President's Message
The months have sped by since our fall meeting in Vermont (dragged by, if one considers all the winter weather) and NERALLT is about to offer another stellar meeting line-up on the 1st and 2nd of May at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. The title, “Language Learning in Action: Moving Images in a Digital World” is meant to be something of a “jeu de mots.” Moving Images equals Moving Pictures, but the need to “move” Images and videos around the network and the internet is also important to the teaching-learning equation.

Wesleyan University Campus

The two hands-on Workshops planned for Thursday will allow participants to experience some of the ways that Flash Video can add movement to web content, as well as how the Jabber Server allows for text, audio and video chats. Some of Friday's sessions will involve iMovie and ways in which faculty have integrated “make a movie” into meaningful course assignments. Even YouTube gets a nod, since this site provides one of the most cost-effective ways of getting video in front of language learners.

A “schedule at a glance” appears below, but you can go to our “upcoming meeting” link to learn more and to register. You may also want to have a look at the “Conference Links” section which follows. This is a modest attempt to make some of the terms and technologies more accessible to those who may not have experienced them yet.

We hope to see you at the Conference. Please register early, especially if you are interested in the Thursday Workshops.

Finally, we owe a debt of gratitude to Irene Starr who is filling in for a harried Barbara Lindsey as newsletter editor. Barbara will return with the post-conference edition!

-Dick    

NERALLT Spring ’08 Conference

Program at a Glance

Language Learning in Action: Moving Images in a Digital World

Thurs. - Fri., May 1 - 2, 2008
at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT

Thursday, May 1^st

Thursday Events 1:00 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.: Language Resource Center (LRC), 207 Fisk Hall,
Wesleyan University, corner 262 High St./College St., Middletown, CT.
Tel. (860) 685-3393. See: http://www.wesleyan.edu/virtualtour/

Parking: TBA

1:00 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. Conference Registration

1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. Workshop I: Kalliope and Flash Media Server

(Pre-registration required online. Limit: 15)

Emmanuel Paris-Bouvret and Phil Isaacs
(Language Resource Center, Wesleyan University)

Break 15 min.

2:30 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. Workshop II: Put Some Jabber in Your Classroom

(for Mac. Pre-registration required online. Limit: 15)

Otmar Foelsche and Thomas Garbelotti (Arts & Humanities Resource Center, Dartmouth College)

5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Wine & Cheese to follow for Workshop participants
Downey House Lounge, 294 High St./Court St.

7:00 p.m. Dinner at Luce Restaurant, 98 Washington Street, Middletown, CT
Tel. (860) 344-0222. (http://lucect.com/main.html). Reserve with NERALLT registration.

(See next page for Friday's Schedule)

“GIS” Graphical Information Systems: www.digitalhumanities.org/dh2007/abstracts/xhtml.xq?id=229

“Portkeys” refers to a Harry Potter concept whereby “an enchanted object will allow those who touch

it at a precise time to travel great distances.”  www.jaymansfield.com/Potter.htm

“Digital Storytelling” got its start through the “Center for Digital Story Telling.”

www.storycenter.org/index1.html

iMovie is described at:  www.apple.com/ilife/

Flash Media Server is showcased at:

http://store1.adobe.com/cfusion/showcase/index.cfm?event=finder&productid=1528&loc=en_us

The Jabber Server is described at:  www.jabber.org/what-is-jabber

Friday, May 2^nd

Friday Events 8:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.: Woodhead Lounge, 1^st floor, Exley Science Center,
Wesleyan University, 265 Church Street, Middletown, CT.

Parking: TBA

8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Registration
(Continental breakfast available)

8:45 a.m. Welcome

Emmanuel Paris-Bouvret and Dean Krishna R. Winston (Wesleyan University)

Richard House, President of NERALLT

9:00 a.m. - 9:50 a.m. Keynote: GIS and Multimedia as “Portkeys” to Language Learning

Joel Goldfield (Culpeper Language Resource Center, Fairfield University)

9:50 a.m. - 10:50 a.m. Presentation: Digital Storytelling to Engage Language Learners

Elizabeth Langran and Jenn Cirino (Fairfield University)

Break 10 min.

11:00 a.m. - 11:45 p.m. Presentation: Preparing for the Real World: Online Dating
and Digital Video Projects for Students of Modern Hebrew

Shiri Goren, Robin Ladouceur, and Mark Sanford (Yale University)

11:45 p.m. - 12:15 p.m. Presentation: YouTube in the Classroom

Kathleen Ruiz and Viria Kopp (ACES-Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School)

12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. Luncheon

1:15p.m. - 2:10 p.m. NERALLT Business Meeting

2:10 p.m. - 2:55 p.m. Presentation: Japanese iMovie Project

Miri Nakamura (Wesleyan University)

2:55 p.m. - 3:40 p.m. Presentation: Multimedia Narration in the Classroom:
Writing with Digital Storytelling

Nicole Vaget and Shaoping Moss (Mount Holyoke College)

Break 10 min.

3:50 p.m. - 4:35 p.m. Presentation: Showcasing Your Language Resource Center
Michael Jones (Language Resource Center, Swarthmore College)

4:35 p.m. Closing Remarks

5:00 p.m. Optional: Post-conference Tour of Wesleyan’s Language Resource Center, 207 Fisk Hall

Agenda Items will include the following.  Please note that our Business Meeting time allotment is short this time, so we'll attempt to focus and move through these rapidly, with follow-up by eMail and in our Post-Conference Newsletter.

·    Joint Meeting with NEALLT Spring 2009

·    Fall 2008 Meeting Theme and Location

·    More “networking” time at meetings

·    Publish “Proceedings” of Conferences

·    Why be a NERALLT member

Hotel Info

Wesleyan's list of area hotels: www.wesleyan.edu/about/lodging.html#anchorWalk
If you mention Wesleyan, you should get a discount at some of the hotels.