Strategies 98

All students new to language studies in DULAP enroll in our Language Learning Strategies class, no matter what their previous experience with language studies. DULAP aims to develop competent independent lifelong language learners, and the Language Learning Strategies class is designed to help students view language learning as an incremental process of skill building, knowledge building, and community building. All students in their first semester as DULAP language learners attend one hour-long class a week. Assignments outside class are experiential practice with the language learning strategies discussed during class, and students choose from a number of strategies to practice specific language skills each week, applying those skills to the language they are studying. After they've practiced the skills-building strategies in their language studies for a week, they return to class ready to evaluate how effective their learning practice was, and ultimately to become more reflective and intentional about language studies. In addition, students learn how to use the tools that allow them to build an ePortfolio. The course blog for Language Learning Strategies is a resource for all students of language. You can see it here.( link to strategies blog)

In addition, DULAP language students are expected to pursue every opportunity to explore the language of study, meet people who speak that language, and go out of their way to learn about the culture of the language they are studying. This would include any cultural events in the Des Moines area, the weekly language tables, the Drake International Film Festival, and other international events. It is assumed that students in DULAP want to achieve functional proficiency in the language they are studying and will go beyond the work they are required to do.