The University of Texas at Austin is closing our esteemed program.

Please read the following message by FLE doctoral candidate Crystal Kusey for information on how to get involved!

Dear friends and colleagues,

 

On behalf of FLE students enrolled in Dr. Horwitz’s doctoral seminar class, I would like to share what we discussed in tonight’s class regarding the unfortunate decision to close our esteemed program.

 

Hilal Pekar, this year's FLESA President and member of the student government assembly, has requested that you write a letter, sign it, and send it to her e-mail (hilalpeker@utexas.edu) no later than May 8^th. She has graciously offered to meet with Dean Judith Langlois on the 9^th and to take the letters to the Dean’s Student Advisory Council (DSAC). (Thank you Hilal! You rock!!!)

 

We are interested in getting together with Hilal on either Monday or Tuesday to discuss these matters more in depth. Some of us are also interested in accompanying her on the 9th. If you are interested in attending this meeting, please fill out the doodle link (http://doodle.com/7tdbx973xrh7g7ek) and we’ll try to find a time that accommodates most.

 

In your letter it would be a good idea to highlight 1) the scholarly level of the program and 2) FLE’s amazing employment record after students have graduated from the program in your letters.  After you’ve sent your letter to Hilal, don’t stop there! Please also send an e-mail AND a snail mail letter (yes, we want to flood their inboxes and mailboxes!) to the three people listed below. Lastly, we request that you rally others to take action by forwarding this e-mail to others who support our cause.

Provost:

Dr. Steven W. Leslie

The University of Texas at Austin

1 University Station, G1000

Austin, TX 78712-0538

sleslie@mail.utexas.edu

Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies ad interum:

Dr. Judith Langlois

The University of Texas at Austin
VP & Dean of Graduate Studies


110 Inner Campus Drive, Stop G0400


Austin, TX 78712-1710

graduatedean@austin.utexas.edu

 

College of Education Dean:

Dr. Manuel Justiz

Office of the Dean, College of Education


Sanchez Building Room 210


1912 Speedway Stop D5000


Austin, TX 78712

mjustiz@austin.utexas.edu

 

Best regards,

Crystal Kusey

Thank you for reading. We hope that you will join us in the fight to reinstate our program!  

Second Spring Social Event

Save the date for our next social event on Friday, April 5 from 7-9pm!!


(Photo curtosey of the UT underground bowling website.)

The reservation is from 7-9, but you are welcome to come early and play some billiards or a warm up game of bowling! We will have pizza available as an appetizer(only ordering 2 pizzas: 1 cheese, 1 vegetable) at 7pm, but if you would like to place your own order for pizza with the bowling alley you can do so, and you can order days in advance if you like. FLESA already has their order in!

We have three lanes reserved, that will cover 18 people. So come early to ensure your place on a team!!

Here's the underground bowling alley information: http://www.utexas.edu/universityunions/texas-union/scene/underground.

We hope to see you there!!!

Second Spring Brown Bag Lunch

It is a pleasure to announce that our March Brown-bag Lunch will be held on the 27th of March (Wednesday) from 12pm to 1.00pm at SZB 536L.

Our guest speaker is Dr. Michael Smith, Director of ESL Services within the International Office at The University of Texas at Austin.  

He has taught ESL in Utah, Hawaii, and Mexico. He has a B.A. and an M.A. certificate in teaching English as a second language, a master's degree in linguistics, and a Ph.D. in foreign language education from UT Austin with an emphasis on aspects of motivation in language learning. He speaks Spanish and has studied both Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese.

If you want to learn more about him, please come and join us on the 27th of March, 2013.

Here is the link to his profile and to ESL Services:

http://world.utexas.edu/esl/faculty

http://world.utexas.edu/esl

[Updated] TexFLEC 2013 Call for Proposals

Texas Foreign Language Education Conference (TexFLEC) is now accepting proposals for our 14th annual conference on February 22-23, 2013. The theme is Blending the Boundaries in the Age of Globalization: Trends, Challenges, and Innovations in Language Education. We are honored to have Dr. Lourdes Ortega, Professor of Applied Linguistics at Georgetown University and Dr. Orlando R. Kelm, Associate Professor of Hispanic Linguistics at University of Texas, Austin, as keynote speakers.
Proposals can be submitted through our website. Please note our final deadline is December 31, 2012. Please refer to the TexFLEC website for additional information and updates. Feel free to pass along this information to any interested parties.
Thanks from your TexFLEC 2013 Committee!
Katie Dunlap katie.dunlap@utexas.edu
Kelly Martin kelly.martin@utexas.edu
Li-Tang Yu ltyu@utexas.edu
Lauren Romero lauren.romero@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

Fourteenth Annual Texas Foreign Language Education Conference (TexFLEC)

Blending the Boundaries in the Age of Globalization: Trends, Challenges, and Innovations in Language Education

February 22nd and 23rd, 2013 at The University of Texas at Austin

The Texas Foreign Language Education Conference (TexFLEC) at The University of Texas at Austin is an annual conference that brings together researchers, educators and students in the fields of foreign language education, TEFL/TESL (Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language), linguistics, and applied linguistics.
Rapid changes in globalization have fostered an era of unprecedented interconnectedness between people. Language educators can now use innovative approaches that have helped blend previously definable distinctions in foreign or second language learning and teaching. It is time for educators and students to share and discuss current ideas and research on how these blended boundaries are impacting language classrooms.
Given the diverse areas of teaching and language learning, please use these topics as guides in developing your proposals:
· Language and Technology
· Language, Culture, and Identity
· Language and Globalization
· Sociolinguistics
· Second Language Acquisition vs. Foreign Language Acquisition
· Analysis of Discourse and Interaction
· Bilingual, Multilingual, and Heritage Learner Communities
· Educational and Corpus Linguistics
· Language Planning and Policy
· New Literacy Studies
· Second and Foreign Language Pedagogy
· Language for Specific Purposes
Interested participants are encouraged to submit a proposal for one of the following session types:
§ Poster Presentation
§ Practice-Oriented Presentation (30 minutes)
§ Research-Oriented Presentation (30 minutes)
§ Symposium (1 hour)
· Online submission forms, registration information and more detailed information are available on our website.
· Priority Deadline November 30, 2012; Final Deadline December 31, 2012.
· For more information, please contact TexFLEC at texfleccommittee@gmail.com

TexFLEC regularly publishes conference proceedings in Texas Papers in Foreign Language Education (TPFLE), the journal of UT's Foreign Language Education Program.
Website: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/tlc/events/conferences/TexFLEC-2013/home.php

Brown Bag Lunch with Diane Schallert

A note from the FLESA president:

Hi FLESAns,

Thank you for joining us for this awesome Brown-bag Lunch. And thank you Diane for sharing her research with us. It was nice to see y'all and listen to Diane.

Hoping to see y'all at Friday's dinner at Austin Pizza.

 

Best,

Hilal

 

 

TexFLEC 2013 Call for Proposals

Texas Foreign Language Education Conference (TexFLEC) is now accepting proposals for our 14th annual conference on February 22-23, 2013. The theme is Blending the Boundaries in the Age of Globalization: Trends, Challenges, and Innovations in Language Education. We are honored to have Dr. Lourdes Ortega, Professor of Applied Linguistics at Georgetown University and Dr. Orlando R. Kelm, Associate Professor of Hispanic Linguistics at University of Texas, Austin, as keynote speakers.

Proposals can be submitted through our website. Please note our final deadline is December 31, 2012. Please refer to the TexFLEC website for additional information and updates. Feel free to pass along this information to any interested parties.

Thanks from your TexFLEC 2013 Committee!
Katie Dunlap katie.dunlap@utexas.edu
Kelly Martin kelly.martin@utexas.edu
Li-Tang Yu ltyu@utexas.edu
Lauren Romero lauren.romero@gmail.com

Fourteenth Annual Texas Foreign Language Education Conference (TexFLEC)

Blending the Boundaries in the Age of Globalization: Trends, Challenges, and Innovations in Language Education

February 22nd and 23rd, 2013 at The University of Texas at Austin

The Texas Foreign Language Education Conference (TexFLEC) at The University of Texas at Austin is an annual conference that brings together researchers, educators and students in the fields of foreign language education, TEFL/TESL (Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language), linguistics, and applied linguistics.

Rapid changes in globalization have fostered an era of unprecedented interconnectedness between people. Language educators can now use innovative approaches that have helped blend previously definable distinctions in foreign or second language learning and teaching. It is time for educators and students to share and discuss current ideas and research on how these blended boundaries are impacting language classrooms.

Given the diverse areas of teaching and language learning, please use these topics as guides in developing your proposals:

·   Language and Technology
·   Language, Culture, and Identity
·   Language and Globalization
·   Sociolinguistics
·   Second Language Acquisition vs. Foreign Language Acquisition
·   Analysis of Discourse and Interaction
·   Bilingual, Multilingual, and Heritage Learner Communities
·   Educational and Corpus Linguistics
·   Language Planning and Policy
·   New Literacy Studies
·   Second and Foreign Language Pedagogy
·   Language for Specific Purposes

Interested participants are encouraged to submit a proposal for one of the following session types:

§  Poster Presentation
§  Practice-Oriented Presentation (30 minutes)
§  Research-Oriented Presentation (30 minutes)
§  Symposium (1 hour)

·   Online submission forms, registration information and more detailed information are available on our website.
·  Priority Deadline November 30, 2012; Final Deadline December 31, 2012.
·   For more information, please contact TexFLEC at texfleccommittee@gmail.com

TexFLEC regularly publishes conference proceedings in Texas Papers in Foreign Language Education (TPFLE), the journal of UT's Foreign Language Education Program.

Website: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/tlc/events/conferences/TexFLEC-2013/home.php

Pictures and Next Event

Finally! Pictures from our last FLESA social event have been uploaded!
The next event is just around the corner!!!

 As you can see from the smiles on the FLESAn's faces in all these pictures, we had a BLAST at the last event. In the picture below and to the right, our Social Event Coordinator, Paul, with a big grin on his face is pleased that the first FLESA event went off with a BANG!

Chicas contentas!

 Second year and first year students mix and mingle!

These girls and the other FLESAns above hope to see you at the next FLESA event!