THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6. 2009
NEWS
Accomplishment in the crosshairs
5A
Howard Ting/KANSAN
KU Army ROTC Cadet Jacob Thomson of Denver engages targets down the range at Ft. Riley. Marksmanship is a vital part of an arsenal of skills that the Ranger Challenge team will need to demonstrate during a three-day-long competition at Iowa State University later this month.
Crews with heavy digging equipment tore down the collapsed remains of the six-story Ambacang hotel in the regional capital, Padang, where as many as 200 people are believed to have died, and were flattening several other damaged buildings.
Rather than pull out the bodies that can't be reached, they are burying them under the rubble.
PADANG, Indonesia — Workers used backhoes Tuesday to demolish buildings damaged in Indonesian's giant earthquake that left hundreds if not thousands dead, while food and emergency supplies were air-lifted to remote areas cut off by landslides.
Aid workers are now focused on caring for the hundreds of thousands left homeless.
Six helicopters shuttled aid to the isolated hillside villages of the Padang Pariaman district, where landslides buried more than 600 people, said Ade Edward,'head of operations control at West Sumatra's Center for Disaster Management.
The search for survivors was halted Monday — five days after the 7.6-magnitude quake struck off the coast of West Sumatra.
SPANISH (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
"It brings technology that books can't," Perkins said. "I hope we can use this as a model for other languages at KU."
Jonathan Perkins, EGARC director, said he and other members of his staff had spent approximately 500 hours creating the Web site. He said the technological skills that the Web site taught students made it worth his time and effort. Through Acceso, students can interact with both print news articles and audio and video files from different Spanish and Latin American cultures.
Associated Press
ACCESSING ACCESO
The interactive database, designed primarily for 200-level Spanish students, can be found at http://www2. ku.edu/~spanish/acceso/ and has resources for any aspiring Spanish-speaker to use:
INTERNATIONAL Workers begin rescue repair after earthquake
- **Gossary of terms and concepts**
- **Maps and charts of Hispanic issues**
- **Interviews with recognized Spanish-speakers**
- **Grammar guide**
Ann Cudd, dean of the humanities, said other foreign language departments had used supplemental course materials online, but that the online-only approach in department of Spanish and Portuguese for its 200-level classes was the most innovative she had seen at the University.
"It itens to me a great way to present material and keep it up to
also save the students money," Cudd said. "I believe they're going to make this open access to kind of revolutionize the teaching of language not only here but throughout the U.S."
Cudd said that although she thought the online switch could be beneficial for other foreign language departments in the future, it also presented a variety of challenges. She said departments without as much classroom computer access or as many graduate students, who update the online content, might have trouble managing such a comprehensive site.
said convenience was a factor in his department's decision to keep its textbook resources in lieu of online-only curricula.
"We'd put this program up against any major language program in the country."
Van Kelly, chairman of the department of French & Italian,
"Wed put this program up against any major language program in the country," Rossomondo said. "It's the future of the way all course material is going to be delivered."
Rossomondo said that Acceso was free and open to the public, but that it was intended for use under the direction of an instructor and could cause confusion for someone learning Spanish independently. She said she would travel
"If you have the book, you don't have to jump back and forth between an e-book and exercise screens," Kelly said. "Not all students are as comfortable with that completely online format. It seems to be a good organizing tool for the students to keep that textbook in print form."
AMY ROSSOMONDO Assistant professor
Rosalea Postma-Carttar, associate professor and instructor of
to other colleges and universities this year to pitch Acceso to other Spanish departments, beginning in November with a visit to Emory University.
Spanish 212, said one of her favorite parts of having Acceso was how quickly it could be updated. In the past, the department had to wait for new editions of a textbook to update lessons, making the discussion of current events especially frustrating.
"The last time I was teaching the course, one of the countries that it dealt with was Cuba," Postma-Carttar said. "One of the studies was this point of time when Fidel Castro got sick and Raul was running the country. It was kind of frustrating because the reality was contradicting the textbook."
Kasten said the incorporation of more current events in his Spanish 212 section had helped to keep him and his fellow classmates interested every week. In one class period, he said, his discussion leader captivated his class by using Accesso to show an episode of the 'Colbert Report' that related to the day's topic.
"There was lot of class discussion because everyone took interest in the video and enjoyed it more," Kasten said. "It makes things more interesting, but I think it also makes it a lot easier to start discussions. More people are willing to pay attention."
Edited by Jacob Muselmann
POLITICS Blair emerges candidate for EU president position
emerged as a strong candidate for the soon-to-be-created post of European president.
The former British prime minister may be coming back, this time in a presidential role.
Vice President Lenin Moreno says an accord signed with indian leaders will bring down Amazon roadblocks that have been up for a week.
The role — in effect, the president of the European Union — will be appointed by the heads of state of the 27-nation bloc after a new EU reform treaty is signed and ratified.
LONDON — President Tony Blair? Don't laugh, it could happen.
That process received a major boost this weekend with approval from Irish voters.
Two years after leaving Downing Street, Blair has
QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador says it will consider changes to draft mining and water laws that provoked a clash with Indians last week that claimed a protester's life.
But Indian leaders said after six hours of talks Monday that before acting they need to consult with their communities, who account for roughly one in three Ecuadorians.
They also fear the privatization of water, which Correa says won't happen.
INTERNATIONAL Ecuador will consider new draft mining, water laws
The powers of the new position remain unspecified and to a large extent it will be defined by the first person in the role.
A key question is whether that will be a largely unknown bureacur or a luminary like Blair.
The position could be created as early as this month, although EU officials have given no firm date.
Associated Press
Associated Press