Modern Foreign Languages Newsletter 2010

Photo: John Boehm

Flamenco trio to present concert and workshops

The flamenco trio Idilio will present a workshop and concert on March 23.

MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES WEEK Tuesday, March 23 – 7 p.m.

Thursday, March 25 – 4 p.m.

Idilio Flamenco Concert

Roundtable Discussion: “Putting Spanish to Use in Monmouth: Community Development & the Spanish Major”

Dahl Chapel and Auditorium Admission Free

Wednesday, March 24 – 7 p.m.

Film: “Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown” (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios) by Pedro Alomodóvar (Spain, 1988) Haldeman-Thiessen Room109 Admission Free

Led by Spanish major seniors Claudia Gómez, Emily Caron and Maggie Dort. Wallace Hall Room 114.

For more informa�on contact:

Heather Brady

Ac�ng MFL Department Chair hbrady@monm.edu 309-457-2347

This March, the air around ing classroom experience of the Monmouth College campus learning about the history of will be filled with the sounds flamenco and its significance to of passionate guitar chords, Spanish culture with particiexpressive vocals, and the hyp- pating in the guitar workshop. notizing rhythms The day will EL BAILE of feet in motion as El arte en toda tu figura culminate in a renowned flamenco uniendo tanta armonía, showcase perembellece el aire que rodea trio Idilio visit as formance for the esos movimientos tan bellos part of Modern entire Monmouth que llevas tan adentro, Foreign Languages sombreas todo lo que te rodea, community, feacon solo mover tu cuerpo, Week. turing Idilio with Formed in 2008 lo que encierra tanta belleza guest vocalist brota sin tu saberlo, by singer/dancer David Gonzales, con ese gran poderío Chiara Mangiamwhich is certain que vas derramando eli, guitarist Diego al compás del taconeo to inspire. The Alonso, and percus- cuando estas bailando, MFL department lo hace sentir tanto sionist Kassandra is very excited que el suelo tiembla Kocoshis, Idilio to be sponsoring porque quiere abrazadlos, performs contempo- esa gracia infinita these events and rary flamenco music que siempre perdurara to help bring a cuando nace de verdad, composed by its little bit of Spain ese arte tan grande members as well as Que dios te dad. to our corner of innovative interpre—José María Ruíz Fuentes Illinois. tations of traditional Chiara Manflamenco songs. The group giameli’s dance workshop will recently released its self-titled take place on Tuesday, March debut album.

23, at 3:30 p.m. in the HighDuring the visit to lander Room, of Stockdale Monmouth, Ms. Mangiameli Center and the performance will teach a flamenco dance will be held that evening at 7 workshop to students interested p.m. in the Dahl Chapel and in learning some of the basics Auditorium. of the Spanish dance form, and music students will also have Inside the opportunity to benefit—in the form of a flamenco guitar 2009 grad lands ‘dream job’ workshop led by Mr. Alonso, Senior eyes Peace Corps and rhythm workshop led by Ms. Kocoshis. Professor MiThe study-abroad experience chael Harrison’s Contemporary Brady to study in Mexico Spanish Culture class will have the rare opportunity of combin-

To apply to Monmouth College or for more information, go to: www.monm.edu/admissions

MC senior hopes to bridge cultural gaps

By Barry McNamara

French major Maddy Ethington ’10

Recent grad runs one-‘man’ French show at GHS

By Barry McNamara What’s the perfect job for a college student just completing a double major in French and English who also has teacher certification?

For Maddy Ethington the answer was teaching high school French and English. The Monmouth College grad began her full-time job in January, just one month after completing her degree requirements.

Ethington landed her “dream job” at Galesburg High School thanks to a connection with GHS administrator and MC alumnus Brett Wolfe ’90, who also conducts his alma mater’s Men’s Glee Club.

Wolfe asked members of his MC ensemble if they knew of anyone interested in teaching French, and one of Ethington’s friends replied that they not only knew of somebody, but that she had just returned from a semester in France.

Ethington studied abroad in the spring of 2008, attending the University of Rennes, an experience she thoroughly enjoyed.

For several months, GHS had been unable to fill its French position, using full-time substitute teachers to get by. Following an informal interview with Wolfe, Ethington was invited to fulfill her student teaching requirements at the high school, and (Continued on right-hand page)

As a student at Chicago’s Notre Dame High School for Girls, Claudia Gomez showed promise, winning prestigious awards as a freshman and senior.

Still, she says, she could never have imagined how far she’d come in four years of college and where her education will take her next.

“After graduation, I’m going into the Peace Corps,” said the senior, who is completing her degree in Spanish this semester. “I want to go to a Latino community, someplace with a Hispanic culture. My dad is from Mexico and my mom is from El Salvador, so I’ve been to those countries already. I’d like to go someplace different, hopefully in South America.”

Upon her return following 27 months of service, Gomez plans to pursue a master’s degree, with a goal of working with communities. She also hopes to enter politics, an interest that has been spurred by a pair of senior-year internships at Monmouth’s City Hall.

Gomez said she is particularly interested in working to break down the walls of segregation between Monmouth’s newer Latino demographic and its more established residents. Recent internship experiences, including a citizenship initiative assisting Professor Heather Brady last fall, have helped, she believes.

This spring, Gomez is continuing to bridge cultural gaps with another internship, focusing on the upcoming 2010 census. Her duties have included translating educational pieces and communicating to local Latinos that the census is not a status report, but simply an attempt to get an accurate count of the population.

“I’ve worked on organizing a help site so they can be comfortable doing the census,” she said. “Our job is to help them understand what the census is for.”

She has worked closely with city administrator Eric Hanson ’98 and his assistant, Jan Helms, as well as with Theresa Cabrera, a VISTA volunteer who is in the midst of a one-year commitment to the community.

“One of my first projects was to help with a

survey, and I’ve also translated the ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ part of the city’s Web site,” she said. “I’ve also been going to the Mexican grocery stores and restaurants and getting feedback from them on what to work on next.”

Gomez has also worked with students in the bilingual class at Monmouth-Roseville High School, helping them with their homework, and she visits Willits Elementary School once a month to talk about art.

Of her decision four years ago to attend Monmouth College, Gomez said that she knew a current student who liked it, so she scheduled a visit. She was looking for a small school similar to Notre Dame, and she appreciated the opportunity to continue her soccer career.

“I want to go to a Latino community, someplace with a Hispanic culture. My dad is from Mexico and my mom is from El Salvador…”

–Claudia Gomez

Spanish Major

Gomez played soccer all four years, serving as captain of the Scots’ junior varsity, and scored a varsity goal against Knox.

Looking back at her college journey, Gomez credits two members of the modern foreign languages faculty for steering her in the right direction.

“When I was getting ready to attend Monmouth, I passed the Spanish test, so I didn’t have to take it as a requirement,” she said. “But Professor (Louise) Medrano encouraged me to take it anyway. She helped me realize how important Spanish really is, not just speaking it, but writing it.”

Gomez has also received assistance from Brady, who helped her find work last summer at a homeless shelter in Chicago.

“That really got me interested in the kind of work I’m doing now for the City of Monmouth,” she said. “I never knew that a relationship with a professor could get me this far. I’ll be the first person from my family to graduate from college. I never dreamed I’d be doing this.”

A

roadblock and took what opportunities I could to meet people in classes and spend more time with other exchange students who did not speak English. Also, about a month and a half after we arrived, we were joined by a German student who was doing his internship in social work.

Overall, I ended up spending the most time with my German roommate even though we spoke a lot of English, too, even if it was just to go out for a late-night cup of cafe con leche.

Did you have a favorite class?

Socially, my favorite class was definitely French (Language, Culture, and Literature).

The students in that class were the most accepting and approachable, probably because they were English majors, but they actually spoke the least amount of English with me. We could help each other with homework, and they often invited me out to fiestas with them or to a café after class. However, I also talked the dean of the Spanish Major psychology department into letting me complete an independent study with him in which Where did you study abroad, and I assisted him with a research project. I through which program? did some research, and I got to see the I studied in Murcia, Spain through the lab and some of the testing that was in ISEP [International Student Exchange] progress. His concentration was in the program. neurosciences, which appealed to the How long were you there? biopsychology major in me.

I was there for approximately five and a Did you travel much during your time half months, from late January through the there? end of June.

Oh goodness, I traveled everywhere. On What was your living situation like? my way back to the States, I had trouble Were there any challenges to overcome fitting all the countries on the form I had in the living situation? Do you have any to fill out for re-entry. I traveled some with good memories you can share? my friends that I made in Spain (Granada, Cartagena, Barcelona, London and Dublin I lived in a pre-assigned apartment with for a Brett Dennen and The Fray concert). other students from the ISEP program. I My parents came to visit and we went to was originally told that I would be living Paris, and I visited friends who were either with students who did not speak English also studying abroad in Europe (Rome, and, furthermore, that there was no way that I would be living with other American Florence, and Venice) or who I met in the States while working as a lifeguard students. When I arrived, I was greeted at Cedar Point but who are actually from by two other American girls. Originally, Europe (Paris, Poland, Turkey and the it was very disappointing because I Czech Republic). I have always had the knew that we would not be speaking as travel bug, and all that time spent traveling much Spanish at home but I viewed it did not help to cure me in the least! as a challenge to overcome rather than a t Monmouth College, we encourage all of our students to explore the variety of options available to them to study abroad. Faculty work with individual students to determine which program works best for their schedule and also to identify the ideal program for their needs, often taking into consideration their second majors and/or minors to maximize their off-campus study experience. As a window into what the study-abroad experience is like, we are pleased to share the following interview with a recent graduate of our Spanish program, Allison Carroll.

Studying Abroad Q & A: Allison Carroll ’10

How would you describe your social life in your time abroad?

I loved the social life in Spain. I could definitely adapt to their culture. Because the class grades were based on final exam scores rather than homework, we had plenty of time to get out and experience Murcia. Half of the money I spent in Murcia was probably spent at cafés on café con leche or granizados because that’s just what everyone did. Everyone can agree on meeting for a cup of café.

The nightlife was quite an experience as well. My apartment was located about two blocks from the main square with a limited number of scary-movie type dark alleys.

Therefore, I could meet my classmates, other exchange students, or go out for a night with the roommates and it was no trouble getting around, having fun, and getting home. There were several nights during which we stayed out all night, got out of the clubs at 8 in the morning and I had to run straight to the bus stop. All in all, I’d say I had a pretty awesome social life!

As a double major in biopsychology and Spanish, how do you feel that studying language helped to augument your other major?

I am studying now for the MCAT and, unless something disastrous happens with that, I will be applying to medical schools for the fall of 2011. Language helps me for several reasons: First, I was able to pick up other (romance) languages very quickly.

I can read most anything in French, and I was able to communicate passably in Italian. Secondly, being able to pick up other languages makes me recognize where words come from, the way Latin helps, which helps in biology classes for sure. Finally, it’s impossible to come up with a reason why being bilingual could NOT help someone in the medical field. I am even looking to go to medical schools farther south, just so that I will be exposed to Spanish during the learning process because there are several schools that require students to take courses in medical Spanish as part of the regimen. Besides all this, I just really love Spanish and it helped me to have a double focus to keep my interests alive throughout college.

We appreciate Allison’s taking the time to share her experiences with us, and hope her stories might inspire others to explore the many possibilities to study abroad while at Monmouth College.

Ethington lands ‘dream job,’ teaching French and English (continued from left-hand page)

she spent every day there in the fall of 2009, observing at first, but working her way up to “running the show” for 30 days.

With her student teaching complete, Ethington officially graduated from Monmouth in December, and she started her full-time position as the high school’s lone French teacher – “a one-man show,” she called it – on Jan. 19.

Regarding her chosen career, Ethington said, “I don’t think I’ve ever thought of doing anything else.” Ironically, it was her French teacher at Victor J. Andrew High School in Tinley Park who helped seal the deal, using her unique style – “she was crazy but, like, funny crazy” – to show Ethington how fun teaching could be.

Once on campus, Ethington eased her way into teaching, starting her freshman year when she helped first- through fifth-grade students at Cornerstone Christian Academy with their math flash cards.

“When I was looking at colleges, I wanted a school with smaller class sizes, where I wouldn’t fall through the cracks,” said Ethington. “But specifically for education, what I liked about Monmouth was that it got you into the schools right away as a freshman. It wasn’t something you had to wait to do until you were a senior, and then maybe find out you didn’t like it.”

Ethington enjoyed her next experience even more, providing individual instruction to a student at Monmouth’s Lincoln Intermediate School who had just moved to town from Burkina Faso, a nation in West Africa.

“This young lady could not speak any English, and I got to sit down with her and work one-on-one,” said Ethington of her sophomore-year experience. “It was a fun experience. It helped that she was a very, very motivated student.”

Monmouth College will be one of the greatest adventures of your life!

Our language programs will help to enrich you by offering you a passport into an increasingly global world. French and Spanish students become engaged citizens and educated leaders eager to meet the challenges of living in an international community.

Our program offers unique opportunities for students to interact in today’s globalizing world through cutting-edge courses, campus activities, internships, service learning, exciting study abroad sites and career advising. Plan a visit soon to meet MFL faculty and students—why not during Modern Foreign Languages Week? (March 23-26) Read more about the program at:

http://department.monm.edu/mfl

MFL faculty Heather Brady and Annie Moore hosted a Mardi Gras party of Feb. 19. Students got into the spirit with homemade masks and helped consume delicious refreshments.

As a junior, Ethington went to France, and despite two years of French in college to go with her four years of instruction in high school, she said she was “absolutely still learning the language.

You know a lot of the language from the textbook, but when you have to describe a haircut or go to the market and ask for an avocado, those are things that you really pick up by doing.”

While in France, Ethington said her university assisted with travel, and she was able to see many sites in the country, including “Paris in the springtime,” along with her mother, sister and aunt, who came to visit.

“The history that people walk around in there is amazing,” she said. “In America, if something’s from the 19th century, that’s really old. But the 19th century is young there!”

Speaking French on a daily basis bolstered Ethington’s grasp of the language substantially. Upon her return to the MC classroom, she said, “I was able to access vocabulary very quickly. It was so much easier to get my ideas across.”

Opportunities such as early exposure to school classrooms and off-campus study were not the only advantages Ethington found at Monmouth. She said she also enjoyed her time living in the Involvement House, and she was certainly qualified to call it home.

She participated in Circle K, Blue Key and Alpha Lambda Delta – serving as president of the latter organization – in addition to assisting with the stage crew and costumes for theatre performances and winning 24 varsity tennis matches.

“At Monmouth College, I had opportunity after opportunity,” Ethington said. “I was able to engage in so many one-on-one learning opportunities. In one of my French classes, there were only four students. You just can’t find that anywhere else. I still talk to Professor (Heather) Brady regularly, and we’ve developed a personal relationship. She and all the professors really gave me the attention that helped me to be the best student I could be.”

Just days into her “dream job” as a French and English teacher at Galesburg High School, Ethington is quickly realizing that her mission now is to return the favor and help her students find their way.

Flipping over French Alex McKelvey (left), a freshman in lecturer Annie Moore’s French 210/220 class, celebrates the French holiday of La Chandeleur (Candlemas) on Feb. 2 by flipping a crêpe. Tradition holds that if you hold a coin in your left while successfully flipping the crêpe, you will have good fortune throughout the next year. On deck is sophomore Phillip Scott.

Monmouth College assists with critical Census work

By Barry McNamara On the surface, “stand up and be counted” seems to be a simple enough rallying cry for the U.S. Census. After all, to quote U.S. secretary of commerce Gary Locke, “If you want your fair share (of federal funding), be counted, because this is money for schools, for human services, for medical services, as well as for transportation.”

But hundreds of people in Monmouth are part of two population groups who might be expected to complete the census improperly, or not at all. Residential students at Monmouth College need to be educated about where to call home, and the city’s growing Latino population has concerns, too.

It is believed that many will not trust census takers, who will be seen as government officials who could notify authorities about residents with improper documentation.

“With regard to the Latino community, many will feel that the census is an invasive effort to figure out which of them should be deported,” said Ken McMillan, professor of political economy and commerce.

“Migrant communities – especially Latino communities – have historically been undercounted,” said Judi Kessler, associate professor of sociology and anthropology. “This, I suspect, is also the case in Monmouth. Based on information I have, I would guess that our Latino population is twice what was listed on the 2000 census.

It’s a continuing problem, both here and nationwide. Recent immigrants don’t want to talk because they don’t want their undocumented status discovered and passed along to Homeland Security.”

Kessler praised the efforts of local

VISTA volunteer Theresa Cabrera, who is a conducting a complete count campaign in the Monmouth community. But she said that more could be done, especially at the organizational level.

Sandi Beveridge, a Peoria-based partnership specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau, praised Monmouth’s efforts to provide “trusted agents” to help with the census count and provide the education and motivation to local residents to participate.

“They can communicate the message better than I can and more credibly,” she said.

The City of Monmouth’s executive

administrative assistant, Jan Helms, works closely with Beveridge and Cabrera, and also with two MC interns, seniors Emily Caron of Romeoville and Claudia Gomez of Chicago.

Helms, the liaison between the Census Bureau and the city’s Complete Count Committee, said the census process “is really gearing up,” causing her to spend a quarter to half of her time at City Hall doing census-related work.

“It’s terrific that we have them,” said Helms of the college interns. “It’s going to be a big help as we try to get as accurate a count as we possibly can.”

MC hosts regional bilingual forum

Monmouth College hosted a regional forum on bilingual education in its Stockdale Center in late November.

Titled “Here + There = Now: Multicultural Education in West Central Illinois,” the forum presented an opportunity for elementary and secondary teachers from the region to share perspectives on bilingual education. Teachers from a variety of backgrounds were present, including two MC faculty members – associate professor of modern foreign languages Heather Brady and associate professor of sociology and anthropology Judi Kessler. Brady introduced the forum, while Kessler spoke on demographic issues and the historical context of migration to Monmouth.

MC students participating in the forum were: Claudia Gomez of Chicago, Lauren Nelson of Mundelein, Kayla Bonjean of Quincy, Jen Koerner of Galesburg, Jenna Thompson of Monmouth, Amanda Cozzi of Roselle, Morgan Koss of Manalpan, N.J., and Karen Skadow of Loves Park.

Several of the students spoke about com-

munity engagement projects in which they are involved at Willits Elementary School and Monmouth-Roseville High School.

Gomez joined VISTA volunteer Teresa Cabrera in describing their organizational experiences in the community.

“The students involved are all in my Citizenship class and conducted this forum as part of their community service or service-learning,” explained Brady.

Also included were discussions about bilingual education strategies and engaging family participation, as well as a brainstorming session on best future practices.

The latter session examined how schools can keep young people in the community and future projects that might better connect the high school and the college.

Other forum participants included local teachers Hayley Townsend, Todd Franks and Ana (Fisher) Franks, who are all graduates of Monmouth College. Gloria Delaney-Barmann of Western Illinois.

University served as the moderator.

Brady to study in Mexico as Fulbright-Hays scholar Monmouth College’s Heathcurricula in Mexier Brady, associate professor of can studies. modern foreign languages, has Primarily based been accepted into the Fulin Mexico City, the bright-Hays Summer Seminar seminar will also Program in Mexico. include a series of Brady will participate this lectures at Tecnosummer in “A Comparative logico de Monterrey Study of Mexican Cultures: on NAFTA, U.S.Ancient, Colonial and ContemMexican relations porary,” a five-week program and the Mexican that will focus on five cultures economy. related to Mexico – Olmec, “The United Teotihuacan, Maya, Toltec and States is connected Aztec. Visits will be made to culturally, socially, cities representative of ancient and economiHeather Brady culture and modern develcally to Mexico,” opment, including Oaxaca, explained project Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey and director Gemma Beckley of Rust College.

Merida. The project is designed to provide “Educational institutions and social welfare higher education faculty and high school agencies have to be prepared to meet the teachers with rich content as they develop needs of an increasing bilingual popula-

tion with a better understanding of cultural sensibilities.”

“I’m looking forward to bringing back my new knowledge about Mexico to Monmouth so that I can better understand the forces of globalization and migration at work in our community,” said Brady, who joined MC’s faculty in 2003 and began a tenure-track position two years later. She received her master’s and Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of Texas after earning a bachelor’s degree in French at Kalamazoo College.

Separate from, yet as competitive as the Fulbright Scholars program, FulbrightHays programs receive their funding from the U.S. Department of Education. The Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program is open to educators and administrators responsible for curriculum development in fields related to humanities, languages and area studies

Meet Our Faculty Heather Brady Assoc. Professor / Chair 309-457-2347 hbrady@monm.edu B.A., Kalamazoo College, 1991; M.A., University of Texas at Austin, 1996; Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 2001

Author Gopnik met with students in Annie Moore and Heather Brady’s classes last fall.

Author Adam Gopnik visits MC French class

Monmouth College welcomed bestselling author Adam Gopnik to campus last fall as a principal speaker for the Darwinpalooza lecture series.

While on campus, he visted two classes to discuss his books and experiences. MFL faculty members Annie Moore and Heather Brady previously asked their students to read the first chapter of his book of essays, Paris to the Moon, in French. The essays describe the author’s life in Paris, and the cultural differences experienced by a North American transplant living in France.

Gopnik, who also writes regularly for The New Yorker magazine, discussed the book and his experiences with the class.

Louise BarbaroMedrano Lecturer 309-457-2378 lbarbaro@monm.edu B.A., University of Toronto, 1980; B.Ed., University of Toronto, 1981; Honor Specialist International Languages, University of Toronto, 1998.

Lady Cohen Lecturer 309-457-2166 lcohen@monm.edu B.S., Corporación Universitaria, Ibagué, Colombia, 1998; M.A., Arizona State University, 2007 Nicholas Dobson Asst. Prof. of Classics (teaches German) 309-457-2103 ndobson@monm.edu B.A., Rice University, 1993; M.A., University of Texas-Austin, 1995; Ph.D., University of Texas-Austin, 2003

Vasant Gadre Assistant Professor 309-457-2244 vgadre@monm.edu B.A., University of Delhi; M.A., University of Delhi; Ph.D., Jawaharlal Nehru University Michael Harrison Assistant Professor 309-457-2378 mharrison@monm.edu B.A., Furman University, 1998; M.A., University of Virginia, 2000; Ph.D., University of California-Irvine, 2009 Susan Holm Dorothy Donald Professor 309-457-2150 susan@monm.edu B.A.,The College of Wooster, 1966; M.A., The University of Kansas, 1982; Ph.D., 1985;The University of Kansas Annie Moore Lecturer 309-457-2306 amoore@monm.edu B.A., Université des Lettres de Besançon: Sociologie et Anthropologie; M.S.,Western Illinois University, Education Educational & Interdisciplinary Studies; Post-baccalauréate, Certificate African-American Studies.