Leo Barnes

Brazil’s Vaccinated Democracy
In March 2021, former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a current presidential candidate, posed a pointed question in a speech lambasting President Jair Bolsonaro’s Covid-19 response. “Where is our beloved Zé Gotinha?” Zé Gotinha is not…

"Good for you following such a directed language learning assignment. I wonder about what other things you've been up to with your language study this past month. How's it going? How do you feel about what you're learning and how you're learning? I…"

"Interesting article and I love exploring food as a way to better understand a culture. I looked at Brazilian churrasco for one of my blog posts last semester and have never looked at Brazilian food the same since! When you have a minute, I would…"

Throughout this course, I have gained crucial knowledge and practical skills for learning a foreign language. Bahasa Indonesia is a beautiful language, and I am grateful for the experience of having practiced learning it. As a language learner, I have struggled in more traditional language courses, but the self-directed model has allowed me to get a better grasp of the language at my own pace. I took this course for fun, not for my communication requirement, which also made a difference because I came into the course with more enthusiasm–feeling that language learning was less of a “chore”, so to speak. I have learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses as a language learner, but the self-directed model has increased my confidence and comfort level learning Indonesian. As a cultural explorer, I have realized the importance of engaging with media in the target language. Watching Indonesian TV shows and listening to Indonesian music have aided my immersion, understanding, and…

William Stokoe played a transformative role in the recognition of ASL as its own independent language as, before his research, ASL was regarded as a mere pictorial version of English. While teaching at Gallaudet University, the world’s leading university for deaf and hard of hearing students, Stokoe began closely studying the structure of ASL, recognizing patterns and linguistic rules that his collegues didn't, suggesting ASL functioned similarly to spoken languages. His observations led him to develop the Stokoe notation system, which became the first widely recognized written system for documenting ASL. This system transcribed the phonemes, or parameters, of ASL including handshape, location, palm orientation, movement, and non-manual markers/signals into a recognizable linguistic format providing undeniable evidentce that ASL was a language of its own, independent of English. It contradicted the longstanding beliefs of the oralist movement that emphasized teaching deaf individuals…

Leo Barnes

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