InterAmerican Campus ESL/Foreign Languages - Translation Interpretation Laboratories

   English For Academic Purposes Laboratories: The Speech and Writing laboratories are part of the English as a Second Language and Foreign Language Department. The Translation Interpretation Laboratory offers the students state of the art technology as part of the practice required by the Court Interpretation Certificate Program that is offered at Miami Dade.

The main objective of the Speech and Writing Laboratories housed in Rooms 1218 and 1209 is to reinforce speech, writing, and other disciplines studied in these subjects' regular classrooms, following the applicable Florida Education Departments' competencies. We welcome Foreign Language teachers to conduct their classes in all the laboratories, and we welcome students to practice on an individual basis, and to work on any exercise activities assigned by their instructors. We equip the labs for other academic educational activities as well, such as when the Computer Courtyard need our services to tutor in various academic areas. In these cases the same function is available, if necessary. The educational programs in the Academic Laboratories are also available in all computers of the Computer Courtyard, which gives the students more time to study.

Right now in room 1218, there are 117 fully computerized working stations for students which are connected to teaching consoles from which the tutors conduct teaching activities.

The Genesis Program allows the instructor to develop an excellent teaching learning environment; Room 1209 houses 35 student stations whose primary function is to reinforce writing skills for the EAP/ESL students, but it is available to instructors to teach speech, foreign languages, and use other academic materials. Room 1130, which holds the Trannslation/Interpretation Laboratory, presently has 25 student stations equipped with a software program called Trados, and are all connected to the multimedia console from which instructors interact with students. The lab is also capable of performing other educational functions if needed, as do our other two academic labs on campus on a one-on-one basis.

Can 8 is the main software programs available at classrooms that have electronic equipment installed in them. Both, instructors and students may access the learning material provided they enter their ID numbers and the password.

A very popular learning tutorial, and a favorite among both students and faculty, is the

Ellis Program, which is completely interactive and goes from a very basic level, Intro, to Middle Mastery , Senior Mastery, and to the Business Program. The Ellis Master Pronunciation component, which deals with vowel and consonant sounds as well as with blends, digraphs, and fricatives, is used in our Accent Reduction classes, allowing the students to discriminate sound, develop vocabulary, as well as assisting them in learning correct pronunciation. It also has some interesting tongue-twisters. A linguistic expansion of this program shows the movement of the mouth and lips in producing sounds, by means of x-ray drawings, so that the students can see the word similarities with slight differences in sound. Additionally, because it is extremely difficult for many students to hear the differences in vowel or word ending sounds, our stations show a large number of links, where the students can fulfill a multitude of individual needs in their grammar, pronunciation, listening, reading comprehension, and writing English learning skills. All of the above mentioned programs are complementary learning resources that steadily reinforce what is taught in the classrooms or/and in the Academic Laboratories. The students ultimately appreciate their English skills' improvement, growth, and success by more comfortably functioning in this English-speaking society. Miami Dade College challenges the learning capacity of our students by moving forward and keeping updated.

A very useful and comprehensive program recently added to our Speech & Listening Curriculum is Longman English Interactive. It includes a user-orientation component, a series of videos, video-related Q & A, listening and reading comprehension, vocabulary, and pronunciation practice exercises. The program features an evaluation and assessment component for student work in levels 1 through 4, including a progress report, a dictionary, a glossary and a grammar reference section. A course outline for each level introduces the characters in the videos and a course overview . Longman English Interactive is a powerful and engaging learning tool designed to enhance student participation in the EAP laboratory setting. (Dr. Manuel Santayana 2005)

Tell me more is the newest contribution to our ESL\Foreign Languages Laboratories, implemented in the Fall of 2006. Students are able to register in their native language (Spanish, English, German or French) and navigate through the program either by choosing Free- to-roam-mode or the Guided mode. I believe this program is a good alternative for our students as it provides them with the opportunity to practice writing, speaking and vocabulary in a multitude of activities which range from dictation to crossword puzzles. Tell me more is a comprehensive educational program which not only includes up to date visuals but also authentic language and performance evaluation modes. Advanced students can also take advantage of the business sections that focus on preparing students for the business world. In my opinion, this is a great addition to our laboratories as learning is a constant search for new insights which I believe this program offers to our students. 

(mgr Anna Szczesniak, M.S. 2006)

Tell Me More, the exciting interactive program used in all MDC Language Laboratories, is now online. Students must purchase a license card at the campus bookstore at the beginning of every semester and give their card number to their lab instructor/tutor. 

Tell Me More offers students the option of interacting at home and in the campus laboratories, thereby enhancing their listening comprehension and speaking skills. It also features numerous reading, grammar, writing, and vocabulary exercises at basic, intermediate, and advanced levels. It is a groundbreaking program, which includes effective and appealing state-of-the art audiovisuals. (Dr. Manuel Santayana and Miss. Yaitma Escobar 2007)

• ESL/FL Labs syllabi
• SLS 1535 Preparing Student for Success
• EAP1600L Level 6 Lab
• Angel Writing Project
• Angel Writing Syllabus 6
• Angel Writing Level 6 Syllabus 2008-1
• Angel Writing Level 5 Syllabus 2008-1

John P. Kolasinski, M.S. Academic Manager

E-mail john.kolasinski@mdc.edu

Thank you for editing this material: Dr. Manuel Santayana, Professor Leonor Martinez, Professor Ronald Loupus.

I was born in the village of Wytowno. I finished elementary school there. My father was the School Principal, and my mother was a Polish Language and Polish Literature School Teacher. (Until this day, I still remember some poems that my mother recited to the peasants’ children, and some of them were very responsive to it).

I completed a three-year Technical-Vocational School in the city of Słupsk and then I attended a General Education School (Liceum Ogólnokształcące, a four-year Secondary School, in the small Baltic Sea port city of Ustka.

In 1969, I completed a teacher's education, (two-year college) in the city where my mother was born and raised, Krakow, (which remains until now my eternal LOVE). Krakow-Bracka , Krakow- Rynek Glowny (Life web cameras)

In the year 1994, I received my Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Psychology and, in 1997; I received a Master’s of Science Degree in Mental Health at the Miami Institute of Psychology. I am currently working on my PhD in Education with a specialization in Educational Technology.

In my free time I travel to different countries, I take lots of pictures and I post them on the Internet. This way I can invite you to visit them as well:

Paris,France; Madrid,Spain; Stockholm,Sweeden; Cappadocia; Side,  Turkey ;   Prague, Czech Republic ;   Chicen Iza Yucatan ; St.Perersburg, Russia; Grand Canyon;  Poland,Biskupin 2700BC; Vilnius Lithuania 2001/7; Athens, Greece; Riga Latvia; Tallin, Estonia ;Helsinki, Finland; Jerusalem,Israel ; 2002 ;Washington, DC ; Rome, Italy; Grunwald,Poland; Suwalki, Poland; Warsaw, Poland; Krakow,Poland; Florida USA;      Bahamas; Wytowno Beach ; Flamingo, Florida;   

Agean Sea : Danger! ; Caesarea,Israel ; Sandomierz,Poland   ; Under the Surface of South Atlantic ; Arkadia, Poland ; Berlin, Germany ;   Turaida Castle , Latvia

ESL/Foreign Languages Department ESL faculty, staff and student assistants are frequently sharing the technology available on the Internet and here are a few examples that can be used in class or in laboratory activities.

• Information about Polish University Diploma “mgr”

2008 Photo       Here I Love You

EWriting is a course teaching the grammar-based, basic, intermediate, and advanced principles of English composition for students who speak a foreign language and are at the threshold of a college education. Created by MDC faculty members to meet the needs of the college’s student population, it is one of many study options featured by MDC’s learning-resource server WebCT, and it is a required component of the EAP laboratories at the InterAmerican Campus. At every level, the course includes a total of 41 lessons covering level competencies. Every semester, students must complete a minimum of 15 (fifteen) lessons although it is left to every instructor’s discretion to decide the number of lessons lab students must do. The lessons include a number of multiple choice exercises, sentence and paragraph writing sections, pretests and posttests, accompanied by power-point presentations introducing the fundamentals of writing, and a number of intermediate and advanced composition skills to enable students to meet their academic goals. Among the many illustrative and user-friendly features of e-Writing is a “manage students”

component for instructors including test-resetting tools for those students who wish to obtain better scores after a first try, and, as part of every student’s account, records of every student’s progress with his/her lessons, and access to their quizzes to view and explain areas of difficulty.

Although eWriting is still a work in progress, it has already proven a valuable learning tool at the InterAmerican Campus, where it was spearheaded by lab tutors and introduced to the EAP faculty.

For more information on eWriting, visit the following web page:

http://flang1.kendall.mdc.edu/projec.htm

(Miss Yaitma Escobar A.A, 2007)