Dominique Butler-Borruat
Mabel Rodriguez
Monday, April 24, 2023
4:30 pm Eastern; 3:30 pm Central
Session Title: Language Beyond the Classroom : Engaging with Communities of Migrant Workers and Asylum Seekers
Description:
In this talk, Maria Rodriguez and Dominique Butler-Borruat will present their community-based learning (CBL) courses in which the experiential component engages with communities of migrant workers and asylum seekers. The discussion will center around the best practices for instructors to consider in order to develop a successful CBL course. Challenges and rewards inherent to teaching that type of courses will also be highlighted.
About the Discussants:
Dominique Butler-Borruat teaches in the University of Michigan Residential College where she is the Head of the French program. Her language courses are enhanced by the use of technology: for example, she implemented the flipped class pedagogy early on, and is using a conversation partner platform for her students to communicate with French speakers from around the world. Her seminar courses draw upon various fields such as philosophy (Existentialism: The Human Condition and The Absurd), women studies (Are We There Yet? The Status of Women in Francophonie), as well as sociology and anthropology (“Au coeur de l’amitié”: A Multidisciplinary Study of the Concept of Friendship). She has also developed experiential learning opportunities in order for her advanced students to apply their language skills: her service-learning course collaborates with Freedom House Detroit, a non-profit organization offering shelter and services, including legal assistance, to victims of persecution seeking asylum in the United States.
Mabel Rodriguez has been the Coordinator for Intermediate Intensive Spanish sequence at the Residential College since 1996. Her teaching focuses on designing individualized learning paths to maximize her students’ success, incorporating technology and multiple pedagogical frameworks in this effort. Currently, her courses adhere to gamified pedagogy. Her seminars reflect an array of personal interests, ranging from Tango to The Oral vs. The Spoken Word to Freire to Bilingual Education, but at the base of all her courses one will find collaborative learning, student empowerment, and creative expression. Until recently, she also co-taught the course Principles and Practices of Teaching ESL in Migrant Communities, which had a corresponding service-learning component in which students taught ESL to adults and language arts to children as well as provided translation services for medical clinics at nearby migrant camps during the summer.