Pedagogical Skills

This page highlights a French II placement test that I redesigned to be more authentic and contextualized, with a goal of positive washback on the instructional practices of the French teachers.  Highlights include more authentic listening, the addition of speaking tasks, and a diagnostic feedback page that will be returned to the test-takers following scoring.

How can we train students to be curious, open-minded, and conscious of different perspectives, understanding that every culture is diverse and complex, thus avoiding judgements and preconceptions of others?  How can we motivate students to use their language skills to become involved in new cultural contexts, interacting in an interculturally competent manner?  Click the link above to see some of my work in this area.

There are technology tools to enhance interpersonal, presentational, and interpretive communication, as well as study tools and games to help students become more familiar with vocabulary and structures of the target language.  Click the link above to explore a tech-enhanced unit that I designed, as well as video tutorials on web apps that I would recommend for foster interaction in online language courses.