Committee Meetings and Minutes

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Foreign Languages Task Force

Meeting Minutes

Current Status of Minutes: Final
Date	February 11, 2022
Time	1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Location	Virtual

Members Present
Scott gibby, Timothy Altanero, Catherine Angell, Rosa Davila, Diane Echevarria, Jan Emberson, Oscar Garcia-Landois, Mary Greff, Becky Jaimes, Julie Kleinhans-Urrutia, Vanessa Lazo, Talia Loaiza, John McMinn-Reyna, Sean McPherson, Michael Hydak, Myung-Joo Oh, Garrett Ollen, Todd Phillips, Mariela Prato-Williams, Rahelina Razanadrafara, Alina Waguespack, Roberto Ybarra
Guests Present
No guest attendance has been recorded.

Item # 1:	Approval Of the Minutes For Fall 2021
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	Vanessa Lazo distributed the minutes from the September 3, 2021 Department Meeting for approval. Action taken: The minutes were approved without changes.

Item # 2:	Committee Reports/Announcements
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	Vanessa Lazo asked for approval to attach the Committee Reports for Spring 2022 to these minutes. Action taken: It was approved to add the Committee Reports to the end of the minutes. a. Vanessa congratulated Scott Gibby for receiving eFaculty of the Year and NISOD awards. b. Vanessa shared an email that Ron Johns received from a student at Columbia University who received an Associate Degree in Arabic from ACC, which inspired him to get back on track in his life. c. Todd Phillips is applying for a sabbatical for the fall of 2023. d. Julie Kleinhans announced that we will be testing reading in 2312 this spring.

Item # 3:	Time Limits for Prerequisite Courses
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	A proposal to limit the length of time a course is valid as a prerequisite was discussed. Faculty pointed out that they sometimes have students who have not taken a course in the language in a while who do well. It was suggested to add a statement to the course schedule that students who took the prerequisite a few years back should contact the professor. Some instructors felt this might discourage students from taking courses. Vanessa Lazo pointed out that the course schedule already suggests that students contact the instructor if they have questions about the course. Action taken: It was decided to leave the current prerequisite policy without changes. V. Prerequisites Vanessa Lazo asked whether we should allow students to take our 1412 course if they covered the same material in a transferred three-hour course as in our 1411 course. Cathy Angell questioned whether students might end up lacking one hour for their degree plan, and how we would know what was covered in the transferred course. Vanessa said that it would be the student’s responsibility to check degree requirements, and that we would have to look at the syllabus to see what was covered. Todd Phillips pointed out that students may have practiced material less even if they covered the same topics. Talia Loaiza said she thought we should allow these students to try to continue with our course. Action taken: It was decided to leave the prerequisite as it is, allowing students to request exceptions case-by-case. VI. Reminders Vanessa Lazo announced the following reminders: — All instructors must upload syllabi for all classes in Lighthouse. — Faculty need to be sure to complete all required professional development training, and we each have to put our own professional development in Workday. Becky Jaimes was told to keep all emails about participating in a workshop for the time being. Talia pointed out that for the 2021 evaluations, we check “complete” if the old system showed it complete, and “in progress” if not. — The Department Chair election process will begin in March and it will be coordinated through the Dean. — No study abroad programs will take place this summer. Hopefully, they will be reactivated in 2023. They are looking for a study abroad for French. FOLA Committee Reports, Spring 2022 a. Adjunct Faculty Evaluation The committee is reviewing the 2021 cycle of evaluations in February and plans to complete it by the first week of March. b. Assessment ● In the Fall 2021 semester, we evaluated 1411 reading comprehension skills for Spanish, 1411 writing skills, and 2311 reading comprehension skills. Overall, the results are satisfactory for our different languages. The percentage of students that received a score of 80% or higher on the assessment is: Chinese 1411 = 100%; Chinese 2311 = 100%; French 1411 = 80%; German 2311 = 77.8%; Italian 1411 = 80%; Italian 2311 = 100%; Latin 2311 = 70%; Russian 1411 = 100%; Spanish 1411 Writing = 87.6%; Spanish 1411 Reading = 94.4%; Spanish 2311 = 98.6%.. ● For the Spring 2022 semester, we will be evaluating Reading Comprehension for our 2312 courses. More details will come throughout the semester.

Item # 4:	Curriculum/Distance Learning
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	● The college-wide Curriculum and Programs Committee approved adding Italian 2311 and 2312 and Korean 2311 and 2312 to the core curriculum. The 2311 and 2312 courses for the other languages were already on the core curriculum. ● All master syllabi are updated in the Syllabus Repository. Please send any changes to master syllabi to John McMinn-Reyna. ● In the fall, syllabi for Spanish were adjusted for new (6th edition) of the Vistas textbook and for the evolving situations due to the pandemic. Vista Higher Learning offered a free upgrade to all students who had a valid 5th edition access. The process for this was for the students to enroll in their professor’s course by the first Friday of the semester. Vistas upgraded all eligible students from that roster and continued this process in Spring 2022. ● For the third consecutive year, Honors Spanish for Medical Professions continues to have the distinction of being the only ACC Honors course that offers two sections in the Spring semester. Distance Learning Nothing new to report.

Item # 5:	Early College High School/ Dual Credit
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	● The Arabic program at Austin Peace Academy (APA) has resumed with Arabic II in the Spring of 2022. Fahim Idais has administered the Course Challenge Exam for Arabic I to all current Arabic II students. ● ECHS in Spanish has cancelled the Native Speaker section again since the Fall 2021 Spanish I was cancelled. ● All ECHS sections are being held at the respective campuses with varying health and safety mandates. ACC continues to partner with our local ISD's to ensure that we are all keeping the wellbeing of our community in mind as the Covid-19 pandemic with its variants continues. ● We have moved the one Dual Credit at Dripping Springs to a DLS modality since the campus does not have a mask mandate in place. The school and ACC liaisons all agreed to this conversion. Eligibility List Nothing new to report. g. Faculty Interview No new adjunct faculty were hired. FOLA initially had one FT (50%) position approved, and then learned of the Chancellor’s request to add a FT Director/Teaching position detailed below: ● Asian American and Pacific Islander Director & Teaching (Chinese, Korean or Japanese) position was assigned to FOLA and Operations. Since the AAPI Director/Teaching position could technically be a Japanese professor, the DC requested that the Japanese FT (50%) position be cancelled for this year pending the outcome of the AAPI Director/Teaching search. ● A Japanese FT (50%) position was initially requested and approved in late summer of 2021. In the late fall, Vanessa requested to have it removed/put on hold until next year pending results of the AAPI Cultural Center Director position when we learned that the position would (a) be placed under FOLA, and (b) the director is expected to teach in one of the three Asian languages we offer. h. Faculty Problems Nothing to report to the faculty at large. i. Foreign Language Honor Society Applications for the Foreign Language Honor Society, Alpha Mu Gamma, will be due March 24, 2022. Applications should be emailed to Julie Kleinhans (jkleinha@austincc.edu). In the Fall 2021 semester, 5 new students became Lifetime Members of Alpha Mu Gamma from ACC. j. New Faculty We welcome Eric Cintron to teach an 8-week Spanish class with us this spring. k. Outreach Nothing new to report. l. Professional Development ● Spring Development Day was held on January 14th this year, and a number of workshops of general interest to all faculty were included. ● During the Fall semester, a number of Professional Development opportunities were offered through the college. The transition to Workday for all College systems has created confusion on how Professional Development offerings are created, advertised, and recorded. It is still a work in progress, and more information on developments will be forthcoming. ● If you have suggestions for additional workshops, please let Cathy Angell and the Professional Development Committee know.

Item # 6:	Scheduling
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	● Only two classes were cancelled during the Endangered Sections Review on Thursday, January 13, 2022. o CHIN 2312 and GERM 2311 were the only sections cancelled, and they were added back for the 12 week session start date. o All other low enrollment sections made and gained additional students over the following weekend. ● We may be in a position to add more Spanish sections. We were able to add a GERM 1411 and a French 1411 to the 12 week session start date. ● Vanessa and Raha are finalizing the Summer 2022 scheduling. ● Our department will continue to offer the four options: DLS, HYD/HYC, LEC, and ONL. DLS - Distance Learning Synchronous HYD/HYC - Hybrid Distance and Hybrid Classroom LEC - Lecture classes that typically meet twice a week ONL - Online sections without any required virtual meetings ● The first year of Korean I and II has been a success. Korean III in the fall of 2021 was also a success. We are now offering our first Korean IV section.

Item # 7:	Spanish For Spanish Speakers/ Special Events/Study Abroad
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	Spanish for Spanish Speakers Nothing new to report. Special Events Nothing new to report. p. Study Abroad No programs happened during the Summer of 2021, and no programs will be offered during Summer 2022 due to pandemic. The language programs planned for the Summer of 2023 are: Action taken: It was decided to leave the current prerequisite policy without changes.

Item # 8:	Prerequisites/Reminders
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	Vanessa Lazo asked whether we should allow students to take our 1412 course if they covered the same material in a transferred three-hour course as in our 1411 course. Cathy Angell questioned whether students might end up lacking one hour for their degree plan, and how we would know what was covered in the transferred course. Vanessa said that it would be the student’s responsibility to check degree requirements, and that we would have to look at the syllabus to see what was covered. Todd Phillips pointed out that students may have practiced material less even if they covered the same topics. Talia Loaiza said she thought we should allow these students to try to continue with our course. Action taken: It was decided to leave the prerequisite as it is, allowing students to request exceptions case-by-case. Vanessa Lazo announced the following reminders: — All instructors must upload syllabi for all classes in Lighthouse. — Faculty need to be sure to complete all required professional development training, and we each have to put our own professional development in Workday. Becky Jaimes was told to keep all emails about participating in a workshop for the time being. Talia pointed out that for the 2021 evaluations, we check “complete” if the old system showed it complete, and “in progress” if not. — The Department Chair election process will begin in March and it will be coordinated through the Dean. — No study abroad programs will take place this summer. Hopefully, they will be reactivated in 2023. They are looking for a study abroad for French.

Item # 9:	Adjunct Faculty Evaluation/Assessments/Eligibility List
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	The committee is reviewing the 2021 cycle of evaluations in February and plans to complete it by the first week of March. all keeping the wellbeing of our community in mind as the Covid-19 pandemic with its variants continues. ● We have moved the one Dual Credit at Dripping Springs to a DLS modality since the campus does not have a mask mandate in place. The school and ACC liaisons all agreed to this conversion. Eligibility List Nothing new to report.

Item # 10:	Faculty Interviews/Faculty Problems
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	then learned of the Chancellor’s request to add a FT Director/Teaching position detailed below: ● Asian American and Pacific Islander Director & Teaching (Chinese, Korean or Japanese) position was assigned to FOLA and Operations. Since the AAPI Director/Teaching position could technically be a Japanese professor, the DC requested that the Japanese FT (50%) position be cancelled for this year pending the outcome of the AAPI Director/Teaching search. ● A Japanese FT (50%) position was initially requested and approved in late summer of 2021. In the late fall, Vanessa requested to have it removed/put on hold until next year pending results of the AAPI Cultural Center Director position when we learned that the position would (a) be placed under FOLA, and (b) the director is expected to teach in one of the three Asian languages we offer. Faculty Problems Nothing to report to the faculty at large.

Item # 11:	Foreign Languages Honor Society
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	Applications for the Foreign Language Honor Society, Alpha Mu Gamma, will be due March 24, 2022. Applications should be emailed to Julie Kleinhans (jkleinha@austincc.edu). In the Fall 2021 semester, 5 new students became Lifetime Members of Alpha Mu Gamma from ACC.

Item # 12:	New Faculty/ Outreach/Professional Development
Presenter	Vanessa Lazo
Discussion	We welcome Eric Cintron to teach an 8-week Spanish class with us this spring. Nothing to report on Outreach. Professional Development: Arabic II in Jordan Japanese II in Japan Spanish III in Oaxaca, Mexico Spanish IV in Argentina Thank you to professors for continuing to promote these programs in your classes.

Item # 13:	Textbook Inventory
Presenter	Becky Jaimes
Discussion	● Textbook Inventory has been updated to place orders for summer 2022. ● Fall 2022 textbook orders are due in March. ● Tim Altanero volunteered to serve as the German Program Lead, go to person) to help centralize information, leading the discussion among all the German instructors for the purpose of clarity and transparency with the current adoption of VHL's Sag mal. ● Per Lynn's request: All the materials for Chinese 1411 will also be listed for 1412. The ACC Bookstore GM updated the ACC Bookstore Website per Lynn's request for spring 2022. ● Per the request of the German faculty, the Bookstore GM will add the following message for students (with the German materials) choose 1 of the following for the purpose of clarity for the upcoming 12 week classes. Currently both items were listed as required. ● German instructors changed the Sag mal digital code to 36 months (from the current 12 months) beginning Summer 2022. The new ISBN for the digital only option is ISBN 9781543316070 for all German courses.

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