Stories
In
their Translation Practicum course (both Lithuanian-English and
English-Lithuanian), students have an excellent opportunity of going
into the community and finding an internship or even a paid part-time
job to do translation and interpretation work from and into their
native languages. After one or two semesters of intense in-class theory
and practice in translation and interpretation, Russian and Lithuanian
students find themselves in real-life situations where they have to
adjust to the requirements as well as deal with the deadlines of a
private client, a particular translation bureau, or an organization
they are working for. They have to use their skills and knowledge of
what a translation or interpretation job entails, learn how to find
credible sources, glossaries and dictionaries for their background,
build an accurate translation/interpretation, and learn how to remain
faithful to the ethics of the profession.Students have done their translation/interpretation practicums for organizations and companies, such as Christian Camps International (CCI), Ukraine & Russia; Sunny Travel, Minsk, Belarus; Multilingual Translation Agency, Klaipeda, Lithuania; and Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. Decomissioning Service Projects, Visaginas, Lithuania. Presently, one of the students enrolled in the practicum class is translating a medical handbook from Russian into English, which will be published in Belarus under her name. Very often, upon the completion of the practicum, the students are hired to do part-time or full-time work at the same organization, which speaks highly of students' preparation, the seriousness with which they treat their tasks, and the effort they put into producing quality translations and interpretations.
Subjectively
speaking, the first thought that occurs related to freshman diversity
at LCC International University pertains to three first-semester
students from Uzbekistan. The predominant religion of their country is
Muslim, and that presented a challenge when our class read a letter
(“Chronicle of a Death Foretold”) written by Hesu Yones, a
sixteen-year-old Iraqi Kurd who was planning to run away from her
family home in London. Her boyfriend was a Lebanese Christian. On
October 12, 2002 Yones’s father repeatedly stabbed her, slitting her
throat because he believed that she was dating a non-Muslim and had
become too “Westernized.” This was termed an “Honor Killing” and was
what was required of the father according to his beliefs. The
Uzbekistan students reacted positively to this assignment and
discussion because they are educationally “diverse.” They contributed a
great deal to the discussion.At LCC International University we have a diverse selection of nationalities, and cultures. Therefore, when assignments, such as a “Favorite Place Descriptive Essay,” are read, students share a wide spectrum of cultures, interests and beliefs with one another. They are amazingly sensitive to the rights of each other, and they are becoming increasingly effective in both written and oral communication. Instructing these students from diverse backgrounds is a mega learning experience, unique in university professors.
During
the fall semester of 2007, LCC International University launched its
first organized public film series: "Cinema Across Borders: Seven
Variations on the Theme of International Identity." The films
were drawn from different time periods, styles, and cultures, and
discussions were held following each screening. Though the
leitmotif of the series was the question of international identity (and
perhaps whether such a concept even exists), discussions ranged in
topic from cultural memory and trauma to poverty and economic theories
of global capital to aesthetic concerns such as the voice and
representation.The film series was open to all, though the series also linked up with an upper-level English course titled "Narrative Intersections: Film and Literature." The students in this class added even greater variety and flavor to discussions, as their more studied insights pushed viewers to improve their visual literacy skills.
This is the announcement that we published as we began the preparations for our first Academic Conference:Culture and Dialogue: An International Conference on Interdisciplinary Research and the Future of Higher Education conference will be held at LCC International University on April 11-12, 2008.
Organized to coincide with the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008, this conference will bring together scholars from Lithuania, the United States and Europe to present research, debate issues, share ideas, generate new questions, and rigorously reflect on the interrelations of culture and dialogue as reflected across academic disciplines.
To both produce and critically reflect upon interdisciplinary research is a task that demands an eye to the future of education and the possibility of reorganizing traditional disciplinary boundaries. Still further, such work must not merely concoct new combinations from tired standards, but it must imagine entirely new possibilities. For example, if the EU is a unique geopolitical innovation established upon the basis of respect for cultural diversity, then the EU must become more than a mere business market. By exploring its own culture(s), cultural dialogues, and dialogues about the very nature of culture, the EU must reflect on its own status and identification as a community of values. In microcosm, every academic community around the world faces this same task of hosting intercultural dialogue. In the spirit of this intellectual self-reflection, we invite papers from across the disciplines and across all national borders, within and beyond the EU.
Teaching
in the English Department at LCC has always been an exciting and
rewarding opportunity. Every year it seemed impossible to me that we
could continue to have dedicated and knowledgeable faculty who were
committed to the growth of students. Yet, every year the department
continued to be a real community, committed to each other, to LCC, to
the development of the English major and to the students.Over the years the program developed from a North American structure, adapted little to the context here, to one recognizing the strengths, needs and interests of the special student body we have. The concentrations of translation, education and literature were designed to give students a focus for further study or a career. The comprehensive examination was replaced by a capstone course and project and the department requirements have changed.
What has remained the same is the commitment to constant review and refinement of the curriculum. What has continued has been the engagement of students in the classroom with dedicated and caring teachers. What has remained unchanged is the sense of mission—the expression of love, peace and joy that have permeated the learning and created an enduring community.
For
non-native English speakers, one of the major challenges of
university-level study is acquiring academic writing skills. LCC
International University has been working to find ways to encourage
students’ writing skills in a variety of ways, including the
development of an Academic Resource Center and peer writing tutor
program. Beginning officially in the spring of 2007, the ARC is now
overseen by an instructor in the English department and is staffed
largely by native English speaker students who spend a semester
studying abroad at LCC, though qualified students in the English major
also help tutor. The ARC is modeled on North American-style writing
centers, but is constantly adapting to the needs of LCC’s students in
this unique multi-lingual context.The development of the ARC and the writing tutor program is part of a larger effort at LCC International University to evaluate its writing instruction across-the-curriculum, at all levels of coursework, not simply in the first year. This series of Writing Initiatives has resulted in a faculty round-table discussion of WAC practices, we have invited a noted North American WAC practitioner, Martha Townsend, to visit and conduct workshops in April 2008, and we are in the process of investigating models of writing instruction that will better meet the needs of upper-level students in their various disciplines. Writing instruction at LCC is an exciting area of research and development, and will continue to present challenges as we seek to negotiate the needs of our students in relation to current research in the composition field.
When
I talk to other professors in the States about my choice to teach at
LCC International University, I often get the question, “Why
Lithuania?” (or sometimes “Where’s Lithuania?”) and I’ve noticed myself
sharing a variety of reasons for my choice to teach in the Baltics—the
opportunities for research, the interaction with international
colleagues, the dream come true of living in Eastern Europe for a time.
All these reasons are part of why I’m here this semester, but the best
reason is, the students.When I go into the classroom, I teach bright, curious and challenging students from Albania, Uzbekistan, Latvia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and Lithuania. They are aware and engaged. Their questions and critiques of global issues have pushed me to consider why I hold certain views on democracy and human rights. I teach a course in the core curriculum, Rhetoric and Communication, which focuses on literacy and writing skills. Basically we develop skills to be able to read the many “texts” in the world and respond to them thoughtfully and skillfully. That is the heart of education for me! I believe in the course and it’s an honor to teach students who value education for the sake of transforming their own lives and the future directions of their nations.
I’ve sometimes thought that believing in education as a sort of savior is too idealistic; the dream may be a let down. But among my students at LCC, I sense that believing in the power of education is a valid hope. To say why might push me into too many generalizations about democracy and individualism, but I can say that many of my students are eager to learn all they can. Some among them are resistant to the challenges to engage, care, and act on their learning, but as an educator, I find the need to increase self-awareness in young people a cross-cultural issue. Education gives many students I work with the hope that they can become increasingly literate and capable in a globalized world, and for this reason, I find myself enthusiastic to interact with the international student body at LCC.
LCC
International University is uniquely positioned to train young people
to be educators as English language teachers in public schools and
their own communities. English majors may chose to focus their studies
on teaching English as an international language. As part of this
concentration, students take an EFL methods class and two semesters of
a practicum. In the practicum course pre-service teachers (LCC
students) serve as observers, teacher-assistants, and teachers of
English in local Klaipėda schools. Students are challenged to link
theoretical knowledge with current practices of teaching English as a
foreign language (EFL).This semester Ana Korzun observes and teaches in Gabijos elementary school. Ana attended this school when she was young so she was excited to return and positively impact other school children. Lyuba Matyukhina and Jurate Ragaišytė are team teaching a class for unemployed adults at the Youth Job Center in central Klaipėda. There are 16 women who attend the class twice each week for 2 hours. These ladies are likely to be successful as they apply for jobs if they know English. Other students have taught at local secondary schools, middle schools, and trade schools.
This
is a very exciting time in our department. Last year we completed a
year-long self-study starting us down the road to full accreditation
for our BA in English. The program is already recognized in Lithuania
by the Ministry of Education. This spring we hosted an international
team of professors from Germany, Croatia, Sweden and Lithuania. The
most rewarding part of this process so far has been the discovery that
our alumni and their employers are very pleased with their preparation
for their occupations after graduation. Graduate students and
post-graduate students from LCC International University have let us
know that they are also well prepared for their future studies in a
number of related and unrelated fields. There is no better reward than
to know that our students have been prepared for success beyond our
classrooms.The English department has always been and continues to be a department of great collegiality among the faculty. For that reason, we have been able to number several important accomplishments besides regular classroom teaching. Among these is a re-ordering of the literature classes and the creation of two others in our efforts to continue to be sensitive to the needs of a wide community of students and the needs of the global context our students experience presently and beyond graduation. Thus, our focus will be on more classes in world literature. The self-study allowed us to look at our program in great detail. The results of that careful work are being felt in our library acquisitions, a renewed emphasis on detailed course descriptions, an increased awareness of the stated mission of the school and the eight Core Competencies important for graduates and an increasing focus on the outcomes of our departmental goals and objectives for our students.
Our TEIL program continues to graduate teachers who seek jobs around the world and the faculty in that program, linguistics, and the Academic Vice-President, Marlene Wall are in the final stages of the approval process for the MA TESOL degree to be offered online. The Translation and Interpretation concentration continues to attract increasing numbers as the demands of the EU require well-trained graduates in that profession.
I see our department as a critical axis of any student’s education at the university, even those for whom English is not their major. We are most responsible for making certain that young people will have the skills they need to express their ideas thoughtfully and clearly, backing them with solid information to give them credible voices in the worlds of business and academia.
