Faculty and Staff Meeting and Workshop Minutes

Spanish-American Institute

December 12, 2009

 

 

ScheduleThe Faculty and Staff Workshop started at 10:30 am and ended at 12:00.  The business part of the meeting started at 12:00 noon and adjourned at 1 pm.   Mr. Ferraro invited attendees to lunch at the Firebird.

 

Attendance:  J. Arbai, T. Bobrysheva, Z. Batchaeva, F.A. Bush, M. Chalek, D. Compaore, V. Covic, A.M. Diaz, G. Diaz, L. Dolina Rusk, L. Dombre, L. Eco, A. Ergashev, L. Fallarme, D.V. Ferraro, C. Gallardo, L. Grajo, L. Hernandez, L. Klavsen, A. Lisitsyn, E. Manliclic, M. Marcus, Z. Matiychyk, B. Mumkaya, Y. Nakamura, E. Nibeyro, N. Panganiban, C. Prager, E. Ramos, T. Schwenke, S. Sergeeva, S. Shcheglova, S. Shukova, A.Tuldanes, B. Zouhairi.

 

President’s Report:  Mr. Ferraro welcomed everyone. 

 

Chair and Other Faculty Reports :  No reports. 

          

Academic Dean's Report

 

  1. ESL Literacy Course—Please provide President Ferraro or Dean Prager with the names of any students who might benefit from this course. 

 

  1. NorthStar Bibliography Project—The Library collection will reflect  additional  print material correlated to NorthStar content and themes.  Faculty and staff will receive updates.  Please continue to recommend additional titles and materials.

 

  1. Student Advisement and NorthStar/TOEFL Correlations:  Dean Prager distributed a handout of NorthStar level/TOEFL correlations.  The correlations can be used  as an advisement tool with students who wish to enroll in a higher ESL level. 

 

Faculty and staff should advise students that the handout’s stated correlations for NorthStar Listening and Speaking do not mean that students can score at that level since TOEFL test scores are based on reading and writing as well as listening and speaking. 

 

  1. Student Advisement and College Placement Tests and:  Faculty and staff should also advise students that all colleges require entering students to take an English placement test, even if they have submitted TOEFL scores.  Students who do not demonstrate college level ESL skills will be required to take ESL courses until they meet the colleges’ ESL standards for college work.  In most such cases, students who do not have college level ESL skills must take ESL courses before they can take college subject courses. 

 

  1. Housekeeping—Blackboards and Video Monitors:  Faculty members are reminded to clean blackboards at the end of each class and to use video monitors only on assigned days. 

 

Workshop:  “Introduction to NorthStar 3” 

 

Michelle Bugay, a Pearson Education ESL specialist, provided an overview of changes in NorthStar 3 classroom and on-line materials 

 

She provided workshop participants with handouts comparing the 2nd and 3rd editions and sample copies of 3rd edition texts for review 

 

Ms. Bugay emphasized NorthStar 3’s integration of unit activities.  For example, each unit is now divided into only three major sections:  Focus on the Topic, Focus on Listening (or Reading), and Focus on Speaking (or Writing).  Activities prompt students to more structured and independent language production in keeping with NorthStar’s 3rd ed. emphasis upon  purposeful integration of critical thinking and academic language skills. 

 

Ms. Bugay also provided an overview of the new digital support provided students and teachers online at www.mynorthstarlab.com.  MyNorthstarLab provides: 

 

·        online practice with immediate feedback corresponding to each textbook unit in all four language skills;

·        audio, video, and test preparation on demand (including allowing students to download textbook listening passages to their IPods) ; and

·        customizable resources for teachers. 

 

Upon request, Ms. Bugay will provide access to individual Spanish-American Institute teachers to MyNorthStarLab.  Dean Prager will request individual faculty member’s access as the Institute phases in NorthStar 3.