Year of Languages

President Genshaft Declares 2005 the Year of Languages at USF

TAMPA (June 22, 2005)-

USF President Judy Genshaft, with Provost Renu Khator in support, signed a proclamation making 2005 the Year of Languages at USF. The signing on June 17 was attended by Carine Feyten (Associate Dean of the College of Education), Victor Peppard (Chair of the Department of World Language Education), Jeffra Flaitz (Associate Professor of Linguistics).

Drs. Feyten, Peppard, and Flaitz are part of a team that is organizing monthly events in our community and on the USF campus to celebrate the Year of Languages. Other USF language education faculty and foreign language supervisors from Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, and Hernando counties are also involved in the effort, which was initially inspired by American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) to raise public awareness about the benefits of foreign language study.

President Genshaft and Provost Khator with (right to left) Dr. Jeffra Flaitz, Dr. Carine Feyten, and Dr. Victor Peppard at the proclamaiton signing.

Among the events planned for this fall is a “language blitz.” High school students from the four counties will be administering a fun pop quiz to unsuspecting shoppers at local malls on Saturday, October 1. In November at the English Language Institute’s annual International Festival during International Education Week, micro-mini language lessons on unconventional topics (such as Flirting in French) will be offered to passers-by on the Martin Luther King Plaza on the USF campus.

The Department of World Language Education will also be launching a new General Education course for undergraduates called “Language and a Movie.” The course will be taught by a team of WLE professors, and will include the screening and discussion of a different foreign language feature film each week.

For more information contact the College of Education Communications Director.