Committee Meetings and Minutes

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Foreign Languages Task Force

Meeting Minutes

Current Status of Minutes: Final
Date	January 24, 2020
Time	12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location	HLC-2412

Members Present
Catherine Angell, Jan Emberson, Kasina Entzi, Oscar Garcia-Landois, John Golden, Mary Greff, Fahim Idais, Bernadeta Kaminska, Vanessa Lazo, Talia Loaiza, John McMinn-Reyna, Michael Hydak, Myung-Joo Oh, Todd Phillips, Mariela Prato-Williams, Rahelina Razanadrafara, Elsa Taylor, Virginia Talley
Guests Present
John Wilsonmay, Joshoa Martin

Item # 1:	Committee Reports Spring 2020
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	Vanessa Lazo presented the minutes from the September 13, 2019 meeting. Action taken: The minutes were approved. Special guests: a. William Hayden presented the International Programs at ACC for the summer of 2020 for Arabic 1412 (Jordan), German 2311 and Art Appreciation (Vienna), Japanese 1412 (Kyoto), Spanish 2311 (Oaxaca, Mexico), and Spanish 2312 (Argentina). He asked faculty to advertise the programs and to share with students that scholarships are available, because enrollments are still low. The deadline to apply for a scholarship is March 2, and fees must be paid by March 22. b. Joshua Martin presented captioning services at ACC. He encouraged instructors to have any media to be seen by students captioned, and to do it early, rather than waiting until they find out that they are going to have hearing impaired student. There is a Captioning Request Form, which can be found easily by doing a search on the ACC website. He said that faculty should contact Sean Lorass for help with students who are visually impaired.

Item # 2:	Announcements
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	a. Vanessa Lazo asked faculty to review the committee memberships and to let her know if they wish to be added or removed from any committees. b. She welcomed Bradley Barr to the department. Bradley was hired to teach German, but his sections were canceled. c. She reported that Rio Grande Campus is scheduled to reopen for the fall semester of 2020. d. She announced that summer sessions will be 5 weeks and 10 weeks starting this summer. e. She stressed to faculty teaching ECHS/Dual Credit students that high school students need to be aware of their grades throughout the semester so they can make sure that they are meeting their requirements to graduate from high school. It is important to post grades on Blackboard, and to remember that when there are holidays in school districts, ECHS/Dual Credit students may not have transportation to campus. f. Vanessa Lazo congratulated Dr. Kasina Entzi on successfully defending her dissertation. g. Theresa Oh invited faculty to look at her blog about her sabbatical in Japan at https://www.ohinkyoto.com/ and to attend her share session about it on February 21. Vanessa Lazo encouraged faculty to apply for a sabbatical. IV. Degree Plan Changes John McMinn-Reyna reported that the college administration was encouraging departments to list suggested courses for areas in degree plans where any course from the Core Curriculum is accepted. This is to help students from feeling overwhelmed and uncertain of which course to choose. These suggested courses are meant to provide guidance, but students will still be able to select any course from the Core Curriculum. For the Foreign Languages degree plans, this includes the following degree requirements: Creative Arts, Life and Physical Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Mathematics. Suggested courses were selected by considering the list of Core Curriculum courses and a list provided by the graduation office of the courses most commonly chosen for those areas by foreign language majors. Action Taken: It was approved to list the following suggested courses on degree plans: Creative Arts: ARTS 1303 Art History I, ARTS 1304 Art History II, MUSI 1306 Music Appreciation Life and Physical Sciences: ENVR 1301 Introduction to Environmental Science, GEOG 1301 Physical Geography, ANTH 2301 Physical Anthropology Social and Behavioral Sciences: GEOG 1302 Human Geography, ANTH 2351 Cultural Anthropology, SOCI 1301 Introduction to Sociology Mathematics: MATH 1314 College Algebra, MATH 1342 Elementary Statistics V. Committee Reports It was approved to add the following committee reports to the minutes.

Item # 3:	Adjunct Faculty Evaluation
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	The Evaluation Committee is working with the IT department to implement BOX for this upcoming evaluation cycle. In Box you will be able to: •Upload your digital Faculty Input Form. •Upload your entire digital portfolio, including your digital Syllabus Checklist. •Upload your Distance Learning Report if you taught online classes.

Item # 4:	Adjunct Faculty Interview
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	Although we interviewed several Spanish candidates, the search resulted in keeping the position open until filled. We hired Bradley Barr as adjunct in German. Unfortunately, Professor Barr's GERM 1412 and 2311 were cancelled during the Endangered Sections Review.

Item # 5:	Early College High School
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	•Spring 2020 Endangered Sections Review had a sizable impact with over 20 sections cancelled from January 13-17. •Vanessa continues to work on scheduling closely with ECHS and Dual Credit. Our new partnerships with Austin Peace Academy (APA) with Arabic, and Harmony School of Excellence (HSE) are in there second semester of course offerings. •HSE needed to be converted from a traditional Spanish course to a Native Speakers course during the semester. •Due to readiness issues of students, Latin will no longer be offered at HLC for ECHS. •Italian is also no longer offered at RVS at this time for ECHS. •Vanessa continues to support and enact the mission of the Dual Credit Annual Appointment program as mandated by the college. •Dr. Cook's memorandum on changes to ECHS/Dual Credit will be discussed at this meeting. Mainly, in order to ensure early reports, faculty are urged to use Blackboard for posting grades promptly for early intervention

Item # 6:	Eligibility List/Faculty Problems/Foreign Language Honor Society
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	Eligibility List Due to a decrease in the number of available sections each semester, the department stopped accepting applications for new MSTA positions in German, Japanese, and Spanish. There are no MSTA positions in the other languages. The only applications that we will honor will be for current MSTA's who are in their second year of the MSTA process and need to reapply again until they rollover. Faculty Problems Private. Nothing to report to the faculty at large. Foreign Language Honor Society The applications for the Foreign Language Honor Society, Alpha Mu Gamma, will be due on Thursday, April 2, this semester. Since we no longer have cashiers on most campuses, students may make their checks out directly to Alpha Mu Gamma, and they can send them to Julie Kleinhans. (If a student is able to pay at the Cashier’s Office at the HLC or RVS campus, they may do so for the code 84 AMG.) The fees are $5 for Associate Membership, and $30 for Full (Lifetime) Membership.

Item # 7:	New Faculty/Outreach/Professional Development
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	New Faculty We hired a new German instructor, Bradley Barr, for the spring semester, but no one was assigned to mentor him due to the cancelation of his sections. k. Outreach Nothing new to report. Professional Development Spring Development Day was held on January 17th this year, and a number of workshops of general interest to all faculty were included. During the Fall semester, Vanessa and Tim presented information about the Center for Urban Education's Equity Minded Teaching Institute that they attended. Also, John Golden led fun and interactive workshops about the history of the Spanish language. On February 21st, Theresa Oh will give a presentation to tell about her adventures in Japan during her Sabbatical last semester. Her presentation will be held in HLC in the afternoon.

Item # 8:	Scheduling
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	•Vanessa Lazo continues to work on program sequencing of all languages to make sure that days and times from fall classes have a counterpart in the spring to ease student planning. •The German Program is currently offering the first German hybrid sequence in a Hybrid Distance (HYD) format. Fall enrollment in German I as a hybrid was successful. German II for spring 2020 has the highest enrollment of all German II sections. •French is offering the first DIL FREN 1411 section this spring. Enrollment in this course is strong with six to eight students on the waiting list. A second section of DIL FREN 1411 will be offered in the 12-week session. John McMinn-Reyna has created the DIL FREN 1411 section. Véronique Mazet is planning DIL FREN 1412 to be offered in the fall of 2020. • Tim continues to work as the PACE Liaison at RGC to ensure that we offer a full sequence of hybrids. • Spanish for Spanish Speakers is currently on hold pending reconceptualization of its framework. •If RGC opens fully in the fall 2020, then decisions about which programs to offer at RGC will need to occur in the spring 2020.

Item # 9:	Spanish For Spanish Speaker/Special Events/
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	Spanish for Spanish Speakers We are currently looking for new textbooks for SPAN 2313 and SPAN 2315, as well as for the Early College High School Native Speakers 1411 course. Special Events We had a busy Fall 2019: • For the Fall 2019, Theresa Oh enjoyed her sabbatical in Japan. Be sure to read her blog. It was a fascinating experience. • On September 6th, we gathered at the Brewtorium to welcome our new faculty: Maria Cavazos, Michael Mignanelli, and Virginia Talley. Virginia and Michael were able to attend. Maria had another engagement. • On Friday, October 4th, there was a German Film evening at NRG. The event was well-attended and received, especially for being the first of its kind. German students, their families, and senior citizens from the community attended this free event open to the public. • On November 9th, we hosted two tables at ACCFest 2019. We represented our clubs, programs, and study abroad to many interested students, parents, and the community at large. • On November 15th, we celebrated Dr. Entzi on earning her doctoral degree in German and Dutch Studies from Indiana University in Bloomington at Scholz Garten. • On December 6th, some of us were able to attend The Nutcracker ACC Holiday Party. It was a fun get together. • On December 8th, Veronique Mazet outdid herself again with """"""""La Chorale de Nöel."""""""" Christmas songs in French and Santa's Photo Booth made it a memorable event for many families. In the Spring 2020: • On February 21st, Theresa Oh will do a slide presentation of her sabbatical experiences. It will be at HLC 1-3PM. She will have some matcha sweets with green tea.

Item # 10:	Study Abroad/ Textbook
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	•The program for Spanish 2311 and 1300 to Costa Rica was very successful this past summer! It was decided after this past summer that none of the faculty had an interest in continuing that particular program. •A program for Spanish 2312 and 1300 to Argentina is being offered to students in the first summer session of 2020. New to this year is a three day trip to Iguazu Falls and a trip to Uruguay. Students will stay with families in Buenos Aires and have “Mate Café” language exchange meetings with Argentine college students. Jan Emberson is the faculty lead. •During the first summer session, a Spanish 2311 and 1300 Study Abroad Program in Oaxaca, Mexico is being offered for the first time. Students will be in Oaxaca from June 14 to July 1st, and they will enjoy many cultural activities including the Pyramids of Monte Albán. Rosa Davila, the faculty leader, encourages our department to share this information with our students so this program can successful this time around. •A German 2311 program in Austria will be led by Bernadeta Kaminska in conjunction with Art Appreciation. •A Japanese 1412 program in Japan will be led by Emi Schuster. •An Arabic 1412 program in Jordan will be led by Fahim Idais. •The FOLA Textbook Inventory Committee is currently collecting adoption changes or confirmation to continue with current FOLA Textbook inventory adoptions for summer 2020. An email was sent to committee members on January 21, 2020, with a response deadline of January 31, 2020. •First Day Access Textbook orders deadline for summer courses is February 26, 2020. Traditional Textbook Orders for summer courses is March 1, 2020. •The FOLA Textbook Inventory Committee will begin collecting adoption changes or confirmation to continue with current FOLA Textbook inventory adoptions for fall in March. An email to the Textbook Inventory Committee to be sent on February 28, 2020, with a response deadline of March 13, 2020. •First Day Access Textbook orders deadline for fall courses is April 15, 2020. •The deadline for traditional Textbook Orders for fall courses is April 1, 2020. •Deadlines for FDA (first day access) is based on registration dates. •Please send any questions regarding textbooks for summer and fall to Becky Jaimes, Textbook Inventory Committee Chair.

Item # 11:	Assessment/Curriculum/Distance Learning
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	. Assessment Thank you to everyone who helped in the assessment process last semester. Results will be emailed to everyone in mid-February. Curriculum The college is encouraging departments to list a few suggested courses for component areas of degree plans where any course from the Core Curriculum is accepted. We will review the listings for Creative Arts, Life and Physical Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Math in our degree plans. Distance Learning The committee has updated the Distance Learning Evaluation Form, which is attached at the end of the committee reports.

Item # 12:	Distance Learning Evaluation Form
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	Interaction with instructor: How do you interact with your students? How do you provide feedback? How do you provide office hours? How many announcements or group emails do you send out during an average week? Interaction with other learners: How do you encourage students to interact with other students? Ice breakers? Group or paired assignments? Discussion boards? Interaction with content: How are students exposed to the content? How do you use the textbook? Tutorials? Other materials? Part II: Report on Skill development How do you practice the following skills? Reading Listening Writing Speaking Culture

Item # 13:	Report on Accessibility and Availability/ Studen Feedback
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	When necessary, I work with the college DL office in order to provide offsite tests to students unable to take exams at one of the ACC campus locations. ____ I work with the Office for Students with Disabilities and provide reasonable accommodations when requested through the proper channels. ____ I provide regular online office hours through skype or other medium. ____ I respond to emails in a timely fashion (24-48 hours). If you did not check any of the above statements regarding accessibility and availability, explain why and how you complied with SACS equality standards. Report on Student Feedback Please create a survey for your students in Blackboard with the following questions and attach a printout of their responses: 1)What am I doing that I should keep doing? 2)What am I doing that I should stop doing? 3)What am I NOT doing that I should start doing? Please address any comments made by students that you would like here:

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