Student Loan Blog : Italian

Options to Study Sign Language Overseas Slowly Growing

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:41:00 GMT

Students who want to study American Sign Language — the fourth most commonly taught language other than English at American colleges and universities — have limited, but growing, options to enroll in sign language programs abroad, according to an article in Inside Higher Ed (“Studying (Sign) Languages Abroad,” May 5, 2008).

“Part of this is because the United States sort of leads the world in sign language instruction at a university level, so you often don’t see French Sign Language or Italian Sign Language having very solid positions in universities,” Sherman Wilcox, chair of the department of linguistics at the University of New Mexico, told the Chronicle.

But, students who wish to study overseas are slowly discovering a handful of opportunities to study other sign languages.

Italian, Jamaican Sign Languages Among Formal Study Options Abroad

Just last year, Siena School for Liberal Arts, a nearly decade-old school in Siena, Italy, added two three-week long summer sessions to its single semester and year-long study programs. In one summer program, American ASL students study Italian deaf culture and Italian Sign Language, which is significantly different than ASL. In the other, deaf Americans and deaf Italians live together and study each others’ signed and written languages.

A Goshen College program allows ASL students to spend six weeks in Jamaica studying the country’s deaf and hearing cultures and Jamaican Sign Language, which is similar enough to ASL that students are immediately able to communicate, said Sheila Yoder, director of the program and assistant professor of American Sign Language at Goshen. For the other six weeks of the program, students live and work at one of eight different Jamaican schools for the deaf.

While formal study abroad programs created specifically for students of sign language are still few and far between, interest in sign language has increased dramatically, a recent survey by the Modern Language Association reveals.

College-level enrollment in American Sign Language grew to 78,829 in 2006 from 11,420 in 1998 — an increase that is parallel to interest in international education.

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College Board to Eliminate Four AP Programs by Next School Year

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:26:00 GMT

The College Board’s decision to drop four Advanced Placement classes and subject exams by the end of the 2008–09 academic year is expected to affect about 12,500 students and 2,500 teachers worldwide.

The AP program allows high school students to take college-level courses at their high schools. AP students can earn college credit at most colleges and universities by scoring high enough on national AP tests given at the end of each academic year.

The AP program currently offers 37 courses and exams across 22 subject areas, but officials of the nonprofit College Board have announced plans to eliminate Italian, Latin literature, French literature and computer science AB from the AP program.

Lack of Student Participation Spurs Cuts

The decision came after officials discovered only a fraction of underrepresented minority students take AP exams in those subject areas, writes Education Week reporter Scott Cech (“College Board Intends to Drop AP Programs in Four Subjects,” April 4, 2008).

Italian, which officials say might still be saved if the program receives outside funding, was 400 percent over budget due to the small number of students taking the exams.

“For us, [the question is], are we able to achieve our mission of reaching a broader range of students?” said Trevor Packer, College Board vice president of the AP program.

Budgets of Remaining AP Programs Expected to Grow

Packer said the decision to eliminate the four programs was not connected to the results of a recently released national quality-control audit intended to gauge whether the rapid expansion of the college-preparatory program over the past decade had led to a decline in the rigor for which it has been known.

Of the 146,671 AP courses submitted for review nationwide, 136,853 — 93 percent — were approved, reports The Washington Post (“Nearly All Area AP Teachers Get Passing Grades in Audit,” March 25, 2008).

The 33 remaining AP programs are expected to have their budgets increased.

“We don’t want any AP subject area to be deemed a so-called second-class citizen,” Packer said. “Our top funding requirement should be … professional development and instructional materials.”

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Turkey-Day Trivia & Other Tidbits

Student Loan Girl — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:07:00 GMT

Whether you’re making the trip home for a feast and four-day weekend with the family, or staying put and keeping it low-key with friends, frozen pizza, and a steady stream of college football, equip yourself with these feathered factoids, and you’re sure to take the Thanksgiving spotlight with your impressive command of fowl fable and lore.

Or with what is obviously your slightly freaky turkey fetish. Whatever works.

The Turkey Trivia Trove

Did you know that:

Turkeys can drown if they look up when it’s raining?
Turkeys have great hearing, but no external ears?
The fleshy growth from the base of the beak is called the snood?
Turkeys sometimes spend the night in trees?
The heaviest turkey ever raised was grown in England and weighed 86 pounds?
Only male turkeys make the familiar “gobbling” sound? (Females make a clicking noise.)
The turkey once vied with the bald eagle for the title of national symbol of the United States? Benjamin Franklin argued on behalf of the turkey.
Wild turkeys can run at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour and fly for short distances at up to 55 miles per hour?
Turkeys have heart attacks? (When the Air Force conducted test runs with jets that broke the sound barrier, entire fields of nearby turkeys would drop dead.)

For even more turkey “did you knows,” check out these websites:

Test Your Thanksgiving I.Q.

If you’d rather show off your towering turkey know-all by dominating the competition Jeopardy!-style, challenge your small siblings, vegan roommates, and other worthy adversaries with these Thanksgiving-themed quizzes:

Thanksgiving Pop-Culture Quiz from FamilyEducation.com
Turkey Day Quiz from InfoPlease
Aristotle’s Thanksgiving on the Web Turkey Trivia Quiz

465 Ways to Say “Thank You”

You may already know how to say “thank you” in Spanish, French, Italian, or German, but if you’re looking to extend your linguistic borders, try saying it in Welsh, Zulu, Thai, or any one of another 465 languages. Here’s just a small sample:

Arabic: Shukran
Chinese (Mandarin): Xie xie
Dutch: Dank u
Finnish: Kiitos
French: Merci
German: Danke
Greek: Efcharisto
Hebrew: Toda
Hindi: Shukriya
Hungarian: Köszönöm
Inuktitut (Alaska): Taikkuu
Irish Gaelic: Go raibh maith agaibh
Italian: Grazie
Japanese: Arigato
Korean: Komapsumnida
Lakhota: Pilamaya ye (said by a woman), Pilamaya yelo (said by a man)
Navajo: Aheéhee’
Polish: Dziekuje
Russian: Spasibo
Scottish Gaelic: Tapadh leat
Spanish: Gracias
Swahili: Asante
Swedish: Tack
Tagalog: Salamat
Thai: Khawp khun
Welsh: Diolch
Zulu: Ngiyabonga

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