Gregory Strong and I would like to welcome you to the IE Program Web site and wish you all the best for this academic year, which brings many changes and challenges. Numerous improvements have been made to the IE Core and Writing guides, and we’ll be introducing a new, improved IE Listening course that we call “IE Active Listening,” which will be far more interactive than the previous course and include an important self-access component. The computer network throughout the university has been updated to Windows Vista and a new CALL (computer-assisted language learning) Calabo system has been installed, with some excellent new features
We would like to encourage Core teachers to tie in to their course a field trip to a TIP (Tokyo International Players) production of “Oliver!,” a highly accessible musical version of Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist. There will be six performances from May 14th until the 17th. That will make it possible for students to choose Oliver Twist as the subject of their first book report. Graded reader versions of the novel are available and the entire novel can be accessed through Project Gutenberg. Tie-ins can be made with IE themes at all three levels: IE 1 (Memories and Childhood, Urban Life, Food [Glorious Food!]; IE II (The Workplace, Biography); and IE III (Relationships and, possibly, Cross-Cultural Values).
As in the past, our department is offering, in cooperation with Hertford College, Oxford University, a three-week study tour to beautiful, historic Oxford, England. Explanation sessions about the program will be given at both campuses later this month. Students who are interested in participating in the program can view podcasts featuring interviews with teachers and students involved in the program in past years.
Both students and faculty should feel free to contact Professor Strong or myself should they have any concerns, questions, or problems regarding IE courses and IE seminars. As the last of the cherry blossoms fall from the trees and blow in the warm spring breeze, let’s start the semester with renewed energy, spirit, and hope that every day will bring something wonderful and joyfully unexpected.
Joseph Dias (with Gregory Strong) — IE Program Coordinators
