1. Art and Diseño

North American Christian Foreign Language Association
25th Annual Conference, April 9-11, 2015
A Silver Anniversary:
NACFLA Past, Present, and Future
Biola University
La Mirada, California
Keynote Speaker
Dr. David Smith
NACFLA 2015 - PROGRAM OVERVIEW
THURSDAY APRIL 9
6:00 – 8:00
Registration, welcome, reception
FRIDAY APRIL 10
Dr. David Smith is the Director of Graduate Studies in Education at
Calvin College (Grand Rapids, Michigan), as well as the Director of
the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning. He
completed his Ph.D. at the Institute of Education, University of
London, UK, with a dissertation on “Modern language pedagogy,
spiritual development and Christian faith: A study of their
interrelationships.” Since then, his work has continued to focus on the
intersection between Christian faith and educational practice. He has
published extensively in the areas of educational philosophy and
modern German literature, and currently teaches courses in curriculum
and pedagogy. He is much in demand as a guest speaker and
educational consultant around the world.
David Smith has also been an integral part of NACFLA for many
years. As a keynote speaker, presenter, and long-time editor of the
Journal of Christianity and Foreign Languages, he has left an
indelible mark on our association. His publication with Dr. Barbara
Carvill of The Gift of the Stranger: Faith, Hospitality and Foreign
Language Learning (Eerdmans, 2000), became a landmark book for
Christian scholars, and his numerous other publications have been
widely used by NACFLA members in their teaching and scholarship.
It is entirely fitting that he should address our members on this, our
silver anniversary, and we count it a privilege to welcome him as
keynote speaker on this auspicious occasion.
8:30 – 9:00
9:00 – 9:15
9:15 – 10:45
10:45 – 11:00
11:00 – 12:45
1:00 – 2:00
2:15 – 3:45
3:45 – 4:00
4:00 – 5:30
6:00 – 7:00
7:00
Worship
Break
Keynote Speaker
Break
SESSION I Plenary Session
Lunch
SESSION II
Break
SESSION III
Dinner
Evening Activity
SATURDAY APRIL 11
8:30 – 9:00
Worship
9:00 – 9:15
Break
9:15 – 10:45
SESSION IV
10:45 – 11:00 Break
11:00 – 12:30 SESSION V
12:45 – 1:45
Lunch
1:45 – 2:45
Business Meeting
2:45 – 3:00
Final Worship
Session I Plenary Session
Friday, April 10, 2015 11:00-12:45
NACFLA Past, Present, and Future:
Our Website and Our Journal
Session II A
Presider: Tamara Townsend
Friday, April 10, 2015
Scott Bennett, Point Loma Nazarene University
Flipped Learning
Building Community Through Technology: NACFLA in the 21st Century
I propose to bring the NACFLA community together through contemporary
forms of social media. I will highlight our new website, and then share ways
in which members can become connected and create a new vision for the
future, based on the inspiration of 1 John 4:11: "Dear friends, since God so
loved us, we also ought to love one another." (NIV)
Jan Evans and Jennifer Good, Baylor University; Cynthia Slagter, and
David Smith, Calvin College
NACFLA’s Journal of Christianity and Foreign Languages
This session will answer the following questions and many more: Why have a
journal devoted to the integration of faith and learning in the world language
classroom? Who has edited the journal and where has it been published?
How many libraries hold the journal? How do I get published in the journal?
How will the journal be sustained in the future?
From its initial volume in 2000, our journal has contributed greatly to the
understanding of the integration of faith and learning in the world language
classroom. We will give tribute to its pioneers, describe present procedures
and expectations for those wishing to publish in the journal, and finally,
present some of our hopes and aspirations for the journal in the years ahead,
asking our members to dream with us about achieving a larger pool of
contributor, wider distribution and greater influence for the periodical.
2:15-3:45
Patty Tinkey, City Grove College; Rikki Heldt, Dordt College; Allan
Curnew, Redeemer University College; Marcela Rojas, Azusa Pacific
University
A Christian Perspective of Flipped Learning: What, Why, and How
This panel shares what “Flipped Learning” is, why this method extends
teaching/learning time, and how panel members implemented it (including the
tools/technology used). Flipped learning happens when the instructor’s
lecture is delivered outside of the traditional class time, via a video students
view on their own. Class time is then used for activities, discussions, and
conversations based on what they have learned. These French and Spanish
educators found that “flipping the classroom” helped students take ownership
of their learning, promoted a hospitable environment, and provided time for
more student feedback and engagement.
Session II B
Friday, April 10, 2015
2:15-3:45
Session II C
Faith and Learning
Friday, April 10, 2015
Presider: XXX
Chinese
Tasha Maria Bleistein and Manar Metry, Azusa Pacific University
2:15-3:45
Presider: XXX
Faith Integration
Litong Chen, Ohio State University, Graduate Student
Online MA TESOL faculty outline the transformation that occurred in
respect to faith integration as integration moved from individual classes with
repetitive content to a unified plan scaffolding concepts across courses, so
that graduates can articulate Christian views on language, language learners,
and teaching, and demonstrate the impact of faith on pedagogy.
Michael Lessard-Clouston, Biola University
Examining Faith and Learning in Foreign Language Teacher Education
Let’s Watch and Discuss Jesus’ Story in the Foreign Language Classroom:
Using the Jesus Film as an Example
This paper addresses how foreign language teachers can utilize Biblical films
in classroom instruction and teaching material development for students at
intermediate or higher levels. The Jesus film (1979 version, in Mandarin
Chinese) is used to demonstrate principles and methods that are applicable to
foreign language teaching in general.
Reporting on a survey of current beliefs and practices, this presentation
describes L2/FL teacher educators’ modelling of faith and learning
integration (FLI), the specific practices they employ, and how they train
student teachers to carry out FLI in different contexts. Participants’ FLI
advice and implications for research are also discussed.
De Zhang, Bethel University
Mary Shepard Wong, Azusa Pacific University
This presentation will discuss a U.S.-China telecollaborative project
connecting U.S. college students studying TESOL and college students in
China interested in teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages. The
effects of this collaboration on the students’ professional development in
intercultural communicative competence, awareness of Christianity in
teaching language, and technology use will be examined.
A Buddhist, a Christian, and a Muslim Walk into a Classroom: Lessons from
Religious Others about Faith’s Impact on Language Teaching
Spirituality, like language, has the potential to connect us and move us
beyond ourselves. In this session, the presenter explores how Buddhist,
Christian, and Muslim educators allow their spirituality to impact their
identity, classrooms, and teaching materials. Come and see what can be
learned from our religious other language educators.
Telecollaboration for American and Chinese Language Learners and Preservice Teachers
Session III A
Friday, April 10, 2015
4:00-5:30
Session III B
Government Corruption and Abuse of Power in Mexican Friday, April 10, 2015 4:00-5:30
Film and Literature (Presentations in Spanish)
French
Presider: Artemiza Hernández
The films Red Dawn, Herod’s Law, and The Perfect Dictatorship, the
collection of interviews in La noche de Tlatelolco, and the novel Los de
abajo, shape our collaborative examination of how governmental corruption
and abuse of power has suppressed political opposition in Mexico and how
we as Christians should approach it.
Presider: XXX
Juan Núñez and Aaron Kang - Biola University Students
Literary criticism on ecological issues has focused on text from the English
tradition (post 1800’s) and often represents Christian doctrine as
anthropocentric and anti-environmental. However, a Christian engagement of
ecocriticism in French renaissance literature undermines facile assumptions
about Christian anti-environmentalism, while offering novel perspectives on
critical questions in the field.
Andrew Soria, University of Southern California, Graduate Student
The Sacramentalized Quotidian in Philippe Delerm and Robert Bresson
This paper examines how a Christian “poétique de l’espace” could be
nuanced from phenomenological philosophies of the everyday. Analyzing
Artemiza Hernández –Biola University
Philippe Delerm and Robert Bresson, I attempt to demonstrate how artistic
Mexico’s Perfect Dictatorship
emphasis on the quotidian supports a sacramentalized view of daily routine
This paper analyzes Mexico’s “democratic” political system throughout the as a locus to dispense grace and promote reconciliation.
1900s as seen in the films Red Dawn, Herod’s Law, and The Perfect Victor Velázquez, Biola University
Dictatorship. It reveals that democracy has not even begin to take shape in
society because it has been ruled by an authoritarian party that works counter Ecocritical Approaches to French Literature: the Case for the Sixteenth
Century
to biblical principles, seeking power, money, and ongoing class distinctions.
The Tlatelolco Massacre: The Responsibility of Every Citizen in the Eyes of
God
An analysis of the interviews in La noche de Tlatelolco, dealing with the
Mexican Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968, shows how the government failed to
respect basic human rights and acted in contradiction to both scriptural and
democratic values, abusing its power and suppressing the students’ hopes
and aspirations for a better country.
Verónica Núñez- Biola University Student
Corruption as the Means to Advance in Life
This paper provides examples of corruption in Mexico as shown in film and
literature and explains how we as Christians should approach it. I will
discuss how La ley de Herodes and Los de abajo portray Mexico as a corrupt
society, how these stories reveal the way in which people are corrupted, and
what drives them to perpetuate this major problem in Mexico.
Kelsey Haskett, Trinity Western University
Teaching French Existentialist Literature from a Christian Perspective
Most French programs include twentieth-century literary works by wellknown authors such as Camus and Sartre. I will discuss ways to teach this
literature from a Christian perspective, by helping students explore life’s
critical questions as addressed in these works and compare them to a biblical
perspective, thus reinforcing their faith as they examine the underlying
philosophies of both worldviews.
Session III C
Friday, April 10, 2015
Session IV A
4:00-5:30
Saturday, April 11, 2015
9:15-10:45
Building Character, Fostering Encouragement, and
Exercising Moral Responsibility
Overarching Considerations and Solutions
Presider: XXX
Marcie Pyper and Cynthia Slagter, Calvin College
Jane Muir, Baylor University
Shifting the Paradigm for Christian World Language Teaching: Learning
from the Past, Working Together for the Future
Incorporating Character and Culture into the Beginning Language
Classroom
Beginning language classes focus on the vocabulary and grammar of the
foreign language, often to the detriment of cultural engagement and the
fostering of character formation. This presentation will highlight ways of
engaging culture and character formation based on personal experience and
interviews. We will end with group discussion.
Presider: XXX
At NACFLA we are committed to offering a distinctively Christian
approach to teaching World Languages. This presentation will briefly
examine past efforts, highlight available resources, and invite attendees to
collaborate in a new effort to reorient current World Language curriculum
so that it might more clearly reflect a Christian perspective.
Amy Obrist, Biola University
Audrey Johnson, Baylor University
The State of the Profession in CCCU Colleges and Universities
Fostering an Atmosphere of Encouragement in the Beginning Language
Classroom
This White paper will provide an overview of the state of our profession in
CCCU colleges and universities based on current, past, and planned
language and program offerings. It will examine narrative material from
department chairs to ascertain the level of support they perceive their
institutions to provide and draw conclusions based on both data and
narrative material.
This paper relies on my experiences and interviews with colleagues to
explore the foreign language classroom as a place where both students who
struggle and those who succeed quickly expand their ability to show
Christian empathy and encouragement to one another.
Richard Robison, Azusa Pacific University
The Moral Responsibility of Language Teaching
Is language an amoral information channel created by God for humanity’s
benefit? Or is it better characterized as a morally-charged force? Arguing
for the latter, I will discuss how we should teach language if we view
students as moral agents and language as a powerful tool with moral
consequences.
Julia A. Villaseñor, Malone University
New Realities in Foreign Language Education: Spanish for Professional
Purposes
How do we reverse the trend of steady decline in enrollment in foreign
language programs while staying true to our mandate as educators at
Christian institutions to provide valuable learning experiences and
“hospitality to the stranger”? This presentation will highlight an innovative
program that combines Spanish for healthcare with outreach to underserved
populations.
Session IV B
Saturday, April 11, 2015 9:15-10:45
Christian Perspectives on Linguistics
Presider: Scott Lamana
This session offers a Christian perspective on linguistics from various
angles, including the role of linguistics in NACFLA, recent work by
Christian linguists inside and outside of NACFLA, insights from an
explicitly Christian engagement with the contemporary field of linguistics,
and the importance for Christian educators of understanding how the use of
Spanglish marks Hispanic identity.
Marilyn Bierling, Calvin College
Linguistics at NACFLA: past, present, and future
During NACFLA´s 25-year history we have heard many presentations on
the importance of language, but few presentations on specific areas of
linguistics. This presentation summarizes the work that NACFLA has done
so far in linguistics and examines ways in which linguistic studies can play
an important role in the future.
Scott Lamanna, Calvin College
Preliminary Reflections on the Relevance and Usefulness of Applying a
Christian Perspective to the Analysis of Linguistic Variation
Drawing on three recent works (two Christian and one non-Christian) that
address issues related to language and/or linguistics, this presentation
suggests some insights that can be gleaned from an explicitly Christian
engagement with the contemporary field of linguistics, and how these
insights might inform and enrich our second language pedagogy.
Grace Kim, Calvin College Student
Spanglish as a Reflection of Identity: What Christian Educators Should
Know
In response to the influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants to the United
States, the use of Spanglish has increased dramatically among Hispanic
Americans. Based on a sociolinguistic perspective, this presentation
provides an orientation for Christian educators on Spanglish as a reflection
of the intercultural identity of Hispanics in the United States.
Session IV C
Saturday, April 11, 2015 9:15-10:45
Hispanic Film and Theater
Presider: XXX
Valentin Gonzalez-Bohorquez, Pasadena City College
Even the Rain. The Gaze of the Other on the Gold and Water Wars
(Presented in Spanish)
Even the Rain (2010), by Iciar Bollain, tells the unofficial history of the
Spanish conquest of America, while also using the Water War in 2000 in
Cochabamba to reveal and condemn the ongoing presence of foreign powers.
This presentation explores, from a Christian perspective, the effects of the
forced imposition of faith and the constructs of the native as the Other.
Sarah Rabke, Baylor University, Graduate Student
Azorín’s Lo invisible: The Blending of Two Generations
In Lo invisible, Azorín combines Generation of 1898 themes and Generation
of 1927 techniques to rejuvenate Spanish theater. Azorín believed 20th
century Spanish society had lost its identity, and rather than rejecting a
Christian message, he imbibes this work with a hope that transcends the
darkness of the period.
Benjamin T. Moss, Baylor University, Graduate Student
Los Amantes de Teruel: Spiritual Conflict and the Triumph of Good
In Los Amantes de Teruel (1837), Eugenio Hartzenbusch uses a medieval
love story to depict the conflict in Spain between Moors and Christians.
Examining the binary opposition between the protagonists Isabel, an angelic
Christian, and the Queen of Valencia, a satanic Moor, reveals how
Hartzenbusch accomplishes dramatic effects and highlights the themes of
deceit, good and evil, and a sacrificial Christian love that triumphs in the
end.
Session V A
Session V B
Saturday, April 11, 2015 11:00-12:30
Saturday, April 11, 2015 11:00-12:30
Pedagogical Insights
Spanish Literature and Literary Creation
Presider: XXX
Presider: XXX
Silvia Brynjolfson, Trinity Western University
Kelsey Schlichting, Baylor University, Graduate Student
Correct Mistakes, or Let Them Speak? Theory and Practice of Correcting
Mistakes in Foreign Language Classes
Intentional Awareness of Injustice through Literature
By examining concientización in Gioconda Belli’s novel, The Inhabited
Woman, the main character becomes aware of unsettling truths of injustice
and oppression surrounding her. I contend that in reading such novels,
Christians should seek to experience the dissonance that parallels that of the
character, raising our own awareness of injustice, for the sake of God’s
kingdom.
This presentation will explore different approaches to oral correction that
have been used during past decades and identify recent successful practices.
Based on studies done in bilingual settings, it will examine the recast
method, showing both its limitations and useful variations which will help
teachers address students’ oral mistakes. It will also reflect on the correcting
Claudia Luque, Point Loma Nazarene University Student
methodology used in Jesus’ life.
The Hyphen-Nation (Presented in Spanish and English)
Julianne Bryant, Biola University
He, he/she, she/he, they….What are the Implications of Gendered Pronouns
for our Students?
This paper explores the widely debated issue of gender inclusive language.
As language teachers at faith based institutions we should not only be
concerned about how language allows one to relate to others, but how it
expresses and reflects our concepts of God, Jesus Christ and our particular
role as Christians.
Kitty Purgason, Biola University
Multi-level Activities with Proverbs in ESL and FL Classes
Proverbs are a great source of input in a language class because of their
brevity. This presentation focuses on how to use them for speaking, writing,
grammar, pronunciation, critical thinking, spiritual stimulus, and
intercultural communication and in such a way that students of different
proficiency levels can participate together.
“The Hyphen-Nation” is a poem that celebrates the hybrid culture of
Hispanics and Latinos living in the United States. It provides intimate
insights into the identity challenges experienced by this synthesized culture
while also seeking to expose the beauty of its diversity. It aims to
acknowledge the symbolism of the hyphen and establish Christ-like views
of equality, as shown in Ephesians 2:14.
Katey Erickson, Wheaton College Student
Menchú for a New Christian Reader: Text, Translation, and
“Concientización”
A bilingual reading of Rigoberta Menchú’s testimonial narrative, Me Llamo
Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la conciencia (1982), demonstrates that
its English translation, I, Rigoberta Menchú, an Indian Woman in
Guatemala (1983), presents a filtered story through which only the
increased awareness or concientización of intended monolingual North
American audience is possible.
Session V C
Saturday, April 11, 2015 11:00-12:30
Online Communication, Study Abroad, and Language
Preparation
Presider: XXX
Maria Wilbar, Biola University
Advancing the Oral Skills through Online Synchronous Communication
with Native Speakers, while Facilitating Faith Integration
This study considers a group of Spanish language acquisition students
interacting with native-language speakers (NS), through the use of online
synchronized video and voice (SVVCMC), in a comparison with studyabroad students. It also shows how advance preparation of student
testimonies in the target language (TL) and appropriate conversational
topics with NS facilitated faith integration.
Mary Docter, Westmont College
Bringing Them Home: Helping Students with Reentry
To cultivate global Christians, we regularly send students abroad but often
fail to help them once they return. This talk focuses on the often-neglected
process of re-entry, specifically showing how a semester-long re-entry
seminar helps students readjust to their home culture, provides opportunities
for reflection and sharing (especially the students’ faith journey), and
strengthens skills and knowledge gained abroad.
Alex Nix Vaughan, La Vega High School
Foreign Language Study: What the Students Say…
Considering that the college students are no more than high school students
that have received a diploma, how can we can better prepare them for the
rigors of foreign language study, so that we can impart to them, as Christian
educators, a love for language-learning,? This paper will discuss reasons for
the appeal or lack thereof of foreign language study for current high school
students.