Going Back to School

The other day I finished my application to go back to school this summer, it feels so weird.

I will be taking some linguistics classes through SIL(Summer Institution of Linguistics).  SIL is a sister organization of Wycliffe.  Wycliffe does the sending of missionaries, SIL does the training in particular when it come to actually doing Bible Translation. 

SIL has partnerships set up with different colleges around the country.  I will be taking my classes at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, ND. There the classes are given during the summer and not during a regular semester like most of the other colleges.  You can check out out their website here.

Here are the classes that I will be taking and what I will be learning about in each:

Ling 450: Articulatory Phonetics [Phonetics]
When learning or working with another language, you have to pay close attention to how the words are pronounced. This course introduces you to the sounds used in spoken languages, and trains you in recognizing, producing, transcribing and classifying them. You’ll get intensive practice in using the full International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) for the whole range of sounds used in human speech. Official course description: Introduction to the theory and practice of articulatory phonetics.

Ling 452: Syntax and Morphology I [Grammar I]
Syntax and Morphology presents in-depth introduction to the structures used for building words (morphology) and sentences (syntax) in the world’s languages, and intensive practice in recognizing and analyzing them. The course draws from insights in many different theoretical approaches (transformational-generative grammar, unification grammars, amorphous morphology, and typological-functional and communicative approaches).  Official course description: Fundamentals of analyzing the grammatical and morphological structures of languages; analytical skills developed through graded problems based on a wide variety of languages.

Ling 470: Introduction to Sociolinguistics [Language and Society]
Sociolinguistics looks at the big picture of how language is used in in society—topics like bilingualism, dialect variation, language attitudes, and endangered languages.  Official course description: Introduction to language as a social phenomenon dependent on age, gender, social class, status, setting, and topic, with special attention to multilingual societies.

Ling 480: Learner-Directed Second Language Acquisition [Language and Culture Acquisition]
Language acquisition—learning a language so you can interact easily with people in their own language—is crucial for many different types of people who work cross-culturally. Besides linguists, it is important for community development workers, educators, missionaries, business people—practically anyone who interacts outside their own language group. Learning how to learn a language is vital, as some methods work much better than others.  Official course description: Equips the student for success in learner-directed acquisition of language/culture without dependence on formal classroom instruction, especially in little-studied languages with few or no published pedagogical resources. The core of the course is an intensive language practicum (40-45 hours), working with a native speaker of a language that is very different from languages the student already knows, in sessions led first by a teaching assistant and later by students. Separate lecture-discussion sessions present the theoretical foundation for the practicum. An understanding of second language acquisition is instilled that combines Sociocultural Theory with the psycholinguistic study of comprehension and production along with a detailed multi-phase strategy for long-term language/culture learning.

Although I am very excited about this summer I am also very nervous.  The things I will be studying are all very foreign to me so I hope that I can catch on quickly.  It will also be a little weird living on a college campus again.

I have a lot of preparing to do before June, physically(packing), mentally, financially, and spiritually.  Prayer would be much appreciated!