Mira Costa Foreign Language teachers attend workshop to learn how to use the new Language Lab

By Naomi Tsuang

Staff Writer

Mira Costa Foreign Language teachers attended a workshop on Jan. 28 in order to learn how to utilize the Language Lab that was finished this January.

The Language Lab is a place for Foreign Language teachers to bring their second year and higher classes to practice speaking Spanish, French and Mandarin. The Language Lab has the ability to record students’ responses so that teachers can listen to them at any time.

“I think that [the lab] will be a great resource for teachers,” Foreign Language Department co-chair Felise Shapiro said. “I think that it will definitely give us a leg up in terms of practicing speaking.”

The Language Lab also has a telephone function that pairs up students so that they can speak to each other and work on activities together. Students can record their work and submit them to a database where teachers can then go and listen to each individual recording.

“For the higher levels, it allows us to have them practice with each other and I can make sure that everyone is on task,” Shapiro said. “I can put on my headphones and I can break in at any point and communicate with [my students] if anything is going wrong or if they need extra help.”

According to Shapiro, the Language Lab will be mostly used by the Advanced Placement classes in the next few months to prepare students for the oral portion of the final exam which will take place in the lab.

“I want the AP teachers to be able to use [the lab] every week because right now I think that it is more important that the AP students get the usage,” Shapiro said. “Our main goal is to have the AP students get in there for practice and to have a system in place where they can be successful on the AP exam.”

Costa has not been able to utilize a Language Lab for the past two and a half years. The last one was used beginning in the 2005 school year until teachers moved into the renovated Foreign Language Department buildings.

“We have been trying for two years to get the Language Lab back up and running again,” Shapiro said. “My co-chair of the department, Ms. Resnikoff, and I have had countless meetings over the years trying to get this Language Lab into place and trying to get it to work again.”

Spanish teacher Nancy Geczi was the first teacher to take her class on Feb. 3 to use the lab. According to Geczi, it was a positive learning tool for her students despite minor technical difficulties.
“It’s a wonderful tool and experience that you just can’t get in a regular classroom,” Geczi said. “It’s very important in the higher levels, especially the AP level, to have that type of facility for the students to record and to hear themselves without distraction.”