Summer gatherings: Friday lunches in the Park BlocksOver the summer, a rotating cast of linguists (faculty, students, alumni, and friends) gathered, at a distance, in the newly uncrowded Park Blocks for Friday lunches. We had a great time meeting new folks and connecting without a mediating screen, despite a few challenges (including wet grass, inadvisability of sharing food and beverages, and occasional lapses in air quality). For many of us, it was the first social contact outside our households that we'd had in months. Jenny Mittelstaedt commented, "It felt great to see linguists in the flesh!"
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Why are those characters standing in the fountain? It’s the October First Friday group picture, of course. We tried out Gather Town, which makes it possible to walk around and have conversations with different groups of people, more like mingling in person. Watch for invitations via the department mailing list for upcoming First Fridays.
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| Student Organization of Applied Linguistics (SOAL) fall term events and a call to action
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The Student Organization of Applied Linguistics (SOAL) is seeking new members! Whether you'd like to help plan an event, have great ideas for how to bring students together, are interested in becoming a SOAL Officer, or just want to see what we're all about, we'd love to hear from you! Email us at soal@pdx.edu for more information, visit our Instagram @soalpdx to see upcoming events, or watch our short informational video to find out more! All events will be shared on the Applied Linguistics Department mailing list, too! Can't wait to meet you all!
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Congratulations to Delaney Ybarra, recipient of the 2020/2021 Nattinger Scholarship
Delaney describes her interests:"Language has always been the core of how I saw myself helping people. However, it wasn’t until working with youth at a Portland non-profit in 2017 that I encountered a phenomenon that changed the course of my focus: language brokering. Language brokering is an experience when a bilingual child translates for their monolingual caregivers in situations such as doctor appointments, school meetings, bank visits, and so much more."
Continue reading Delaney's story here.
Scholarship applications for the 2021/2022 academic year will be available on November 1st.
Now more than ever the world needs applied linguists and our students need your support. If you can give even a small amount, please donate to the Nattinger Scholarship.
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Welcome to Fall 2020 from Susan Conrad, Department Chair
Happy new academic year from the PSU Department of Applied Linguistics! As I sat down to write this, I promised myself that whatever I said, I would not refer to "unprecedented times," which seems to be in nearly every message I receive these days. In fact, I did some quick searches comparing the Corpus of Contemporary American English and the Coronavirus Corpus, a new corpus at english-corpora.org consisting of online newspapers and magazines in 20 different English-speaking countries since January 2020. The phrase "unprecedented times" is 2,700 times more common in the Coronavirus Corpus! But whatever you want to call these times, lots of wonderful things continue to go on in our department, many of which you can read about in this newsletter and later newsletters this year. PSU expects to be continuing with remote operations at least through winter 2021, and while there are plenty of disadvantages, one advantage is that it's easier to have alumni join us at virtual gatherings like First Fridays. We love having current students and alumni share their experiences, so if you're an alum, please don't hesitate to join us when you see activities advertised. Meanwhile, we hope that you and your loved ones are staying healthy and that all of you who can vote will exercise your right this fall.
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Check out our new website
The Department of Applied Linguistics website, along with the entire university, underwent a complete re-construction over the summer. Pages are still coming online, but take a look to see what's new: https://www.pdx.edu/applied-linguistics/
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Upcoming Virtual Undergraduate and TESL Certificate Information Sessions
Friday, November 20th 1-2:30 pm
Email linginfo@pdx.edu to R.S.V.P. if you'd like to attend a session and we'll provide the Zoom address!
Future info session dates will be posted here or you can join our mailing list to receive notifications.
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2021/2022 MA TESOL Admissions
Applications to the program will open November 1st. The priority deadline is February 1st. Applications received beyond that date will be reviewed as space in the program allows.
Attend a virtual M.A. TESOL info session! RSVP to linginfo@pdx.edu and we'll email you a link to the Zoom session. Upcoming dates:
Friday, November 13th 1-2 pm
&
Friday December 11th 1-2 pm
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Racial Justice and Applied Linguistics
This is a crucial time for actions for racial justice. If you didn't receive our letter to the Applied Linguistics community last June, please read it on our Facebook page.
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