庄佩琪 (Jonas Clarke Middle School)

Moderator: Ziyi Geng 耿子怡 (Teaching Assistant Professor, Wake Forest University)

Four UVA STARTALK fellow teachers in the middle school group will present what they have learned and how they have applied their knowledge and skills to teach in online and in-person classroom settings. They will illustrate the design of student-centered tasks with authentic materials, showcase their students’ work, and share reflections on how to improve their lesson plans.

Date: Friday, March 24, 2023

Time: 7:00-8:30PM (Eastern time in the US)

Topic: A Case Study of Task-Based Teaching: My Dream Trip
Presenters: Hong Li李红 (North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics)

Xuan Weng翁璇 (McDonogh School)

Shi Jiang蒋诗 (University School)

Junyao Wu吴君瑶 (High School for Dual Language & Asian Studies)

Huayi Lin林华一 (Castilleja School)

Moderator: Luoyi Cai 蔡罗一 (Teaching Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill)

Five high school teachers will recap their learning journey at UVA STARTALK in 2021. They will present on the design of the thematic unit, post-program teaching in local classrooms, students’ feedback, and reflections on further development of their lesson plans.

Date: Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Time: 7:00-8:30PM (Eastern time in the US)

Topics: 1) Applying Task-Based Design in Teaching at an Advanced Level Using YouTube Videos 2) Creating Authenticity in Intermediate and Advanced Chinese Language Courses

Presenters: Lin Zhu 朱琳 (Director of Chinese Language Program,

Professor of Practice, Tulane University), Li Xiang 项莉 (Faculty Specialist, Western Michigan University)

Moderator: Miao-fen Tseng 曾妙芬 (Daniels Family NEH Distinguished Teaching Professor and Director of the Institute of World Languages; University of Virginia)

The two presentations to be delivered by the college group will include takeaways and reflections on participating in summer intensive training at 2021 UVA STARTALK. College teachers will demonstrate how to adjust lesson plans to meet the needs of local classrooms and how to transform ideals into reality in post-program teaching in fall. Recommendations for future teaching will be given at the end of the presentation.

Date: Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Time: 7:00-8:30PM (Eastern Time in the US)

GUEST SPEAKER 特邀演讲

Topic: Leadership at the Crux of Social Justice and Instructional Technology in World Language Education

Presenter: Kathryn Murphy-Judy (Emerita and Distinguished Career Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University)

Moderator: Yan Gao 高燕 (Henrico County Public Schools)

As instructional technologies emerge, they have been routinely hailed as tools promoting equity, access, and inclusivity to diverse bodies of learners. Research shows, however, that such tools are only marginally successful with underrepresented and vulnerable student populations for many reasons (Ortega 2017). Indeed, emergency remote teaching (ERT) online in the wake of COVID-19 exposed the extent to which the learning outcomes of so-called minority students—whatever the systematic and negative impact of race, gender, ethnicity, ableness, neurotypicality, age, economic status, nationality has been in face-to-face classroom learning—tended to be magnified during ERT for certain groups (Adam 2020). Yet, it is not the technologies that are at fault but rather underlying biases and systemic barriers found in the imagery of learners and their communities (Anya 2021); the privileging of learning approaches and modalities designed by and for majority group learners (Rohs & Ganz 2015); limited access to appropriate and sufficient hardware, software, and broadband speed (Atski & Perrin 2021); problematic environmental conditions conducive to attention, focus, and perseverance; unsupportive social and emotional learning contexts and skills; tutoring, scaffolding, and support structures and offerings; and what is called the monolingual or English problem in computer assisted language learning (CALL) and second language acquisition (SLA) in general (Bluendgen-Kostens 2022, Ortega 2017, Sauro 2016). This session looks to problematize our thinking, practices, and technology usage in order to unleash our leadership potential in technology-enhanced world language education for a diverse, equitable, accessible, inclusive, pluricultural world.