1. Using Rise in Lieu of a Textbook
Christina Agostinelli-Fucile, PhD
World Languges Center, CSSH

2. What is Rise?
Easy to use online platform where you can create your own content or embed materials from other online sources. Rise does all the formatting work for you.

3. Background on Language Teaching
Teach intermediate, advanced and upper-level special topics courses in Spanish
Many (many!) beginner & intermediate textbooks available
Far fewer advanced-level texts available
Not all books are appropriate for our student population at Northeastern
Many do not align with our teaching philosophy nor our curriculum
Teach language through culture  use authentic materials throughout, embed language (vocabulary and grammar) into cultural exploration

4. Traditional Beginner Spanish Textbook

5. SPNS 3800: Exploring Spoken Spanish
This course is designed to help students improve their pronunciation and listening comprehension, increase their awareness of the variation that exists in Spanish, as well as to build their confidence to interact with native speakers throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Students will learn about the sounds of the Spanish language, how they are pronounced and how pronunciation varies throughout the Spanish- speaking world. They will apply this knowledge to real examples of Spanish spoken throughout the Spanish-speaking world allowing them to identify the differences studied in class, as well as to gain valuable listening comprehension practice. Students will also explore other types of variation in spoken language, such as the wide variety of vocabulary that exists for food, clothing, etc., the use of the subject pronoun vos (common in Central and South America), and the influence of other languages (indigenous languages and English) on Spanish.

6. Why I Chose Rise for Exploring Spoken Spanish
Originally online, currently hybrid – digital materials are preferable
Traditional phonetics, phonology and sociolinguistics books require the use of imagination for how the language sounds
Visually appealing
EASY to use
Interactive components – more engaging for students as they work through materials on their own
Ability to embed authentic materials, in this case videos of real spoken Spanish, in addition to maps, pictures, tables, links to articles online, embedded documents, etc.

7. How I Structured My Lessons
Learning objectives
Explanation with embedded videos, tables, links to readings on other websites or embedded as files, interactive components, sample analyses, etc.
Embedded comprehension checks
Quizzes with immediate feedback
Face-to-face review and application activities once per week corresponding with each lesson

8. Examples in Rise

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15. Student Reactions
Students have had no complaints about the use of Rise (in SPNS 3800 or in other courses that have used it).
They much prefer having their materials housed in Rise than in Blackboard
easier to use
better organized
looks better!
like the use of authentic materials