Fall 1999 Newsletter
Fall 1999 Newsletter
FALL CONFERENCE
The Antonio Margil Chapter will hold its fall, 1999 conference at the Bentley Hotel in Alexandria October 16. The conference will include presentations by Louisiana Spanish teachers concerning current issues in foreign language education and pedagogy. There will also be an IDEAS session so that teachers can share with others successful activities and techniques.
If you are interested in submitting a topic for a presentation, please send a brief abstract to Vice President Diane Jenkins, P. O. Box 608, Wisner, LA. 71378. If you have activities which you would like to share in the IDEAS session, it will be helpful to have a handout so that others can take your ideas home with them. The conference offers the opportunity to meet with your collegues to share your successful experiences and to seek the support of others who meet the same challenges in the classroom. We hope that you will mark your calendars now to attend.
SUMMER TRAVELS
Dr. Charles Holloway, President of the Antonio Margil Chapter, received special funding from Northeast Louisiana University to continue his research on Spanish dialects in Louisiana. Dr. Holloway is spending part of his summer traveling the back roads of Sabine Parish to gather examples of the Spanish spoken by people of the region.
Vice President Diane Jenkins received a $500 stipend from the national AATSP organization to assist her in attending the AATSP meeting in Denver, Colorado. Diane plans to report on her activities at the fall chapter conference, and she encourages other teachers to apply in the future. You must have been a member of AATSP for three years and submit a letter of application and two letters of recommendation.
Valerie Matejowsky, French and Spanish teacher at Neville High School in Monroe, has received an NEH grant to study at Old Dominion University for two and one half weeks and then at L'Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal for two and a half weeks. The topic is "La Francophonie: A Study of the Literature and Geography of French Speaking West Africa with a Focus on Senegal".
We hope to make the Travels Section a regular feature of the newsletter. If you have information which you would like to share, please send it to the newsletter editor.
Antonio Margil WebPage
You may access your newsletter and the latest information on the Chapter activities by consulting the chapter webpage. The address is www.nlu.edu/languages.
Spring Spanish Festival for High School Students
The Antonio Margil Chapter is planning a festival for high school students for the spring of 2000. The goal is to bring enthusiastic students together to participate in music, dance, dramatic events, and more. The exact date and place have not been established, but the details will be available at the fall conference in October and on the webpage. The Chapter also hopes to begin sponsoring a Spanish quiz bowl competition beginning in the spring of 2001. We are already collecting potential questions and welcome any that you would like to send. Suggestions for the festival and quiz bowl questions can be sent to Dr. Ruth Smith, Department of Foreign Languages, Northeast Louisiana University.
We hope that you will be able to join us for an informal gathering for limonade and cake on August 7 at the home of Dr. Ruth Smith, 207 Erin, Monroe, LA. The purpose of the party is to foster closer working relationships among all the teachers in the region of the Antonio Margil Chapter and to share information about AATSP. You do not have to be a member of the Chapter to attend. Bring another colleague and come visit before the academic year starts. Dr. Smith lives on 3rd and Erin, six blocks north of Louisville or six blocks south of Forsythe Park. If you need further directions, call (318) 388-0637.
We encourage you to join the AATSP and the Antonio Margil Chapter. In addition to national membership and the national journal Hispania, members have access to a network of professionals in the northern and western parts of the state who are working together to further instruction in Spanish. If you would like to join, please return the application along with a check for $40.00 to Lydia Keyser, Treasurer, 335 Keegan Drive, Nachitoches, LA. 71457.