UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, November 8, 1994
5A
Program allows variety in foreign languages
By Colleen McCain
Kansan staff writer
A year-old program allows students studying foreign languages to enroll in courses that explore topics other than grammar and literature.
The KU Language Across the Curriculum Program includes courses that focus on topics such as history and social sciences, which are taught in Spanish, French, German and Russian.
Terry Weidner, acting dean of international studies, said the program simply used language as a vehicle to teach a variety of courses.
"It is frustrating to see the poor language capabilities of students coming out of KU," said Weidner, who initiated the program in Fall 1993. "In our increasingly global environment you really need to know at least one foreign language, and this program makes a dramatic improvement in students' language skills."
Next semester a total of six courses and four discussion sections will be offered in four languages. Students who enroll in foreign language discussion sections attend lectures that are in English and speak only the foreign language during their discussion sections.
"We have been very scrupulous in making sure that the instructors are fluent in the language." Weidner said.
To enroll in a course, students must have studied a language for a minimum of two years, but Weidner said most students had studied a language for at least three years or had studied abroad.
"Students can decide for themselves if they can hack it," he said. "The response from students who have taken the courses has been astounding. No student has said that he or she didn't like a course."
William Comer, assistant professor of Slavic languages and literatures, is teaching fourth-year Russian, which serves as a companion course for the history class Russia in the Twentieth Century. The history course is taught in English, and students study readings in Russian in the Russian course.
"By doing the readings in Russian, we are able to look at how language influences thought," Comer said. "Students really improve their reading and thinking skills because the course goes beyond the basics."
Brannan Cass, Overland Park graduate student, is enrolled in Comer's class. Cass said taking an entire class in Russian was intimidating initially.
Cass said reading the material in Russian allowed students to gain a greater understanding of the writer's intent.
"A lot is lost in the translation, so it's more meaningful to do the readings in Russian," Cass said. "I'm not to the point yet where I can sit down without a dictionary and understand every word, but I continue to get better."
High numbers predicted at polls
The Associated Press
TOPEKA—The secretary of state's office yesterday predicted that a record number of Kansans will go to the polls today to pick a new governor and decide the fate of three long-standing Republican dynasties.
al election has been 68 percent.
The secretary of state's office said it expected more than 854,000 Kansans to vote, about 65 percent of the 1.31 million registered voters. Since 1970, the average turnout for a gubernatorium
If the office is correct, it would be the largest number of Kansans who have voted in a general election in a non-presidential year.
Brad Bryant, deputy assistant secretary of state for elections, said the prediction for the percentage of turnout was relatively low because a motor voter law, which allow people to register when they renew their driver's licenses, has increased overall registration.
The KU Language Across the Curriculum Program offers courses that are taught in Spanish, French, German and Russian that focus on topics such as history and social sciences. The following courses will be offered next semester as a part of this program:
Discussion for U.S. Latino and Latin America Film and Literature Discussion for The Ancient Maya La France Avant la Gaule: France Before the Romans
The Historical Process of Democracy in Latin America
Current Anthropology: The Environment and the Social Impact of Tourism in Costa Rica
Classes offered
Elementary Keyboard Musician-ship
Discussion for The Great War: The History of World War I
Russia: Peter the Great to the Present
Contemporary Events in the Russian Republic
Russian Visual Arts and Literature
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Gina Burman, Treasurer. Bob "Timmie" Timmons Campaign Chairman.
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