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Joanna Bell
Read details on the plans for the Boston Latin Academy Language Lab from Marie Carvalho, the World Languages Program Director at the school. Thanks to Bette B for contacting the school to get these wonderful details;
"The World Languages department at BLA is seeking to install a new multi-media, digital language lab. The specific lab we would like to purchase is a Sony Virtuoso Apprentice with Brevi System, a significant upgrade from our nineteen-year-old Sony lab. The new software requires the lab space to receive electrical rewiring, HVAC upgrades, and computer stations for both students and instructors. The total cost for this capital improvement and technology upgrade is $90,000. Of this, our faculty, alumni and students have successfully raised $30,000 from a combination of small grants, alumni contributions and fundraising endeavors.
The new Sony Virtuoso Apprentice with Brevi system language lab will transform the language learning process at our school, providing a veritable communication center for students. The components include a teacher center, with a double monitor, student computers, headphones, and scanners. It will be completely digitized, and will allow students to communicate with one another, with the teacher, and most remarkably, with native speakers of the target languages. Students will have the capacity to create digital files to track their learnign from the beginning phases of a second language on through their last year of language study. Students will benefit from the differentiated instruction methods that the lab will offer as well as from hearing their own progress via the digital file.
The new system also enables the teacher to load videos or music by means of the Internet, and create podcasts that can be downloaed by students and used at home. Teachers are also able to control each student's computer so that he or she is only interacting with the desired material. Teachers can pair, monitor, and conference with students, or use Internet programs to "invite" native speakers into the classroom via video-conferencing. In essence, the proposed system will undoubtedly empower teachers to creatively and effectively present authentic materials to students and allow them to use real communication in the target language, as opposed to simply just having students work through textbook-based activities. As an additional benefit, the software and eqipment used in the proposed lab will provide teachers the opportunity to help students gain proficiency in using the Internet and computers to enhance learning, a crucial skill for students as they go to college and have to use a variety of resources for independent research. The benefits of an improved World Languages Lab extend far beyond the immediate classroom experience."
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