New Class Includes Citizens of 33 Countries, Speakers of 22 Native Languages
The fall is always an exciting time at the Monterey Institute where faculty, staff and returning students welcome a diverse group of new students from all over the world. This year the incoming class includes citizens of 33 countries and speakers of 22 native languages. What they discover during the first week of orientation is that now they all have one important thing in common—they are all citizens of the Monterey Institute community.
BUILD: Students Teach Each Other New Languages
Beyond yoUrself In Language Development (BUILD) is a student-run organization that provides beginning-level language classes to the entire MIIS community. All of the classes are completely free, informal, and fun!
This year BUILD will offer classes in at least 10 different languages throughout the week to accommodate all students' busy schedules. Whether you want to learn how to order a meal in Chinese, sing a song in French, or play a game in Portuguese, BUILD classes will give you that opportunity! Learn more on our blog.
Who Studies Language Teaching?
The language teaching programs at the Monterey Institute attract a colorful hodgepodge of individuals, each with a compelling backstory. A Bulgaria native fluent in Spanish? A dual-language elementary school teacher enlisting in the Peace Corps? An astronomy-major-turned-world-traveling-polyglot?
Watch students Eliz Tchakarian, Emily Quade, and Derek Yiu tell their stories of how getting a Master's degree in language teaching became the next step in their unique lives.
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Monterey Forum Draws Language Professionals from Across the Globe
“The key terms that come up after this invigorating conference are collaboration and distance learning,” says professor Kayoko Takeda, head of the Japanese translating and interpreting program at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and one of the organizers of the Monterey Forum.
“Cultivating Innovation”: TEDxMonterey Returns to MIIS April 15
On April 15, the Monterey Institute of International Studies is hosting TEDxMonterey for the second time. This year the theme is “Cultivating Innovation,” and the impressive line-up of speakers and presenters is shaping up to be true to the TED promise of “riveting talks by remarkable people.”
Jaymee Martin: Language Teachers Change the World
At the end of the fall 2010 semester, language teaching students in Peter Shaw's Principles and Practices of Language Teaching course gathered to share their group projects at a Trade Fair. Each project contained tasks and lesson designs based on a "macrostrategy" from the book Beyond Methods: Macrostrategies for Language Teaching by B. Kumaravadivelu (2003), who they affectionately nicknamed "Kumar."
The students entered the Kumar Trade Fair thinking it was an ordinary end -of-semester function. They left realizing that it was just the beginning of something much bigger.
