AUTUMN 2007 BULLETIN

The 2007 Distinguished Faculty Lecture Richard Salomon, Univ. of Washington Why ABC? Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 7:30pm-9:30pm Walker-Ames Room, Kane Hall, University of Washington campus Prof. Salomon’s investigations into the origins of the “Arapacana alphabet” of ancient Gandhara and Central Asia have led him to investigate broader issues concerning the logic underlying the various alphabetic ordering systems of Asia, the Near East, and the European world. In this lecture, he will introduce his findings about the principles underlying alphabetic order in different languages and scripts, and will address, in the context of these general principles, the mystery of the order of the familiar “Latin” alphabet.

Autumn 2007 New & Special Courses ASIAN 207- Survey of Korean Literature in Translation - Susie Kim This course is an introductory survey of modern Korean literature through key works of fiction from the early twentieth century to the postwar era. ASIAN 498 - Indian Devotional Literature in English Translation - Heidi Pauwels The topic of this course is the devotional literature of “medieval” India (South Asia), covering the period from the middle of the second millennium CE through today, focusing on the so-called bhakti literature. ASIAN 510/518 - Teaching Asian Languages - Amy Snyder Ohta This course provides an overview of foreign language teaching methods with application to Asian languages. The course is taught in a workshop style, with readings, discussion, short lectures, and hands-on practicum on topics related to teaching methodology such as lesson planning, teaching grammar, task-based instruction, teaching reading and writing, testing, materials development, etc. CHINESE 580 - Readings in Vernacular Fiction: The Ming Vernacular Tale - Chris Hamm This introduction to the Chinese vernacular tale (huaben 話本) combines close reading of texts from various collections with a survey of the relevant scholarship in Western and Asian languages. more New and Special Courses...

Bangla (Bengali) Instructional Materials Grant to Carol Salomon Asian L&L Sr. Lecturer Carol Salomon recently was awarded a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education to complete work on a new generation of instructional materials for elementary Bangla (Bengali). Previously, Dr. Salomon received seed funding for this project from the South Asia Language Resource Center at the University of Chicago.  Working with Dr. Salomon on this project are Klaus Brandl, an expert in language pedagogy and technology, Nandini Abedin and Mandira Bhaduri.  These new materials, which will be the first for Bangla to be published in the U.S. since the 1960s, are not only designed to develop students’ linguistic proficiency in Bangla, but also to develop their understanding of Bangla culture. This course will include authentic materials such as audios of actual conversations and videos shot on location in both West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh.  The instructional materials developed as part of this project are currently being field tested in Bangla language courses taught by Dr. Salomon in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature.

Asian L&LWelcomes Two Visiting Faculty Members for 2007-08 This coming academic year the Department of Asian Languages and Literature is fortunate to have on its faculty two visitors. Dr. Susie Kim will be serving as Visiting Lecturer in the Department’s Korean program, teaching courses in advanced Korean language and on Korean literature and film. Dr. Kim was educated at U.C. Berkeley, Seoul National University, and U.C.L.A., from which she received her Ph.D. in comparative literature in 2002. She has previously taught at Yale University and Duke University. Ms. Diep Ngoc Le will be serving as Visiting Lecturer in Vietnamese, helping to fill the void left by the retirement of Dr. Kim Nguyen. Ms. Le was educated at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City and has been teaching Vietnamese as a foreign language in the Vietnamese Language Study school in HCMC.

Asian L&L Announces Two New Funds The Department of Asian Languages and Literature is pleased to announce the establishment of two new funds for the support of graduate students: Chinese Graduate Support Endowment General support for graduate students studying Chinese language, linguistics and/or literature. Alan W. Entwistle Endowment General graduate support for the study of South Asian Languages and Literature. Created in memory of Professor Alan W. Entwistle, noted scholar of Hindi and related languages, who taught in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature from 1986 until his death in 1996. For more information about these and other giving opportunities, please see our Department Support page: http://depts.washington.edu/asianll/about/support.html

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