Fall 2016 | Issue 6

The Learning Center N E W SOne day I star ted m y shi ft at the Learn ing Center , and m y cousin M al ik Gadifal lath cam e to visi t m e. H e was visi t ing and wanted to r el ive h is old col lege l i fe days at PSU. M al ik graduated in 2011 and went back hom e to star t h is career at Aram co. That day when he entered the LC fr ont door , our pictures on the r ight wal l caught h is attent ion. W hi le he was look ing, Shei la?s picture real ly caught h is attent ion. H e stopped for a m inute then looked at m e and said, ?Abdul th is face looks so fam i l iar to m e; I?m pretty sure.? I told h im th is is our boss Shei la. H e was l ike ?I know her ; I know her ; can I m eet her please?? The m ain poin t of the stor y is one decade before Shei la taught M al ik at Oregon State Universi ty?s Engl ish Language Inst i tute; you should have seen her face when she rem em bered teaching M al ik?s level 6 academ ic Listen ing/Speak ing class in 2006. M al ik was so in to that course that he even argued both sides in a

ser ies of class debates when one of h is classm ates was out sick . W hat a surpr ise to f ind out Shei la taught the f i r st of m y 6 cousins who cam e to Oregon on SACM scholar ships!

WHAT A SMALL WORLD! BY ABDULLAH ALOTHMANI

LC UPDATESWhat happened in the Learning Center this term?

NEW ASSISTANT MANAGER

Noel Conrad took over for Audrey Bai ley as the new LC Assistant M anager th is term . Noel r eceived his M A TESOL from PSU in June 2016, and has worked as a tutor in the LC for the past 2 years.

Meet our new st af f m em bers

on t he next page!

FREE RESOURCE FOR SHORT STORIES

BY DANNY LESTER

The IELP Learn ing Center has created a fr ee, on l ine resource of contem porary shor t stor ies, avai lable to both students and teachers by ut i l izing the Librar y?s course reserves. W e have selected 11 stor ies fr om the text The Story and I ts W r iter : An I ntroduction to Shor t Fiction, edi ted by Ann Char ter s (2011), which would be m ost appropr iate for levels 4 and 5 in the IELP. The stor ies provide a var iety of perspect ives, an im pactfu l or surpr ising conclusion, and varying lengths in order to m ake them accessible, appl icable, and engaging in a num ber of contexts. For exam ple, tutor s can recom m end them to students who are look ing for extensive reading oppor tun i t ies, or instructor s could em ploy them for classroom act ivi t ies. To access the shor t stor ies, go the PSU l ibrar y?s websi te (l ibrar y.pdx.edu), cl ick Course Reserves and search for IELP 001, and fol low the l inks unt i l there is a folder t i t led ?Shor t stor ies? (you can also use the hyper l ink button above). I f there are any quest ions or com m ents regarding the shor t stor ies, or i f you are in terested in using the Librar y?s course reserves to provide up to 10% of any copywr i t ten m ater ials on l ine to both staff and students, please em ai l Shei la M ul looly (m ul looly@pdx.edu) or Danny Lester (dplester@pdx.edu).

Sarah Keeney is an M .A. TESOL student at Por t land State Universi ty and also holds a Bachelor?s degree in Spanish fr om PSU. Sarah grew up in the Chicago area and graduated fr om Nor thwestern Universi ty in 1995, a m em ber of the un iversi ty?s f i r st graduating class of Environm ental Sciences m ajors. For 15 years, she worked as a com m unity organizer , coordinator , and fundraiser for var ious conservat ion groups in Alaska, the western United States, and Canada.

Seek ing a new chal lenge and a m id-l i fe career change, Sarah began her language studies at PSU in 2010. Sarah has taught and tutored at Por t land Com m unity Col lege, PSU, Educate Ya, and for a fu l l year at the Universidad Libre in Bogotá, Colom bia.  She loves to explore new places whether they are in Oregon or around the wor ld.  

She has two chi ldren, a boy (10) and a gir l (7) and when she is not hanging out wi th them or studying, she l ikes to bake desser ts, kn i t , r ead f ict ion novels, and en joy al l the great th ings Por t land has to offer.  H er next goal is to becom e a passable bachata and salsa dancer.

NEW TUTOR

LC UPDATES: NEW STAFFWhat happened in the Learning Center this term?

NEW TUTOR

I 'm Gai l . I 'm fr om H arbin , a place in Nor theast China which is fam ous for i ts Annual Ice and Snow Fest ival . M y real nam e is ZH ANG H ui. I 've tr aveled m ostly in Europe and m ain ly for work reasons. M y favor i te place in Europe is Am sterdam . I wish I could l ive and work there som eday. M y m ain hobby is h ik ing, especial ly wi th m y k ids and/or fr iends. M y research in terests are language learn ing str ategies, teaching cul ture in ESL/EFL classroom s, and the im pact of cul tural awareness on ESL teaching and learn ing.

NEW TUTOR

LC UPDATES: NEW STAFFWhat happened in the Learning Center this term?

NEW Lab AssistantM y nam e is Em ily M innette, and I am exci ted to be par t of the tutor ing team th is year ! I am or iginal ly fr om Indiana, but for the past two years, Por t land has been m y hom e. I graduated fr om Purdue Universi ty wi th a B.A. in Linguist ics, Japanese, and Asian Studies. Right now, I am a student in the M A TESOL program , and I am cur rent ly work ing on m y thesis about stance in engineer ing papers. I r eal ly en joy studying l inguist ics and languages. I have studied Spanish and Japanese for several years, and recently I have star ted learn ing Turk ish. In m y undergraduate days, I studied in Japan, and I would love to go back som eday. M y other r esearch in terests include phonetics, phonology, and sociol inguist ics. I am look ing forward to gett ing to know th is year?s IELP students!

H el lo al l ! M y nam e is Daniel Lam a, and I r ecently graduated (Spr ing 2016) fr om the Universi ty of Oregon where I com pleted m y bachelor s of science in Psychology. I was born in a sm al l hospi tal outside of Berkeley, CA and m oved to Por t land, OR in 2000. I am a nat ive Engl ish speaker , and I?ve studied French through high school . This sum m er I am join ing the Peace Corps for a 2-year program as a heal th volunteer in Zam bia, where I wi l l be work ing in a rural cl in ic educating people on nutr i t ion and disease prevention. After m y program , I plan to enter a m aster?s program in ei ther Publ ic H eal th or Social W ork .

WEBSITE SPOTLIGHT Click on the link to go to

the site!

A new resource for listening practice for IELP instructors and students

After students have entered what they believe they heard, the site will evaluate their response and show missed or incorrect words, as well as missing punctuation and incorrect spelling.

Login info for teachers (please don't share with students!)

username: psuielp

password: portland2016

Help With Listening

Helpwithlistening.com is a website where students can practice listening to natural-sounding

passages about a variety of topics, and get feedback on their understanding.

Passages are grouped by difficulty (beginner to advanced), and students can adjust the rate of speech to four different levels, ranging from individually pronounced words to the rapid, somewhat "slurred" rate of informal speech.

fal l W ORKSH OPS

W EEK DATE TIM E TITLE

4 10/18 Tuesday, 4-5 pm Tim e M anagem ent Sk i l ls

10/19W ednesday, 3:30-4:30pm

Student Panel : IELP to Business School

10/20Thursday, 430-5:30pm

IELTS Listen ing

RECOM M ENDED LEVEL

PRESENTER(S)/STUDENT NUM BERS

Al lBetty Br ickson/24 students, 1 facul ty

3+Lucas Lim & in t 'l student panel / 25 students

2+ Danny/16 students

5 10/25 Tuesday, 4-5pm Queer -Trans 101 3+ (open to al l )Craig Leets/3 students, 3 facul ty, 2 staff

10/27Thursday, 3:30-4:30pm

Reduce, Recycle, Reuse & Presenting Tips

2+M aoloud Dabab/7 students

6 11/1 Tuesday, 3-4pm IELTS W r i t ing Task 2 2+ Gai l / 4 students, 1 staff

11/2W ednesday, 3:30-4:30pm

Student Panel : IELP to Engineer ing

3+Zainab Kam al & in t 'l student panel / 11 students, 1 staff

Newslet t er Cont r ibut ors:

Abdullah Alothmani, Noel Conrad, Sarah Keeney, Daniel Lama, Daniel Lester, Emily Minnette, Sheila Mullooly, Hui Zhang,

Visit t he LC websit e Follow t he LC on Facebook!

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2ND

All LC books and mater ials not r equir ed for f inal exams due

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7THFinal Deadline: Al l LC books and mater ials due

JANUARY 9TH

LC Opens for Winter Term 2017

DECEMBER 8TH - JANURARY 2ND

Winter break - LC is closed.

JANURARY 3RD & 6TH

LC Open for IELP faculty 10:00 am to 3:00 pm

CALENDARTHURSDAY, DECEMBER 1ST 3-5pmNutcracker Ballet Coffee Hour