This March, the air around the Monmouth College campus will be filled with the sounds of passionate guitar chords, expressive vocals, and the hyp- notizing rhythms of feet in motion as renowned flamenco trio Idilio visit as part of Modern Foreign Languages Week. Formed in 2008 by singer/dancer Chiara Mangiam- eli, guitarist Diego Alonso, and percus- sionist Kassandra Kocoshis, Idilio performs contempo- rary flamenco music composed by its members as well as innovative interpre- tations of traditional flamenco songs. The group recently released its self-titled debut album. During the visit to Monmouth, Ms. Mangiameli will teach a flamenco dance workshop to students interested in learning some of the basics of the Spanish dance form, and music students will also have the opportunity to benefit—in the form of a flamenco guitar workshop led by Mr. Alonso, and rhythm workshop led by Ms. Kocoshis. Professor Mi- chael Harrison’s Contemporary Spanish Culture class will have the rare opportunity of combin- ing classroom experience of learning about the history of flamenco and its significance to Spanish culture with partici- pating in the guitar workshop. The day will culminate in a showcase per- formance for the entire Monmouth community, fea- turing Idilio with guest vocalist David Gonzales, which is certain to inspire. The MFL department is very excited to be sponsoring these events and to help bring a little bit of Spain to our corner of Illinois. Chiara Man- giameli’s dance workshop will take place on Tuesday, March 23, at 3:30 p.m. in the High- lander Room, of Stockdale Center and the performance will be held that evening at 7 p.m. in the Dahl Chapel and Auditorium. EL BAILE El arte en toda tu figura uniendo tanta armonía, embellece el aire que rodea esos movimientos tan bellos que llevas tan adentro, sombreas todo lo que te rodea, con solo mover tu cuerpo, lo que encierra tanta belleza brota sin tu saberlo, con ese gran poderío que vas derramando al compás del taconeo cuando estas bailando, lo hace sentir tanto que el suelo tiembla porque quiere abrazadlos, esa gracia infinita que siempre perdurara cuando nace de verdad, ese arte tan grande Que dios te dad. —José María Ruíz Fuentes Flamenco trio to present concert and workshops The flamenco trio Idilio will present a workshop and concert on March 23. Inside 2009 grad lands ‘dream job’ Senior eyes Peace Corps The study-abroad experience Brady to study in Mexico Tuesday, March 23 – 7 p.m. Idilio Flamenco Concert Dahl Chapel and Auditorium Admission Free Wednesday, March 24 – 7 p.m. Film: “Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown” (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios) by Pedro Alomodóvar (Spain, 1988) Haldeman-Thiessen Room109 Admission Free Thursday, March 25 – 4 p.m. Roundtable Discussion: “Putting Spanish to Use in Monmouth: Community Development & the Spanish Major” Led by Spanish major seniors Claudia Gómez, Emily Caron and Maggie Dort. Wallace Hall Room 114. For more informa�on contact: Heather Brady Ac�ng MFL Department Chair [email protected]309-457-2347 MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES WEEK Photo: John Boehm To apply to Monmouth College or for more information, go to: www.monm.edu/admissions
Transcript
This March, the air around the Monmouth College campus will be fi lled with the sounds of passionate guitar chords, expressive vocals, and the hyp-notizing rhythms of feet in motion as renowned fl amenco trio Idilio visit as part of Modern Foreign Languages Week.
Formed in 2008 by singer/dancer Chiara Mangiam-eli, guitarist Diego Alonso, and percus-sionist Kassandra Kocoshis, Idilio performs contempo-rary fl amenco music composed by its members as well as innovative interpre-tations of traditional fl amenco songs. The group recently released its self-titled debut album.
During the visit to Monmouth, Ms. Mangiameli will teach a fl amenco dance workshop to students interested in learning some of the basics of the Spanish dance form, and music students will also have the opportunity to benefi t—in the form of a fl amenco guitar workshop led by Mr. Alonso, and rhythm workshop led by Ms. Kocoshis. Professor Mi-chael Harrison’s Contemporary Spanish Culture class will have the rare opportunity of combin-
ing classroom experience of learning about the history of fl amenco and its signifi cance to Spanish culture with partici-pating in the guitar workshop.
The day will culminate in a showcase per-formance for the entire Monmouth community, fea-turing Idilio with guest vocalist David Gonzales, which is certain to inspire. The MFL department is very excited to be sponsoring these events and to help bring a little bit of Spain to our corner of Illinois.
Chiara Man-giameli’s dance workshop will take place on Tuesday, March 23, at 3:30 p.m. in the High-lander Room, of Stockdale Center and the performance will be held that evening at 7 p.m. in the Dahl Chapel and Auditorium.
EL BAILEEl arte en toda tu fi gurauniendo tanta armonía,embellece el aire que rodeaesos movimientos tan bellosque llevas tan adentro,sombreas todo lo que te rodea,con solo mover tu cuerpo,lo que encierra tanta bellezabrota sin tu saberlo,con ese gran poderíoque vas derramandoal compás del taconeocuando estas bailando,lo hace sentir tantoque el suelo tiemblaporque quiere abrazadlos,esa gracia infi nitaque siempre perduraracuando nace de verdad,ese arte tan grandeQue dios te dad.
—José María Ruíz Fuentes
Flamenco trio to present concert and workshops
The fl amenco trio Idilio will present a workshop and concert on March 23.
Inside
2009 grad lands ‘dream job’
Senior eyes Peace Corps
The study-abroad experience
Brady to study in Mexico
Tuesday, March 23 – 7 p.m.Idilio Flamenco Concert Dahl Chapel and AuditoriumAdmission Free
Wednesday, March 24 – 7 p.m.Film: “Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown” (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios) by Pedro Alomodóvar (Spain, 1988)Haldeman-Thiessen Room109 Admission Free
Thursday, March 25 – 4 p.m.Roundtable Discussion:“Putting Spanish to Use in Monmouth: Community Development & the Spanish Major”Led by Spanish major seniors Claudia Gómez, Emily Caron and Maggie Dort. Wallace Hall Room 114.
To apply to Monmouth College or for more information, go to: www.monm.edu/admissions
By Barry McNamaraAs a student at Chicago’s Notre Dame
High School for Girls, Claudia Gomez showed promise, winning prestigious awards as a freshman and senior.
Still, she says, she could never have imagined how far she’d come in four years of college and where her education will take her next.
“After graduation, I’m going into the Peace Corps,” said the senior, who is completing her degree in Spanish this semester. “I want to go to a Latino community, someplace with a Hispanic culture. My dad is from Mexico and my mom is from El Salvador, so I’ve been to those countries already. I’d like to go someplace different, hopefully in South America.”
Upon her return following 27 months of service, Gomez plans to pursue a master’s degree, with a goal of working with communities. She also hopes to enter politics, an interest that has been spurred by a pair of senior-year internships at Monmouth’s City Hall.
Gomez said she is particularly interested in working to break down the walls of segregation between Monmouth’s newer Latino demographic and its more established residents. Recent internship experiences, including a citizenship initiative assisting Professor Heather Brady last fall, have helped, she believes.
This spring, Gomez is continuing to bridge cultural gaps with another internship, focusing on the upcoming 2010 census. Her duties have included translating educational pieces and communicating to local Latinos that the census is not a status report, but simply an attempt to get an accurate count of the population.
“I’ve worked on organizing a help site so they can be comfortable doing the census,” she said. “Our job is to help them understand what the census is for.”
She has worked closely with city administrator Eric Hanson ’98 and his assistant, Jan Helms, as well as with Theresa Cabrera, a VISTA volunteer who is in the midst of a one-year commitment to the community.
“One of my first projects was to help with a
survey, and I’ve also translated the ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ part of the city’s Web site,” she said. “I’ve also been going to the Mexican grocery stores and restaurants and getting feedback from them on what to work on next.”
Gomez has also worked with students in the bilingual class at Monmouth-Roseville High School, helping them with their homework, and she visits Willits Elementary School once a month to talk about art.
Of her decision four years ago to attend Monmouth College, Gomez said that she knew a current student who liked it, so she scheduled a visit. She was looking for a small school similar to Notre Dame, and she appreciated the opportunity to continue her soccer career.
Gomez played soccer all four years, serving as captain of the Scots’ junior varsity, and scored a varsity goal against Knox.
Looking back at her college journey, Gomez credits two members of the modern foreign languages faculty for steering her in the right direction.
“When I was getting ready to attend Monmouth, I passed the Spanish test, so I didn’t have to take it as a requirement,” she said. “But Professor (Louise) Medrano encouraged me to take it anyway. She helped me realize how important Spanish really is, not just speaking it, but writing it.”
Gomez has also received assistance from Brady, who helped her find work last summer at a homeless shelter in Chicago.
“That really got me interested in the kind of work I’m doing now for the City of Monmouth,” she said. “I never knew that a relationship with a professor could get me this far. I’ll be the first person from my family to graduate from college. I never dreamed I’d be doing this.”
Recent grad runs one-‘man’ French show at GHS
By Barry McNamaraWhat’s the perfect job for a
college student just completing a double major in French and English who also has teacher certification?
For Maddy Ethington the answer was teaching high school French and English. The Monmouth College grad began her full-time job in January, just one month after completing her degree requirements.
Ethington landed her “dream job” at Galesburg High School thanks to a connection with GHS administrator and MC alumnus Brett Wolfe ’90, who also conducts his alma mater’s Men’s Glee Club. Wolfe asked members of his MC ensemble if they knew of anyone interested in teaching French, and one of Ethington’s friends replied that they not only knew of somebody, but that she had just returned from a semester in France.
Ethington studied abroad in the spring of 2008, attending the University of Rennes, an experience she thoroughly enjoyed.
For several months, GHS had been unable to fill its French posi-tion, using full-time substitute teach-ers to get by. Following an informal interview with Wolfe, Ethington was invited to fulfill her student teaching requirements at the high school, and
MC senior hopes to bridge cultural gaps
“I want to go to a Latino community, someplace with a Hispanic culture. My dad is from Mexico and my mom is from El Salvador…”
–Claudia GomezSpanish Major
French major Maddy Ethington ’10
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At Monmouth College, we encourage all of our students to explore the variety of options available to them
to study abroad. Faculty work with individual students to determine which program works best for their schedule and also to identify the ideal program for their needs, often taking into consideration their second majors and/or minors to maximize their off-campus study experience. As a window into what the study-abroad experience is like, we are pleased to share the following interview with a recent graduate of our Spanish program, Allison Carroll.
Where did you study abroad, and through which program?I studied in Murcia, Spain through the ISEP [International Student Exchange] program.How long were you there?I was there for approximately five and a half months, from late January through the end of June.What was your living situation like? Were there any challenges to overcome in the living situation? Do you have any good memories you can share?I lived in a pre-assigned apartment with other students from the ISEP program. I was originally told that I would be living with students who did not speak English and, furthermore, that there was no way that I would be living with other American students. When I arrived, I was greeted by two other American girls. Originally, it was very disappointing because I knew that we would not be speaking as much Spanish at home but I viewed it as a challenge to overcome rather than a
roadblock and took what opportunities I could to meet people in classes and spend more time with other exchange students who did not speak English. Also, about a month and a half after we arrived, we were joined by a German student who was doing his internship in social work. Overall, I ended up spending the most time with my German roommate even though we spoke a lot of English, too, even if it was just to go out for a late-night cup of cafe con leche.Did you have a favorite class?Socially, my favorite class was definitely
French (Language, Culture, and Literature). The students in that class were the most accepting and approachable, probably because they were English majors, but they actually spoke the least amount of English with me. We could help each other with homework, and they often invited me out to fiestas with them or to a café after class. However, I also talked the dean of the psychology department into letting me complete
an independent study with him in which I assisted him with a research project. I did some research, and I got to see the lab and some of the testing that was in progress. His concentration was in the neurosciences, which appealed to the biopsychology major in me.Did you travel much during your time there?Oh goodness, I traveled everywhere. On my way back to the States, I had trouble fitting all the countries on the form I had to fill out for re-entry. I traveled some with my friends that I made in Spain (Granada, Cartagena, Barcelona, London and Dublin for a Brett Dennen and The Fray concert). My parents came to visit and we went to Paris, and I visited friends who were either also studying abroad in Europe (Rome, Florence, and Venice) or who I met in the States while working as a lifeguard at Cedar Point but who are actually from Europe (Paris, Poland, Turkey and the Czech Republic). I have always had the travel bug, and all that time spent traveling did not help to cure me in the least!
How would you describe your social life in your time abroad?I loved the social life in Spain. I could definitely adapt to their culture. Because the class grades were based on final exam scores rather than homework, we had plenty of time to get out and experience Murcia. Half of the money I spent in Murcia was probably spent at cafés on café con leche or granizados because that’s just what everyone did. Everyone can agree on meeting for a cup of café. The nightlife was quite an experience as well. My apartment was located about two blocks from the main square with a limited number of scary-movie type dark alleys. Therefore, I could meet my classmates, other exchange students, or go out for a night with the roommates and it was no trouble getting around, having fun, and getting home. There were several nights during which we stayed out all night, got out of the clubs at 8 in the morning and I had to run straight to the bus stop. All in all, I’d say I had a pretty awesome social life!As a double major in biopsychology and Spanish, how do you feel that studying language helped to augument your other major?I am studying now for the MCAT and, unless something disastrous happens with that, I will be applying to medical schools for the fall of 2011. Language helps me for several reasons: First, I was able to pick up other (romance) languages very quickly. I can read most anything in French, and I was able to communicate passably in Italian. Secondly, being able to pick up other languages makes me recognize where words come from, the way Latin helps, which helps in biology classes for sure. Finally, it’s impossible to come up with a reason why being bilingual could NOT help someone in the medical field. I am even looking to go to medical schools farther south, just so that I will be exposed to Spanish during the learning process because there are several schools that require students to take courses in medical Spanish as part of the regimen. Besides all this, I just really love Spanish and it helped me to have a double focus to keep my interests alive throughout college.We appreciate Allison’s taking the time to share her experiences with us, and hope her stories might inspire others to explore the many possibilities to study abroad while at Monmouth College.
Studying Abroad Q & A:Allison Carroll ’10 Spanish Major
she spent every day there in the fall of 2009, observing at first, but working her way up to “running the show” for 30 days.
With her student teaching complete, Ethington officially gradu-ated from Monmouth in December, and she started her full-time position as the high school’s lone French teacher – “a one-man show,” she called it – on Jan. 19.
Regarding her chosen career, Ethington said, “I don’t think I’ve ever thought of doing anything else.” Ironically, it was her French teacher at Victor J. Andrew High School in Tinley Park who helped seal the deal, using her unique style – “she was crazy but, like, funny crazy” – to show Ethington how fun teaching could be.
Once on campus, Ethington eased her way into teaching, start-ing her freshman year when she helped first- through fifth-grade students at Cornerstone Christian Academy with their math flash cards.
“When I was looking at colleges, I wanted a school with smaller class sizes, where I wouldn’t fall through the cracks,” said Ethington. “But specifically for education, what I liked about Monmouth was that it got you into the schools right away as a freshman. It wasn’t something you had to wait to do until you were a senior, and then maybe find out you didn’t like it.”
Ethington enjoyed her next experience even more, providing individual instruction to a student at Monmouth’s Lincoln Inter-mediate School who had just moved to town from Burkina Faso, a nation in West Africa.
“This young lady could not speak any English, and I got to sit down with her and work one-on-one,” said Ethington of her sophomore-year experience. “It was a fun experience. It helped that she was a very, very motivated student.”
As a junior, Ethington went to France, and despite two years of French in college to go with her four years of instruction in high school, she said she was “absolutely still learning the language. You know a lot of the language from the textbook, but when you have to describe a haircut or go to the market and ask for an avo-cado, those are things that you really pick up by doing.”
While in France, Ethington said her university assisted with travel, and she was able to see many sites in the country, including “Paris in the springtime,” along with her mother, sister and aunt, who came to visit.
“The history that people walk around in there is amazing,” she said. “In America, if something’s from the 19th century, that’s re-ally old. But the 19th century is young there!”
Speaking French on a daily basis bolstered Ethington’s grasp of the language substantially. Upon her return to the MC classroom, she said, “I was able to access vocabulary very quickly. It was so much easier to get my ideas across.”
Opportunities such as early exposure to school classrooms and off-campus study were not the only advantages Ethington found at Monmouth. She said she also enjoyed her time living in the In-volvement House, and she was certainly qualified to call it home. She participated in Circle K, Blue Key and Alpha Lambda Delta – serving as president of the latter organization – in addition to as-sisting with the stage crew and costumes for theatre performances and winning 24 varsity tennis matches.
“At Monmouth College, I had opportunity after opportunity,” Ethington said. “I was able to engage in so many one-on-one learning opportunities. In one of my French classes, there were only four students. You just can’t find that anywhere else. I still talk to Professor (Heather) Brady regularly, and we’ve developed a personal relationship. She and all the professors really gave me the attention that helped me to be the best student I could be.”
Just days into her “dream job” as a French and English teacher at Galesburg High School, Ethington is quickly realizing that her mission now is to return the favor and help her students find their way.
(continued from left-hand page)
Ethington lands ‘dream job,’ teaching French and English
MFL faculty Heather Brady and Annie Moore hosted a Mardi Gras party of Feb. 19. Students got into the spirit with homemade masks and helped consume delicious refreshments.
Monmouth College will be one of the greatest adventures of your life!
Our language programs will help to enrich you by offering you a passport into an increasingly global world. French and Spanish students become engaged citizens and educated leaders eager to meet the challenges of living in an international community.
Our program offers unique opportunities for students to interact in today’s globalizing world through cutting-edge courses, campus activities, internships, service learning, exciting study abroad sites and career advising. Plan a visit soon to meet MFL faculty and students—why not during Modern Foreign Languages Week? (March 23-26)
Read more about the program at:
http://department.monm.edu/mfl
By Barry McNamaraOn the surface, “stand up and be counted”
seems to be a simple enough rallying cry for the U.S. Census. After all, to quote U.S. secretary of commerce Gary Locke, “If you want your fair share (of federal funding), be counted, because this is money for schools, for human services, for medical services,
as well as for transportation.”
But hun-dreds of people in Monmouth
are part of two pop-ulation groups who
might be expected to complete the census improperly, or not at all. Residential students at Monmouth College need to be educated about where to call home, and the city’s growing Latino population has concerns, too. It is believed that many will not trust census takers, who will be seen as government officials who could notify authorities about residents with improper documentation.
“With regard to the Latino community, many will feel that the census is an invasive effort to figure out which of them should be deported,” said Ken McMillan, professor of political economy and commerce.
“Migrant communities – especially Latino communities – have historically been undercounted,” said Judi Kessler, associ-ate professor of sociology and anthropol-ogy. “This, I suspect, is also the case in Monmouth. Based on information I have, I would guess that our Latino population is twice what was listed on the 2000 census. It’s a continuing problem, both here and nationwide. Recent immigrants don’t want to talk because they don’t want their undocu-mented status discovered and passed along to Homeland Security.”
Kessler praised the efforts of local
Alex McKelvey (left), a freshman in lecturer Annie Moore’s French 210/220 class, celebrates the French holiday of La Chandeleur (Candlemas) on Feb. 2 by flipping a crêpe. Tradition holds that if you hold a coin in your left while successfully flipping the crêpe, you will have good fortune throughout the next year. On deck is sophomore Phillip Scott.
Flipping over French
Monmouth College hosted a regional forum on bilingual education in its Stock-dale Center in late November.
Titled “Here + There = Now: Multicul-tural Education in West Central Illinois,” the forum presented an opportunity for elementary and secondary teachers from the region to share perspectives on bilin-gual education. Teachers from a variety of backgrounds were present, including two MC faculty members – associate profes-sor of modern foreign languages Heather Brady and associate professor of sociol-ogy and anthropology Judi Kessler. Brady introduced the forum, while Kessler spoke on demographic issues and the historical context of migration to Monmouth.
MC students participating in the forum were: Claudia Gomez of Chicago, Lauren Nelson of Mundelein, Kayla Bonjean of Quincy, Jen Koerner of Galesburg, Jenna Thompson of Monmouth, Amanda Cozzi of Roselle, Morgan Koss of Manalpan, N.J., and Karen Skadow of Loves Park. Several of the students spoke about com-
munity engagement projects in which they are involved at Willits Elementary School and Monmouth-Roseville High School. Gomez joined VISTA volunteer Teresa Cabrera in describing their organizational experiences in the community.
“The students involved are all in my Citizenship class and conducted this forum as part of their community service or ser-vice-learning,” explained Brady.
Also included were discussions about bilingual education strategies and engag-ing family participation, as well as a brain-storming session on best future practices. The latter session examined how schools can keep young people in the community and future projects that might better con-nect the high school and the college.
Other forum participants included local teachers Hayley Townsend, Todd Franks and Ana (Fisher) Franks, who are all graduates of Monmouth College. Gloria Delaney-Barmann of Western Illinois.University served as the moderator.
MC hosts regional bilingual forum
VISTA volunteer Theresa Cabrera, who is a conducting a complete count campaign in the Monmouth community. But she said that more could be done, especially at the organizational level.
Sandi Beveridge, a Peoria-based partner-ship specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau, praised Monmouth’s efforts to provide “trust-ed agents” to help with the census count and provide the education and motivation to local residents to participate.
“They can communicate the message bet-ter than I can and more credibly,” she said.
The City of Monmouth’s executive
administrative assistant, Jan Helms, works closely with Beveridge and Cabrera, and also with two MC interns, seniors Emily Caron of Romeoville and Claudia Gomez of Chicago. Helms, the liaison between the Census Bu-reau and the city’s Complete Count Commit-tee, said the census process “is really gearing up,” causing her to spend a quarter to half of her time at City Hall doing census-related work.
“It’s terrific that we have them,” said Helms of the college interns. “It’s going to be a big help as we try to get as accurate a count as we possibly can.”
Monmouth College assists with critical Census work
Brady to study in Mexico as Fulbright-Hays scholar
Monmouth College welcomed bestselling author Adam Gopnik to campus last fall as a principal speaker for the Darwinpalooza lecture series.
While on campus, he visted two classes to discuss his books and experiences. MFL faculty members An-nie Moore and Heather Brady previously asked their students to read the first chapter of his book of essays, Paris to the Moon, in French. The essays describe the author’s life in Paris, and the cultural differences experienced by a North American transplant living in France.
Gopnik, who also writes regularly for The New Yorker magazine, discussed the book and his experi-ences with the class.
Author Adam Gopnikvisits MC French class
Author Gopnik met with students in Annie Moore and Heather Brady’s classes last fall.
Heather Brady
Monmouth College’s Heath-er Brady, associate professor of modern foreign languages, has been accepted into the Ful-bright-Hays Summer Seminar Program in Mexico.
Brady will participate this summer in “A Comparative Study of Mexican Cultures: Ancient, Colonial and Contem-porary,” a five-week program that will focus on five cultures related to Mexico – Olmec, Teotihuacan, Maya, Toltec and Aztec. Visits will be made to cities representative of ancient culture and modern devel-opment, including Oaxaca, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey and Merida. The project is designed to provide higher education faculty and high school teachers with rich content as they develop
curricula in Mexi-can studies.
Primarily based in Mexico City, the seminar will also include a series of lectures at Tecno-logico de Monterrey on NAFTA, U.S.-Mexican relations and the Mexican economy.
“The United States is connected culturally, socially, and economi-cally to Mexico,” explained project
director Gemma Beckley of Rust College. “Educational institutions and social welfare agencies have to be prepared to meet the needs of an increasing bilingual popula-
tion with a better understanding of cultural sensibilities.”
“I’m looking forward to bringing back my new knowledge about Mexico to Monmouth so that I can better understand the forces of globalization and migration at work in our community,” said Brady, who joined MC’s faculty in 2003 and began a tenure-track position two years later. She received her master’s and Ph.D. in compar-ative literature from the University of Texas after earning a bachelor’s degree in French at Kalamazoo College.
Separate from, yet as competitive as the Fulbright Scholars program, Fulbright-Hays programs receive their funding from the U.S. Department of Education. The Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program is open to educators and administrators responsible for curriculum development in fields related to humanities, languages and area studies
