Gilberto Diaz, dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages at the University of Havana, Cuba, will deliver a public lecture at York University today to mark the signing of an exchange agreement between York University and the University of Havana.
Language teachers interested in contemporary issues, such as the Natural Approach, learning strategies or situated cognition, will be familiar with the works of S. Krashen & T. Terrell, R. Oxford, and J. Lave & E. Wenger. Interestingly, these topics have also appeared over the years in non-academic works, including Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Michael Crichton's Rising Sun and Steven Spielberg's Amistad.
Diaz's lecture, sponsored by York's Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics, will focus on how fiction writers and film directors, such as Shelley, Crichton and Spielberg, have dealt with the issue of contextualized learning when telling their stories of intercultural encounters, and how their realizations exemplify current arguments in language learning theory, even though they are not involved in language learning & teaching.
The lecture will take place today at 3pm in the Ross Building S562 (Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics).