Maripaz Garcia
Including a Virtual Exchange Experience in Your Foreign Language Course
Virtual exchanges (formerly known as telecollaboration) offer students the possibility to speak with native speakers virtually. In these sessions, students practice the target language and learn about the target culture in a fairly low-stress, low-judgement environment. Research shows that virtual exchanges (VEs) offer multiple benefits, such as affective gains and increase in linguistic competence, intercultural competence, and digital literacy (the EVALUATE Group, 2019; the EVOLVE project team, 2020; Klimanova & Vinokurova, 2021). Despite these benefits, many instructors still feel reluctant to incorporate VEs in their foreign language class mainly due to two factors: lack of knowledge on the different kinds of VEs and the logistics of implementation. This presentation will focus precisely on how to select a VE and how to include it in your foreign language course, aligning it with the course goals and assignments. This presentation will be in English.
Biography
Born and raised in Spain, Maripaz earned a Ph.D. at The University of Texas at Austin in Foreign Language Education, an M.A. at the University of Cincinnati in Spanish Language and Literature, and a B.A. at Universidad Complutense de Madrid in English Philology. She has worked at Yale since 2007 teaching elementary and intermediate Spanish. She also participates regularly in the study abroad programs offered by Yale. She is interested in teaching methodology, curriculum development, Spanish for the medical professions, use of technology in the classroom, cinema, neurolinguistics, and the use of children’s literature.
Contact Information
maripaz.garcia@yale.edu
