Minutes
Faculty
Meeting and Workshop
Spanish-American
Institute
December 4, 2004
Convened: The Faculty Meeting convened at 10:30 am.
Attendance: J. Arbai, E. Castillo, G. Coronado, A.M. Diaz, L. Fallarme, D. V. Ferraro, J. Gaylan, L. Grajo, R. Krishnamoorthy, , D. Mumkaya, O. Piddubna, C. Prager, N. Panganiban, E. Ramos, A. Tuldanes, N. Yoshida
President’s Report: Mr. Ferraro welcomed everyone to the meeting.
1. 403.b Annuity Plan: He encouraged faculty and staff to enroll in the Institute 403.b annuity plan sponsored by TIAA-CREF.
2. “College Success” Exhibit: He stated that the Institute has created an exhibit of students recently accepted to colleges and universities and requested faculty assistance in encouraging students to bring in their acceptance letters for display.
3. Cell Phone Reminder: He requested faculty to remind students to turn off cell phones at the beginning of each class.
4. Attendance Policies and Practices: He reminded faculty of the importance of accurately noting daily classroom attendance.
5. Audio-Visual Bookstore Requests: He asked faculty to help expedite the requests for Bookstore audio-visual material between and before class by writing down the specific item being requested when sending students to the Bookstore.
6. School History: He provided a copy of the school’s 50-year history to anyone who had not received one.
7. Christmas Toy Donations: He invited those present to walk over to ToysRUs after the meeting to help pick out Christmas toys that the Institute would donate to the building’s toy collection for needy children.
Chair and Other Faculty Reports: R. Krishnamoorthy reported on the new textbook acquisitions being implemented in ESL 1, Business English, and ARW.
Academic Dean's Report and Follow-up Discussion:
1. Next Generation TOEFL: Dr. Prager reported that ETS has added new material to the TOEFL website that faculty might find helpful in introducing the Next Generation TOEFL to classes. Publishers report that they will release new TOEFL textbooks sometime this Spring.
2. New Version of SLEP Test: The Institute now has two versions of the SLEP test to enable testing with different versions.
3. Worldview 1 for ESL 1: She provided an overview of the Worldview 1 book chosen and introduced the multiple instructional support materials that come with the text. Faculty examined and commented on the new text and support material.
4. DVD/Video Manuals, Lesson Plans, and Student Activity Sheets: Dr. Prager also passed out copies of the DVD/Video Manuals for Worldview and NorthStar. The Manuals contain:
Faculty discussed ways that they have used the student activity sheets.
5. NorthStar High Intermediate and Advanced Reading and Writing Tests for Business English and ARW: She also:
1. passed out copies of the new NorthStar Reading and Writing texts for Business English and ARW; and
2. explained the relationship between the Listening and Speaking and Reading and Writing texts which share similar formats, thematic material, and DVD videos.
6. Business English and ARW NorthStar Support Material: The Institute has purchased copies of NorthStar Reading and Writing Teacher’s Manuals. In addition, the Institute has made available to faculty the companion Writing Activity books for each NorthStar Reading and Writing text. The Writing Activity books are extremely helpful in the writing process.
The workshop focused on the following aspects of teaching reading:
Dr. Prager will prepare a summary of the workshop for distribution.