Open letter - Austin University of Texas (2)

Response Duc Vu letter from Austin UT

In regard to my "Open Letter to Austin University of Texas" on March 19-2011.

http://vuhuyduc.blogspot.com/2011/0open-letter-austin-university-of-texas.html

FYI. As of today 3/24/2011. I received this letter from Mr. Thomas J. Garza , University Distinguished Teaching. Associate Professor and Director

Dear Duc Vu,

Thank you for contacting us with your concerns about our Summer Language Institute in Vietnamese this year. We have received similar questions from House Representative Hubert Vo of District 149 in Houston, TX. Attached please find my response to him. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions or concerns.

All the best,
Tom Garza

March 24, 2011

(Attachment)

Dear Duc Vu,

Regarding the matter of the teaching of Vietnamese language and culture in

the Summer Language Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, I wish to

address your concerns as best as possible. First, it is important that I put the

Vietnamese course in the context of our larger Institute. This year, the Texas

Language Center is piloting a summer program to teach languages in an intensive,

semiimmersion, inresidence format. That is, students will not only take the

regular course of instruction during the day, they will also live in language corridors

in the Dobie Residence Hall, together with a resident Teaching Assistant, who will

have meals with the students, coordinate language activities in the evening, and

tutor the students. In this semiimmersion format, successful student will be able to

fulfill the language requirement in only one summer.

In such an intensive environment, it is important that we immerse and

surround the students with the current, contemporary, authentic linguistic, cultural,

and social artifacts of the relevant countries being studied. Thus, for the student of

Vietnamese language and culture, it is critical that students be made aware of

current variant of the language that is spoken in Vietnam, as recognized by the

United States since 1995, and represented by the US Department of State through

embassies in both of our countries. In addition, we have found that a significant

number of our students who have completed instruction in Vietnamese at UT in the

past have either travelled to Vietnam, or even sought employment there. For such

students, accurate knowledge of post1975 Vietnam is essential.

Our instructors are all fully aware of the requirements of teaching an

intensive course, and come to us recommended through their respective

departments and all have extensive and successful teaching experience. They

are native or nearnative speakers of the languages and are fully trained in

pedagogy, as well as in the language and culture of instruction. The Texas Language

Center stands behind the decisions of our separate language departments to select

the most qualified professors to provide quality instruction to our students.

The flags we use on our Center’s website for promotion of the Summer

Language Institute are taken directly from the official State Department web pages

for each country represented in our program. They are displayed to identify the

countries in which the languages we offer are spoken as a native language. I

ersonally deeply regret any ill feelings that the Vietnamese flag might provoke. I,

myself, studied Russian at a time when several of my émigré instructors were

offended by the use of the Soviet flag in our textbooks; however, even they admitted

that the flag displaying the hammer and sickle was the official flag of the Soviet

Union. I can, however, assure you that in the course of the Vietnamese program

offered in the Summer Language Institute, the subject of the VietnameseAmerican

heritage population – including its own flag officially recognized in Texas – will be

addressed in the class. I agree with you that addressing the history of Vietnam and

its people is an important part of understanding the current society and country. As

the Texas House Resolution 258 regarding the status of the Vietnam Freedom and

Heritage Flag, our country is a “welcoming haven of liberty and tolerance,” I stand

committed that our summer courses be tolerant of all perspectives when teaching

language and culture.

I hope that you might now better understand the very focused pedagogical

goals of our Summer Language Institute, and the importance of focusing our

instruction on the acquisition of the most current linguistic and cultural realia of

each of the five languages we will teach. Given that Vietnamese was nearly

eliminated from our curriculum this past year, I hope that you will see how

important it is to all of us that the language is again being taught in our Institute. We

have every intention of maintaining the highest pedagogical and practical standards

this summer to insure that our students receives the highest caliber of instruction

and are able to attain impressive levels of functional proficiency in the language.

Respectfully,

Thomas J. Garza

University Distinguished Teaching

Associate Professor and Director