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Dr. Chunhui Peng (Chinese) became the newest member of our full-time faculty when she was hired as Assistant Professor of Chinese. Her teaching experience includes time at UC San Diego and Santa Clara University, and Dr. Peng has also taught courses here at SJSU during the past few years. In addition to her instructional assignment, she will be taking over as coordinator of the Chinese program. Dr. Yao Yao will begin the Faculty Early Retirement Program (or FERP) in the fall.
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Dr. Romey Sabalius (German), born and raised in Germany, is the coordinator of the German program at SJSU. Dr. Sabalius arrived at SJSU in 1995 after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. In addition to his love for teaching, he also enjoys serving on the Academic Senate and being active in education politics as one of San José State's representatives in the CSU Statewide Academic Senate. He believes in the importance of involving every student when in the classroom and his favorite classes to teach are the elementary German classes because of the enthusiasm of his students. He understands that university-level German language classes can be difficult but that for English speakers, it is much easier to learn than other languages. Dr. Sabalius is a strong believer that traveling is one of the best ways to understand a foreign culture and, having traveled to more than 120 countries, highly recommends that students travel as much as possible. Dr. Sabalius is a life-time learner and still takes a new class every semester
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Faculty News & Achievements
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This year, Dr. Juan Sempere (Spanish) was recognized for 20 years of service to San Jose State University. Dr. Sempere was the Spanish Graduate Coordinator for many years until the past spring when he entered the Faculty Early Retirement Program (FERP). He is on leave for the fall 2015 semester but will be back teaching in spring of 2016.
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Dr. Yasue Yanai (Japanese) was granted the privilege of teaching her JPN 102 course in a Next Generation Classroom. NexGen classrooms have the capability to capture technology in order to enhance collaborations and communications in the classroom both with students and faculty and those in remote locations. Professor Yanai will now be able to continue facilitating communication between her students here and her colleagues in Japan. Congratulations!
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During her time away from SJSU this semester, Dr. Anne Fountain (Spanish) taught a course on Cuba and The United States for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Santa Clara University.
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Professor Larissa Chiriaeva (German) was part of the very important ribbon cutting ceremony of Rossinca, the first cultural and educational center for the Russian-speaking community in the Bay Area. Larissa tells us that "the Center’s main mission is not only to preserve the very rich culture of the Russian based nationalities, but to bring it closer to the American citizens, to create public-private partnerships, as we believe that the understanding of the cultures and sharing of all cultural values creates peace between all nationalities and countries. In our Center we not only teach Russian speaking children to love their culture, to be proud of their heritage and cherish their roots, but also to share it with everybody in their respective communities".
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On a Journey: A Conversation with writer Santiago Vaquera-Vasquez - Wednesday, October 14 2:30pm-5:00pm, MLK 255.
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Santiago Vaquera-Vásquez is an unrepentant border crosser, ex-dj, writer, painter, and academic. An Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and Hispanic Southwest Literatures and Cultures in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of New Mexico, he has also taught and lectured at the University of Iowa and Penn State, among others. Author of three collections of short stories, Algún dÃa te cuento las cosas que he visto (2012), Luego el silencio (2014), One Day I’ll Tell You the Things I’ve Seen (2015), his literary work has been published in anthologies in Spain, Italy, Latin America and the United States, including Malos elementos. Relatos sobre la corrupción social (2012); En la frontera: i migliori raconti della letteratura chicana (2008); Pequeñas resistencias 4(2005); Se habla español (2000); and LÃneas aéreas (1998). His stories have also appeared in literary journals including Make Literary Magazine, Etiqueta Negra and Los noveles. His academic work focuses on US Latino cultural expression, and US/Mexico border cultures. He has presented at international conferences in Turkey, Spain, Colombia, Peru, the United States, Mexico, the Netherlands and Norway.
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Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Don Quixote and Dean Lisa Vollendorf's newest publication
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In honor of the 400th anniversary of the publication of the second part of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes and Dean of Humanities and the Arts Lisa Vollendorf's recently published book, the Department of World Languages along with The Humanities Honors Program, The Humanities Department and The English Department at SJSU will host an event on Tuesday, October 20 at MLK Library room 225 from 5-7pm. Join us for light refreshments and readings from the text. Welcome by Provost Andy Feinstein.
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El Teatro Campesino 50th Anniversary Event
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The 50th Anniversary exhibit of El Teatro Campesino is available for viewing until October 4th, including a program and reception on Thursday, September 24th at 5:30 in room 229 at MLK library.
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Student Spotlight
Jerell Parker
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"Beijing is a city filled with many beautiful parks, monuments and buildings, honestly the city is the best representation of historical culture and modern society that I have ever been to."
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Jerell Parker is a Global Studies major minoring in Chinese who spent the summer in Beijing, China. Jerell first chose to study the Chinese language as a requirement for his major but says that he soon fell in love with it. He chose to continue his studies because he realized how important China was on a global scale as well as the 1 billion people on earth who speak Mandarin Chinese. Jerell hopes to use his second language as either a diplomat or in conflict resolution with hopefully the State Department, a global consulting firm or an international non-profit organization. For new and current students studying a world language, Jerell advises to go to a country where they speak that language and use it with the native speakers. Native speakers will help you correctly pronounce words by helping with your accent. Traveling to another country also helps you learn the cultural context and importance of the language, words and phrases as well as its relevance in daily use.
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Archaeologist Dr. Lee Panich from Santa Clara University (top) gave a presentation on indigenous life at Mission Santa Clara, followed by historian Alan Kemp (bottom) who presented on the interactions between Spanish and Chumash Indians in the Santa Barbara Channel during the colonial times. Both scholars gave guest lectures in Dr. Damian Bacich's graduate course on Indigenous Voices in the Spanish Colonial World (SPAN 202).
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Dr. Michele Santamaria's Italian 1B class visited Paesano Ristorante Italiano in San José's Little Italy district. While there, students were exposed to authentic Italian food and practiced their skills ordering. Buon apetito!
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WLL graduate Lucila Ortiz (second from right) spoke about her experience as part of the Exploring Careers Panel organized by the SJSU career center on April 7. Several graduates of SJSU's programs in the College of Humanities and the Arts gave insights into the variety of career paths open to graduates.
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Camoes Institute Director Visits Media Center
On Thursday, March 19, President of the prestigious Camoes Institute in Portugal, Ana Paula Laborinho, together with Secretary of State for the Portuguese Communities Jose Cesario, and Consul General of Portugal in San Francisco Nuno Matthias (pictured left to right) spoke with students about the importance of Portuguese in the world and heard student experiences with Portuguese. The meeting took place in the Carmen Sigler Media Center, and the dignitaries were joined by Associate Dean of Humanities and the Arts William Street and Professor Deolinda Adao (Portuguese). The Carmen Sigler Media Center serves as a virtual center for the Camoes Institute as part of a special agreement between the Institute and the Department of World Languages and Literatures.
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SJSU Hosts ADFL Seminar
In June of 2015 the Department of World Languages and Literatures was co-hosted, together with the SJSU College of Humanities and the Arts as well as the Santa Clara University Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, the Summer Seminar West of the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages (ADFL). This seminar brought together foreign language department chairs from all over the country to discuss issues and best practices surrounding the teaching of languages. Faculty from the our department participated in the gathering, offering valuable input on their experience teaching foreign languages in the Silicon Valley context. The seminar was capped off by dinner at the beautiful Sainte Claire Hotel in downtown San José with music provided by students from SJSU's School of Music and Dance.
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Alumni Spotlight
Anna Iacomini-Bernardi
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"Having this extra language knowledge opens up opportunities all around you where you can make a positive difference in your life or in the lives of those around you. This is what I call a beautiful thing…"
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Anna Iacomini-Bernardi, a native Italian speaker, received a Bachelor of Sciences Degree in Business Administration in 1986 before returning to San Jose State University to earn a Master of Arts Degree in Spanish in December 2011. She has taught Spanish at West Valley College ever since she graduated with her MA and she returned to SJSU in Spring 2015 to teach FORL 100W, the writing class that all World Language majors must take. This fall semester Anna will also be teaching a section of Italian 1A. Anna enjoys studying different languages because she feels this knowledge opens up the world to her. She quotes Charlamagne as saying “To have another language is to possess a second soul†and that is how she feels about being multi-lingual. Anna enjoys traveling and the experiences that speaking a different language create for her. Anna has been able to use her language skills in teaching ESL students, teaching Italian to students at a school in Little Italy and translating business books from Italian and Spanish as well as conducting business in Spanish. Although Anna was not able to study abroad during her college years, she was traveled quite a bit in her lifetime which as enabled her to use her Spanish and Italian skills. To new language learners, Anna advises not to be afraid to make mistakes or feel intimidated. She says that culture is where language lives and to attend cultural festivals whenever possible. Anna Iacomini-Bernardi is an exceptional example of how knowing more than one language can change how you live life and the experiences that are possible to you. Thank you Anna!
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Study Abroad
Patrick Aguayo
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WLL student assistant and French and Music Education major Patrick Aguayo tells us about his time in Paris, France this summer.
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"Hello my name is Patrick Aguayo. I am a senior here at San Jose State. I was born and raised here in San Jose and transferred in from De Anza college in Cuppertino in the fall of 2013. Currently, I am a double major in Music Education and French. This summer I had the opportunity to study aboard in Paris for the entire month of July through the European Studies Association (ESA) program. I attended class at the Catholic Institute of Paris for Intermediate French Language.
During my studies, I met with people from around the world like Japan, Taiwan, Poland, and Canada. The experience was incredible! I think the highlight of my trip was when we went on a 3 day excursion to the Loire Valley. We saw 6 different Chateaus. Some of my favorite were Chateau de Chenonceau; where we had a 4 course lunch in the castle, and Chambord which was massive and had lots of interesting architecture.
This trip really helped me solidify my decision in becoming a French major. Originally I had become a French major because my Music major required us to take a year of a foreign language. I figured I would continue with my French education past the year because I always felt the language was romantic but nothing more past that. During my travels I journeyed to Morocco and had to haggle in French and found it to be more than just a pretty language, but a language that could unite people. Throughout my studies with other international students we had to work together and the only mode of communication was through French as well. I made friends internationally and enjoyed wine with them along the Seine. After all of this I realized that we don’t study language to just speak with each other , but we study language to connect with other communities and cultures, we study language to become more human."
Thank you Patrick for sharing your study abroad experience with us!
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Watch "The Benefits of a Bilingual brain" by Mia Nacamulli
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