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PLaCE Celebrated 10th Anniversary with Well-Attended Showcase Event

Created in 2014, PLaCE celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2024. The program has expanded over the years, but our core mission remains the same: provide a supportive academic program to help Purdue’s international students develop advanced levels of English language proficiency and intercultural competence.  
 
We commemorated this 10 year mark by hosting our second Showcase event on February 29, 2024, to celebrate our students' work and connect members of the university in discussions of internationalization. This Showcase event was attended by over 260 students, faculty, and staff members from across the West Lafayette campus. 

Two PLaCE Instructor Teams Invited to Present at Inaugural Festival of Teaching and Learning

After submitted proposals were reviewed, two teams of English language and intercultural communication instructors were invited to present their projects at Purdue's inaugural Festival of Teaching and Learning on April 12, 2024, hosted by the John Martinson Honors College's Blue Sky Teaching and Learning Laboratory in collaboration with Innovation Hub, Teaching Academy, and the Center for Instructional Excellence. 
 
Haiyan Li, Minsun Kim, Ty Climer, and Lixia Cheng presented an innovative pedagogical approach to integrate instructor-guided ChatGPT training in an undergraduate Language and Cultural Exchange course for international ESL students. Parvaneh Rezaee and Matthew Allen showcased the "story stack" activity that they developed as a low-tech approach to jumpstart impactful digital storytelling with students in PLaCE SCLA 110, 111, and Short Courses. 
 
Li, Kim, Climer, & Cheng was one of the two recipients of the "Innovation Hub Award for Innovative Uses of Generative AI." 

Local Language Testing: Design, Implementation, and Development Won 2024 SAGE/ILTA Best Monograph Award

Dimova, S., Yan, X., & Ginther, A. (2020). Local language testing: Design, implementation, and development. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429492242

The International Language Testing Association (ILTA) announced on June 4, 2024 that the above book is the 2024 recipient of the SAGE/ILTA Best Monograph Award. This book was co-authored by Professor Emerita of English, Dr. April Ginther (inaugural director of PLaCE and long-term director of OEPP), together with her two former PhD advisees from the Second Language Studies program at Purdue, Drs. Slobodanka Dimova and Xun Yan. The three authors wrote from their extensive professional experience in designing, implementing, and developing local language tests such as the TOEPAS (Test of Oral English Proficiency for Academic Staff) used at the University of Copenhagen, the EPT (English Placement Test) at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, and the ACE-In (Assessment of College English–International) and OEPT (Oral English Proficiency Test) used at Purdue University in the PLaCE and OEPP programs respectively.  

Upcoming Language and Intercultural Education Conferences

Ordered by Proposal Deadline; Last Updated: 7/2/2024 

CGC (Consortium on Graduate Communication):

  • Proposal deadline: 1 March 2024;
  • Conference dates and location:  12–14 June 2024, Virtual as hosted by Purdue University

ICLCLE (International Conference on Literacy, Culture, and Language Education):

  • Proposal deadline: 31 May 2024;
  • Conference dates and location:  25–27 October 2024 at Stewart Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages):

  • Proposal deadline: 3 June 2024 at 5:00 p.m. EDT;
  • Conference dates and location:  18–21 March 2025 at Long Beach, California

MwALT (Midwest Association of Language Testers):

  • Proposal deadline: 16 June 2024 (extended to 23 June 2024);
  • Conference dates and location:  4–5 October 2024 at Duolingo in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

AAAL (American Association for Applied Linguistics): 

  • Proposal deadline: 15 July 2024 at 4:00 p.m. EDT;
  • Conference dates and location:  22–25 March 2025 at Denver, Colorado

INTESOL (Indiana Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages):

  • Proposal deadline: 1 October 2024;
  • Conference dates and location: 22–23 November 2024 at Indianapolis, Indiana

Upcoming Local Events

List from "CSSAC Campus Connection" (Campus Support Staff Advisory Committee newsletter, July issue)

Local farmers’ markets

  • West Lafayette: Cumberland Park, 3:30-7 p.m. on Wednesdays until October 30
  • Purdue: Thursdays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., now until October 31
  • Lafayette: 5th Columbia to Ferry Street, Saturdays, 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m., now until October
  • Delphi: Downtown Delphi, 1st & 3rd Saturdays now until October

Now until September 8:  Robert Pulley Art Crawl, downtown Lafayette/West Lafayette, map for sculptures is found here.

July
  4: Stars and Stripes Celebration, Riehle Plaza 6-11 p.m. *
  6: Wabash & Earie Canal Days, Delphi, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
  9: Art in the Park: Dog Days of Summer Columbian Park, 6-8:30 p.m. *
11: Lafayette Citizen Band Concert, Columbian Park, 7:30 p.m.*
12: Purdue Memorial Summer Concert Series, Purdue Union 6 p.m. *
13: Wabash Riverfest, Tapawingo Park, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. *
13: Mosey Down Main Street, Downtown Lafayette, 6-11 p.m. *
18: Summer Trivia Night, Purdue Memorial Union Ground Floor, 5 p.m. *
18: Lafayette Citizen Band Concert, Columbian Park, 7:30 p.m.*
19-27: Tippecanoe County 4H Fair, Tippecanoe County 4H Fairgrounds *
19-20: Wea Creek Orchard, Sunflower Festival,
19: Lafayette Gallery Walk, Downtown Lafayette, 6-9 p.m. *
19: Purdue Memorial Summer Concert Series, PMU, 6 p.m. *
20-21: Downtown Jazz and Blues Festival, downtown Lafayette, 5-11 p.m.
23: PMU Bingo, Purdue Memorial Union, 5-6:30 p.m. *
25: Lafayette Citizen Band Concert, Columbian Park, 7:30 p.m. *
26: Purdue Memorial Summer Concert Series, PMU 6 p.m. *
30: Art in the Park, End of Summer Bash, Columbian Park, 6-8 p.m.*

*free event