March- World Languages Newsletter
March 2024
Celebrating Women's History Month
German Section Hosts Do Deutsch Event
French, German, and Spanish Majors Publish Openly Licensed Book Focusing on Careers for Language Majors
Ever wondered where a passion for language could take you?
Boise State's French, German, and Spanish majors have answers! In honor of Open Education Week, we're excited to share "Careers for Language Majors." Authored by students, this openly licensed Pressbook features firsthand research, informational interviews, and personal reflections exploring opportunities for language majors seeking their place in the global job market.
Support World Languages Students
Programs in the Department of World Languages concentrate on the acquisition of language and knowledge of the cultures that the language expresses. You can help us in our efforts! Donate to the Department of World Languages! (Please scroll down 2 rows for Department of World Languages. Click Give.)
Dr. Larraitz Ariznabarreta Named 2024 Eloise Garmendia Bieter Chair in Basque Studies
From March 14-March 31, Dr. Larraitz Ariznabarreta will conduct research while on our campus and will visit Basque Studies courses. The title of her work is: Diasporic Harmonies: Unveiling Basque Folklore and Traditions in Transition.
The study will explore how elements of tradition have shaped and sustained Basque identity beyond its homeland, examining how these traditional aspects of Basque culture have been redefined and revitalized in diaspora communities to hold a unifying and symbolic significance. It will consider the notions of persistence, stability, transmission, and evolution within Basque traditions as viewed from the diaspora. Additionally, the study will delve into key paradoxes arising from folklore and their role in identity formation. Topics such as exoticism, cultural appropriation, and the commercialization of culture will be examined.
Ellen Mansfield, Deaf Artist
February 7 – April 17, 2024
Ellen Mansfield (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist currently residing in Frederick, Maryland. Through drawing, painting, ceramics, and other media, she channels her experience as a Deaf individual to explore themes of Deaf history and life in her work. This includes creating in the style of DE’VIA (Deaf View/Image Art) to celebrate and promote American Sign Language and Deaf culture. Learn more about Ellen and the Upcoming Events
Korean Club
On February 17th, the Korean Club at Boise State University hosted the Korean Lunar New Year Event at the Jordan Ballroom in the Student Union Building. The Korean Club with Yookyung Lee, the Korean Club faculty advisor and Korean instructor, had previously hosted the annual cultural events to celebrate the Korean Chuseok event. Thanks to the generous support from the ASBSU and Wasabi, the Korean Club hosted about 100 participants including Boise State students including IEP Korean students and Korean exchange students, faculty members and their families. The Korean Club served authentic Korean meals to celebrate the Korean Lunar New Year, organized K-Wave Trivia, and Korean traditional games.
Winter Break Writing Challenge Author Showcase
The results are in from the 2023-2024 Winter Break Writing Challenge! This year the WBWC Selection Committee is pleased to showcase Jamie Geary (“Burgatory”), Aaron Stone (“The Final Frontier”) and Rad Nguyen (“Villainous Heroic Duo”) as featured authors. The Winter Break Writing Challenge is hosted by the World Languages Department and BSU Latin Program. This challenge is about celebrating language and individual stories (and, of course, the fun of writing for ourselves). Submissions are accepted in all languages, fiction/non-fiction, prose and poetry. Watch for the 2024-2025 Challenge announcement!
Amber Hoye
H5P held its inaugural Academy Awards on February 28th, celebrating interactive activities crafted by instructional designers, instructors, technologists, and creatives worldwide. The event showcased five award categories, with Amber Hoye's infographic on utilizing authentic materials winning the title of "Outstanding Visual Design".
Jason Herbeck
On Wednesday, February 14, Jason Herbeck’s FRENCH 485 (The Francophone World Today: Haiti) class spent an hour talking via Zoom with Vania André, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of The Haitian Times. Over the course of the conversation, students asked André about issues related to the Haitian diaspora, the challenges of reporting on Haiti from both in and outside the country, the legacy of the Duvalier dictatorship, immigration, the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 and the current state of the government, the role of language in the Haitian community (Creole, French and English), readership demographics and the objectives of The Haitian Times, and the UN decision to approve a multinational mission led by Kenya to send troops to Haiti to fight gang control and violence. Later in the semester, Herbeck’s students will have three additional conversations with a professor at the State University of Haiti in Port-au-Prince, a Haitian student studying in Montréal, Canada, and award-winning Haitian writer Évelyne Trouillot.
Kelly Arispe
Kelly Arispe is teaching the Spanish Senior Capstone, “Multilingualism in the Spanish Speaking World” this semester. While attending a research conference in León, she interviewed four guest speakers who each represented three different autonomous communities in Spain where Gallego, Euskera, and Catalán are official languages and promoted through robust dual-immersion/bilingual education programs. Arispe asked them to discuss their multilingual identity as well as their experiences learning and living out their multilingual realities. Each of these interviews was recorded and integrated into the class so that students could benefit from a myriad of perspectives relating to the topic of the course. These interviews will be fruitful for future semesters, as well.
From February 7th-10th, Arispe attended a conference in León, Spain titled “Exploring the Impact of Virtual Exchange on Teacher Education”. She delivered two presentations: the first stemmed from a year-long research study in Idaho funded by the NEH titled, “Fostering Open Educational Practices for Rural and Urban In-Service Foreign Language Teachers through Virtual Exchange”. The second, “The Valiant Project: Findings And Impact On Policy” was a plenary panel where she presented the research findings that stemmed from a three-year Erasmus+ KA3 project in which she participated as an external researcher. The conference, as well as the VALIANT project itself, were the result of a year-long research sabbatical that Arispe completed in 2022.
Kristi Dorris
On February 16th and 17th, the Idaho State University ASL Club hosted the ASL Immersion Weekend. Kristi Dorris was invited as workshop presenter with workshops about ASL Storytelling Tools are Classifier Story and Onomatopoeia (Visual noise)/Surrogates ("become" a character). Kristi shares it was amazing to see how many people attended that weekend. Including presenters and organizers, the event had 53 attendees on Friday and 37 attendees on Saturday. Participants received black T-shirts with a logo created by Sherry Matthews from the College of Western Idaho. Students loved the event and want to return next year!
Teresa Boucher
Teresa Boucher published her invited review of USA y Miguel Delibes (Agustín Cuadrado Gutiérrez, ed. Burgos: Fundación Instituto Castellano y Leonés de la Lengua Española, 2021. 322 pages. ISBN 978-84-92909-31-5), a collection of 17 scholarly articles, primarily in Spanish, covering a vast array of Miguel Delibes’s novels, short stories and essays. The critical approaches include perspectives from cultural studies, literary criticism, ecocriticism, and comparative literature, as well as pedagogical approaches to Delibes’s texts. The collection celebrates the centenary of Delibes’s birth. Boucher’s review is available in Letras Hispanas, Vol. 19.1, 2023.