Committee Meetings and Minutes

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Foreign Languages Task Force

Meeting Minutes

Current Status of Minutes: Final
Date	March 22, 2013
Time	1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Location	HBC 410

Members Present
No member attendance has been recorded.
Guests Present
No guest attendance has been recorded.

Item # 0:	Attendees:
Presenter	In attendance from 1:30 to 5:00 pm
Discussion	Todd Phillips, Talia Loaiza, Scott Gibby, Mariela Prato-Williams, Joseph Liro, Heather G. Bonikowski, Jan Emberson, Christa Montoya, John Golden, Juan Isart, Rosa D�vila, John McMinn, Becky Jaimes, Merry Wheaton, Julie Kleinhans-Urrutia, Theresa Oh, Delia Montesinos, Anna C. Pyeatt, Paticia Fernos, Ewa Siwak, Tim Altanero, Cathy Angell, Richard Ezell, Stuart Smith, Marc Pr�vost.

Item # 0:	Approval of Minutes
Presenter	Cathy Angell
Discussion	Cathy Angell presented the minutes from the October 26, 2012 meeting. ACTION TAKEN: The minutes were approved without corrections.

Item # 2:	Announcements: (a) Introduction of New Administrative Assistant
Presenter	Cathy Angell
Discussion	Cathy Angell introduced Maricela Thormahlen, the new administrative assistant for the Foreign Language Department. ACTION TAKEN: None

Item # 2:	(b) Core Curriculum and General Education List Changes
Presenter	Cathy Angell
Discussion	Cathy Angell announced that there will be changes in the college-wide Student Learning Objectives and that the categories may be changing on the General Education list and the Core Curriculum list. More information will come about these changes. She also announced that the college is considering a standardization of the statement of history requirements on the degree plans. ACTION TAKEN: None

Item # 2:	(c) Posting Syllabi and Office Hours
Presenter	Cathy Angell
Discussion	Cathy Angell reminded faculty that they must post their syllabi, curriculum vitate, and office hours online with Lighthouse. She stressed that this is required by state law. Scott Gibby mentioned that it is difficult to copy and paste from Word files because the formatting of the document is lost. ACTION TAKEN: None

Item # 3:	Committee Reports: (a) Special Events
Presenter	Theresa Oh and Mariela Prato-Williams
Discussion	Theresa Oh and Mariela Prato-Williams announced that International Night at Carnival ah! will be April 4, 6:30-9:00 pm, and the theme this year will be ''Feel the Beat of International Night!'' World drum styles and music will be presented and international finger foods will be served including vegetarian options. ACTION TAKEN: None

Item # 3:	(b) Study Abroad
Presenter	Todd Phillips
Discussion	Todd Phillips announced that eight students will participate in the study abroad program in Costa Rica this summer. The study abroad programs in Argentina, Spain, and Jordan did not make. ACTION TAKEN: None

Item # 3:	(c) Foreign Language Honor Society
Presenter	Julie Kleinhans-Urrutia
Discussion	Julie Kleinhans-Urrutia reminded faculty that the application deadline for the Honor Society was March 28th. ACTION TAKEN: None

Item # 3:	(m) Audio Inventory
Presenter	Stuart Smith
Discussion	Stuart Smith asked Tim Altanero to send her the information about the new German book so she could arrange to have the audio placed in the libraries. ACTION TAKEN: None

Item # 3:	(n) Student Success
Presenter	Cathy Angell
Discussion	Cathy Angell announced that she hoped to have orientation videos for new students that would feature former students giving tips on how to be successful in Foreign Language classes. There was a discussion of how to make students aware of the videos and encourage students to watch them. It was suggested that a course note be included in the course schedule saying that students should watch them before registering for a foreign language course. ACTION TAKEN: None

Item # 3:	(o) Scheduling
Presenter	Cathy Angell
Discussion	Cathy Angell discussed scheduling class times at different campuses and reported that Nothridge is stricter with class times since there are no designated classrooms for the department. Rosa D�vila mentioned that her MWF Spanish 2311 class is too short with 50 minutes classes and suggested that intermediate classes be scheduled for only two days per week. ACTION TAKEN: None

Item # 3:	(p) New Faculty
Presenter	Todd Phillips
Discussion	Todd Phillips announced that there are currently no new faculty, but with the new limits on course loads of adjunct faculty, there may soon be several new faculty members who will need mentors. ACTION TAKEN: None

Item # 3:	(j) Professional Development
Presenter	Stuart Smith
Discussion	Stuart Smith announced that there were two workshops scheduled, one on using the new Spanish textbook and another one that would be a share session where participants would each share an activity or technique for teaching a topic common to all languages. Todd Phillips proposed that faculty be given professional development credit for travel abroad to a region where the language they teach is spoken. ACTION TAKEN: It was approved for faculty to receive up to 50% of their yearly required professional development for travel in a region where the language they teach is spoken. They will receive one hour per day of their trip, and they must turn in proof of the dates of the trip.

Item # 3:	(k) Adjunct Faculty Interview
Presenter	Cathy Angell
Discussion	Cathy Angell announced that we may need to hire some new instructors for Early College Start classes. She also reported that there may be a new category added to eligibility lists of faculty approved to teach only Early College Start classes. ACTION TAKEN: None

Item # 3:	(l) Textbooks Inventory
Presenter	Becky Jaimes
Discussion	Becky Jaimes reported that there would be new packages of the current beginning French and intermediate German books, as well as a new beginning Russian textbook. It was also announced that there would be a new beginning German textbook, and she ask the German Department to send her the title and ISBN so she could order it before the deadline of April 1. ACTION TAKEN: None

Item # 3:	(d) Faculty Evaluations
Presenter	Mariela Prato-Williams
Discussion	Mariela Prato-Williams announced that adjunct faculty should have received feedback on their evaluations from the fall, and she reminded everyone that they have to do student evaluations every semester. Cathy Angell announced that evaluation portfolios that were submitted in 2011 could be picked up at the departmental office. ACTION TAKEN: None

Item # 3:	(e) Eligibility List
Presenter	Cathy Angell
Discussion	Cathy Angell announced that there would be two new MSTA positions for Spanish. ACTION TAKEN: None

Item # 3:	(f) Curriculum
Presenter	John McMinn
Discussion	John McMinn announced that the French Department would be using a new version of the textbook that is cheaper and includes the print text, the workbook, and the electronic textbook and workbook. The new version of the text will be used starting in the summer. In the fall, students in French 1512 will be allowed to use either the old version used in the spring or the new version used in the summer. It was also announced that the German and Russian would be changing first-year textbooks in the fall. ACTION TAKEN: None

Item # 3:	(g) Technology
Presenter	Scott Gibby
Discussion	Scott Gibby suggested that the Foreign Language Department establish a required training process to become distance-learning instructors. These requirements would be in addition to the college-wide requirements. He suggested that new instructors be required to observe a course from the perspective of both the instructor and the student, and that they plan out and prepare the course in advance. The course would need approval by the Technology Committee before the faculty member could be assigned a distance learning course. ACTION TAKEN: It was approved to adopt Scott Gibby's proposal.

Item # 3:	(h) Assessment
Presenter	Julie Kleinhans-Urrutia
Discussion	Julie Kleinhans-Urrutia reported the following success rates from the fall assessment testing: DICTATION in 1511 courses: Chinese 58.4%; Japanese 36%; Arabic 57.8%; Russian 83.4%; German 81.7%; French 88.9%; Spanish 92.7%. WRITING in 1512 courses: Spanish 78%; French 89.7%; Japanese 60%. LISTENING in 2311 courses: 75%; Arabic 80%; German 61.5%; Spanish 90.7%; Japanese 71%. She also announced that this spring, culture would be tested in Spanish 1511 classes-.

Item # 3:	(i) Spanish for Spanish Speakers
Presenter	Rosa D�vila
Discussion	Rosa D�vila announced that the new courses for Spanish speakers had been approved the college-wide Curriculum Committee, and that the Spanish for Native Speakers Committee has been working on the placement tests which would be given to the Assessment Committee for approval. There will be a page on the Foreign Language Department's website with a self-assessment for students to decide whether they should take the course. She also distributed a handout about the course that has been prepared for advisors. The first course is expected to be offered for the first time in the fall of 2014. ACTION TAKEN: None

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