The Language Learning Center at Rhodes College is ahead of the curve on turning learning a foreign language into an active, engaging activity for students. Active language-learning labs use a combination of multimedia tools, games, cultural activities, adaptable spaces, and opportunities to practice conversational skills as a more effective means of acquiring foreign language skills.
Rhodes’ Language Learning Center was recently featured in University Business about the trend toward active learning vs. the old model of students wearing headphones and sitting in front of computer screens. In the article, Dr. Wanneken Wanske, assistant professor of German and director of the center, talks about the cultural events and activities—including Day of the Dead celebrations, building gingerbread houses, learning to knit, and weekly yoga lessons in German—that help students to learn.
“The old format of teaching language is obsolete,” says Wanske. “Language teaching has moved to a more social model.”
You can read the full article here.