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Virtual Language Studies
The Virtual Studies Program is a pilot program within World Languages and Cultures. Funded by a grant from the United States government, this pilot program will allow World Languages and Cultures to continue its history of innovation in language learning. Dr. Marc Cadd, Interim Director of the Language Acquisition Program, states “The grant allows the Language Acquisition Program to experiment boldly with new approaches to language learning.”
Dr. Jan Marston, Director of Development for World Languages and Cultures will be the principal investigator 
and director of the Virtual Language Studies.
All Chinese and Russian courses currently offered at Drake will become virtual, that is, the classes themselves will be via desktop video conferencing rather than face to face. The focus of World Languages and Cultures will remain the same in the Virtual Studies Program: that is, giving students practical communicative skills for using the language in their future. Students practice speaking skills with native speakers of the language as well as with the faculty member.
An additional, vital facet to the project is that Drake will be working with other small to medium sized private colleges and universities. “If students want to study Russian or Chinese at these types of schools, there has not been much 
opportunity to do so”, says Dr. Marston, “by taking these studies online, in a Virtual Studies Program, we give more schools an opportunity to offer Less Commonly Taught Languages”. These students will meet “together” for class from their schools in the virtual world where they will speak in the target language during class.
World Languages and Cultures is very excited about the opportunity to work with partner schools. We will give more students an occasion to study Russian and Chinese and further their abilities to use these languages in their careers.
Find out more about the staff of the Virtual Language Studies Program here.
So, why should you study Chinese or Russian through the Virtual Language Studies Project?
Chinese and Russian through the Virtual Language Studies program will be an innovative class unlike other language classes you have ever taken 
before. This program will focus on developing your communication skills so that you can hold conversations with native speakers of the language. We do this by having class sessions three times per week with native speakers, the true innovation is that this will all be done via computing technology including the use of a webcam and microphone. The native speaker you will be working with might be hundreds of miles away from you, but because of this technology, she or he might as well be sitting across the table. In your class sessions with the native speaker, you will work from your syllabus to develop certain vocabulary and grammar, but only through conversation; never will you have repetitive verb charts of some language courses, you will be actively engaged in learning language the same way you did when you were learning English, by listening and mimicking native speakers! Because you will be working so closely with native speakers of the language (remember, 3 times a week in classes of only 4 students) you also have a great opportunity to learn a lot about the cultures as well.
You also have a class meeting with the professor to go over the details of the course, any questions of the language (grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, etc.), upcoming assignments, projects, etc. This professor has an advanced degree in Second Language Acquisition or the language being taught.
If you are interested in learning Chinese or Russian in an engaging and exciting way, please let us know as soon as possible to be registered for the classes! Contact us at jan.marston@drake.edu
