Episode 17 - World Languages

[00:00:08] Speaker A: Welcome to Kendyl speaks. I'm Dr. Brian Stewart Kendall, campus president. And today we're blessed with four amazing guests with us today, first we have our Chair of World Languages, Dr. Eduardo Feebles, our Professor of World language and many other hats, quite frankly, Dr. Steven Johnson. And we have two of our students. First, Claudia Nordello and Ramir Khadavid. Welcome, everyone. Hi. Glad to have you here today. [00:00:39] Speaker B: Welcome. Thank you. [00:00:40] Speaker A: Chair Feebles, talk a little bit about your background and what inspired you and what brought you to Miami Dade College. [00:00:45] Speaker C: Well, first, I wanted to actually thank you, Dr. Stewart, for inviting us to this conversation. And I also wanted to thank the President's office for organizing this conversation. And, and I will preface all of my answers by saying that I'm a new addition to the Miami Dade College family. I am just celebrating my fifth month. So I've been here. This is officially my fifth month here. I was not part of this family before and I was in Boston. So I am delighted to have landed here. [00:01:17] Speaker A: And I'm going to take a little credit for hiring you because you're one of my, maybe my first hire one of my first two or three hires since I've been here. So I always keep track of those. So you're in my hiring tree now. [00:01:26] Speaker C: So I have to thank you doubly now. So thank you so much. In terms of world languages, I would say that there were two experiences that really brought me to be an educator in world languages. I was born in Puerto Rico. I was born from Cuban parents. My mother was from Kamawe and my father from Cienfuegos. And When I was 13 years old, my father was transferred to St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands. And I had to learn English very quickly to integrate high school or middle school at that point, eighth grade. And that summer, a teacher took me under her wing. Her name was Mrs. Adams. And I learned English that summer so that I could integrate the middle school. And that was an incredible experience, you know, and I'm really very grateful to her. Then, you know, speed up a little bit to my undergraduate career at Tulane University. I had the chance to go study abroad in Paris for one year, and that really changed my trajectory. I felt passionately in love with French culture. And I kept on studying. I did a master's and Ph.D. and that's what brought me to world languages. In terms of education, I would almost say that it's in my genes. My mom was an educator. My grandfather was an educator. My sister is an educator. So I really always knew that this is what I wanted to do. [00:02:45] Speaker A: I bet that immersion was really important when you were overseas. [00:02:48] Speaker C: Absolutely. And we'll get a chance to talk about international education in a moment. So. Yes. [00:02:53] Speaker A: Do you know what's going on in your town today? Tulane? [00:02:56] Speaker C: What is going on today? [00:02:57] Speaker A: Nailed with snow there. Six inches of snow. Not that it'll be relevant to our listening audience, but that's amazing for that. [00:03:03] Speaker C: I've heard that. Yes, that's right. [00:03:05] Speaker A: Well, welcome. We're glad to have you. Dr. Johnson, tell us a little bit about your journey to Miami Dade College. [00:03:10] Speaker B: I have a similar journey. I was in my undergraduate program as an international business major, and I also got connected to study abroad in the very early years of my university experience. And I fell in love with travel, with cultures, with languages. And the more I developed that passion, the less interested I was in business, actually. And so I ended up finishing my degree and I went to South Korea to be an English teacher. And during the the, it was supposed to be a year contract with the school there. It turned out to be six months. But during that short period of time of six months, I fell in love with teaching. And so I came back and I did a master's degree in both German and English. I ended up going to Germany and teaching English in a high school there and staying for several years in a town near Berlin. And then I ended up in Texas. And from Texas here to Florida, actually came into Miami Dade College in the learning resources department. So I was in the computer courtyard for a while, but my passion was always helping the immigrant population here in Miami. So I quickly transferred over into teaching esl. I was in administration for a while and then back into the classroom in 2011, and that's where I've been since. [00:04:31] Speaker A: And I should add, you're an endowed teaching chair at our college, so congratulations on that. [00:04:35] Speaker B: Yes, thank you for distinguished honors. Thank you so much. [00:04:37] Speaker A: Yeah. All right, well, glad to have you. Claudia, tell us a little bit about yourself and what brought you to the Kendall campus. [00:04:44] Speaker D: I'm from Cuba. I moved to the United States two years ago. In Cuba, I studied psychology for one year. And here at Miami Dade College, I've been able to continue pursuing the same field. Studying English for academic purposes through our languages department helped me to learn the language and adapt to a new lifestyle, a new culture, and a new academic system. On the other hand, the kindness and dedication of the professors and advisors were truly inspiring. They made me feel safe and support while preparing me for college life and helping me succeed. [00:05:29] Speaker A: Very good. Your English is Very good, by the way. Better than my Texas. What is. What is your future? What would you like to. [00:05:37] Speaker D: I want to be psychologist. [00:05:38] Speaker A: Psychologist, yeah. Okay. [00:05:39] Speaker D: In those organizational psychologists. [00:05:42] Speaker A: Well, we're glad to have you here. Thank you for being here. [00:05:44] Speaker D: Thank you. [00:05:44] Speaker A: All right, Ramire, tell us a little about yourself and how you came to the Kendall campus. [00:05:48] Speaker E: Well, it's a pleasure to be here with you guys. [00:05:50] Speaker A: We're glad to have you. [00:05:51] Speaker E: Well, I'm a Cuban American student and I studied in high school and I've always had the idea of studying in medicine since my mother's always been a respiratory therapist. So I just decided to come here to complete a pre nursing degree to then to take a step towards FIU to complete a bachelor's in the science of nursing. I just ended up studying abroad with Miami Dade College and it was a great time. I got to meet so many people and make so many connections and Professor Stephen Johnson has honestly been a great teacher to me and I've had the privilege of being here with you guys today. [00:06:26] Speaker A: That's great. We'll hear more about the study abroad shortly, but I have to do a little plug for our nursing program. We have an amazing nursing program at the medical campus. I was there for six years, so I know FIU is good, but hopefully you'll look at Miami Dade College. [00:06:38] Speaker E: Yeah, they're honestly wonderful. They also give us a lot of resources. I also had the opportunity to study with the Stitches program here in Building 3, and they helped me pass my chemistry class and I wouldn't be where I am without them. [00:06:50] Speaker A: If you'd like a tour of the medical campus, I know someone to get you in there. All right, welcome everyone. Let's get into our discussion today. Let's start with talking about the World Language Department. Talk a little bit about the mission and sort of your vision of it. You've only been here a few short months, but I know you've hit the ground running. [00:07:05] Speaker C: Thank you. Thank you for that question. You know, and before I answer that, I would say I wanted to give a shout out to the whole team at the World Languages Department. It's an amazing team. We have, I cannot mention everybody, every single name, but we have the assistant to the chair, the secretary, the advisors, the staff in our language lab, our wonderful student workers, the incredible, dedicated full time faculty, the adjuncts. They inspire me and they motivate me every single day. I've been really blessed to have landed in this department. The department has two main branches, I would say we have the English for Academic Purposes. And then we have what we will call our foreign languages classes. Our ESL students gained the English language proficiency necessary to succeed at the university level. And the foreign language students gain communicative skills and a strong foundation for further study of the target language. So that's really our purpose and mission in a nutshell, I would say. [00:08:08] Speaker A: Very good. Talk a little bit about the current languages that are offered and maybe your plans in the near future that you'd like to see us moving towards. [00:08:17] Speaker C: So as you mentioned, you know, I've been here a short amount of time, so, you know, some of that long term planning I'm always going to do with the whole department. It's not something that I would, you know, and with the administration, obviously, but the current languages that we're teaching, you know, obviously we have the English for academic purposes, which is a very large program actually, you know, with six levels that take students so that they can integrate, just like I did when I was back in St. Croix, so that they can integrate the university level here. And in terms of foreign languages, we offer American Sign Language, we offer French. And I'm actually teaching French right here, right now. I have my first class at Miami Dade College. So a shout out to my students. We offer German, Italian and Spanish. In terms of expansion, again, I think we would have to look at the needs of the community, the needs of our students, how the demographics are changing before we make some of those recommendations. But that is something that I'm always looking to improve and to look at. [00:09:19] Speaker A: How are articulation agreements with FIU and area institutions? Do we. [00:09:24] Speaker C: That's a good question. That maybe I should do my homework on that because I don't know. I don't know, Stephen, if you know some of that. [00:09:29] Speaker B: Our foreign language courses, we follow the Florida State course numbering system. And so the students typically transfer after the third or fourth semester over to a state college, whether it's FIU or FAU or UCF somewhere. But what the students see in our course catalog is the same thing that they're going to see in one of these other state universities. And so the numbering system is very closely connected so that the students can continue along their pathway if they choose to continue for a second or a third year in the foreign language. [00:10:02] Speaker A: Do we find students who maybe migrate to us while they're at other institutions to take, take some of our languages, or are they pretty much our own MDC students? [00:10:09] Speaker B: Many times in the summer, students come home for the summer and so they come home from like Gainesville or Tallahassee and they'll enroll in our foreign language courses in the summertime. And that's quite a common occurrence. And now with the prevalence of live teaching or online courses, students can often enroll in our courses from other areas of the state. So I've often had students from Tampa or from Tallahassee or Jacksonville in my German classes. So that's also an option. [00:10:39] Speaker A: Very good. Good for that. Well, thank you. Let's go to our students now. And let's start with you, Claudia. We'll go to both of you on this question. What initially inspired you to take pro courses here in our World Language Department? [00:10:50] Speaker D: When I arrived to the United States, I realized that learning English was a necessity and foundation to succeed in my academic and personal life. Then I noticed that the World Languages Department creates a safe space where I encourage to grow, adapt, and embrace a new culture. The professors and advisors also genuinely care about their student progress, which gave me the confidence to keep trying. So I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to my professor and you, Scar Rachelson, for her concern, encourage, and for her constant encourage and guidance. And to my advisor, Nora, who support me every step of the way. [00:11:40] Speaker A: That's. We're proud of those people and we. We love that wraparound service. Ray, what about you? What led you to the World Language Department? [00:11:47] Speaker E: Well, my mom, she kind of made us learn Spanish in the household, and it's kind of like, off. It's off topic, but she made us learn Spanish and speak it in the house all the time. And it was kind of a foundation of our family. And so it's given me the ability to translate that into work, my daily life, my relationships, my friendships, and even being here. It was an opportunity, you know, because I learned Spanish, it gave me the courage to take the leap and try and learn German or, you know, just immerse myself in a different culture in order to use that and anything I ever needed in life. [00:12:23] Speaker A: Very good. Well, let's move to study abroad. Talk a little bit about your experience with study abroad and how you engage those communities. [00:12:31] Speaker E: Well, study abroad is very important because if you know how to handle yourself in other cultures, you know, and meet new people and even communicate yourself, even if you don't know how to speak the language properly, you can get almost anywhere. There's, for example, a man. I work in a supermarket, and there's a man that speaks American Sign Language. And he comes by every Wednesday, and he comes by and he teaches me something else. I give him a piece of receipt paper to write on. He always teaches me Something else. And so that just gives you the courage to take the leap and talk to somebody. And wherever you want to go, you want to set up a new business somewhere, you'll do that. And you won't think twice about it because it's what you want to do. [00:13:11] Speaker A: Dr. Johnson, you want to jump in on. Talk a little bit about study abroad. [00:13:15] Speaker B: I totally agree with Ramir's aspect of developing confidence. Many times when we take students out of the country, it's their first time to leave Miami or Florida or the United States. So I believe in the most recent trip that Ramire was with me on, we were in five countries during the summer of 2024. And I know that there were at least three or four people that was their first time out of the United States. And to experience new cultures, new languages, traveling, being independent, away from home for the first time, but with a group of friends, with professors, it's, I think, a great start for your first time to take a trip like that or to jump out of your comfort zone. It's a safe space, but it's also experiential learning. We're learning new words. We're actually using them as much as possible right there in that. That moment, we are. I'm trying to develop students independent skills of how to research and find information and retrain schedules and figure out what to do. Sometimes things don't always go the way we hope. And you have to, you know, learn. Learn to make a detour, improvise. You learn about being flexible. And those are life skills that are not just specific to learning a new language. Those are life skills that, like Ramir said, you need them for success in business or developing communication skills that you can use in a hospital as a nurse or. It's not just about knowing one new language, but it's about being confident to be a lifelong learner and realize that you can overcome an obstacle and succeed in what you want to do and achieve your goals. [00:15:03] Speaker A: Very great. A great answer to Ramire and Claudia. What do you see your language skills shaping your personal ambitions and your career pathways, whether it be in international or whatever you're going to do. You want to go first, Ramir? [00:15:16] Speaker E: Yeah, sure. I think having language skills, for example, for me, like I told you, it's giving me confidence. Like when I go into a job interview, especially here in Miami, a lot of people speak Spanish, so the first thing they'll ask you is, oh, do you speak two languages? So it's definitely given me, like, a newfound confidence. I know I've said it a lot of times, but it's given me a newfound confidence in myself because I can communicate myself wherever and I can, you know, I'm more versatile and I can adapt no matter the situation that I'm in. [00:15:49] Speaker A: Yeah, that's great, Claudia. [00:15:51] Speaker D: Yes, absolutely. Learning a new language open doors, both personality, professionally personality. It allows you to connect with people from different cultures, broaden your perspective professionally. It gives you a competitive edge in the job market. For me, learning English was essential to continuing my psychology studies, integrating into American society. It also helped me to develop valuable skills like effective communication and adaptability, fundamental for professional life. [00:16:27] Speaker A: Well, being a nurse potentially, and a psychologist, those are both great skills. To have multiple languages. Yeah, that's gonna set both of you apart, I think, because I would say the majority of people in those two professions can't. You may be on three languages now. I don't know. With your German, is it three or four? [00:16:43] Speaker E: Well, it's gonna be three. [00:16:45] Speaker A: Three. All right. Well, that's great, Dr. Johnson. Let's talk a little bit about how our department works with adult learners. Talk a little bit about what the philosophy is and how you work with new languages and career advancement for our students. [00:17:01] Speaker B: I think our department is really reflective of the campus at large or the college at large because we do have such a wide range of students from different backgrounds and different ages. I don't know the exact number, but I would guess that the average age of our students is around 25 or 27 at the moment. I know in the past it was around 27. That was sort of the median age of our students. And we have really two different populations. I teach both English and foreign languages. And I would say for our morning classes, our students are often younger. They have recently arrived here. They've graduated from high school, perhaps, or they've gotten a ged, but they're a younger population and they are looking to complete college. Maybe the first time the first person in their family to complete college. And so we want to give them the important language skills to be successful in the career, the degree that they choose. In the evening classes, I often see students who are adult learners. They have families, they have children, they're married. Maybe they're taking care of both children and parents. They're often working full time. I have a class this evening that starts at 5:40. So those students will have fault traffic to get to their computer at 5:40. And a lot of them are still in scrubs or they're still in their pharmacy tech shirts, whatever they're on camera they're ready to learn without dinner and they're there to fight for getting their education. And then, you know, dinner, taking care of the kids and helping them with their homework, that comes at 8:30 or 9:00 clock at night and then they're probably up at 5:00am the next day to go back to work. So it's the students really inspire me because they don't give up. So I don't want to give up for them. [00:19:04] Speaker A: That's a great answer. I'm going to turn to our chair for a minute and talk a little bit about your faculty, your adjuncts. What is our ratio, do you know, roughly off the top of your head? Because I'm sure our adjuncts add a rich part to this program. [00:19:16] Speaker C: Yeah, I've made efforts to meet the adjuncts. You know, we have about 35 adjuncts that are working in our department. [00:19:23] Speaker A: Wonderful. That's great. [00:19:24] Speaker C: You know, and it's I, you know, inspiration is a word that we're going to be using a lot through this podcast because once again, these are, some of them are professionals that are working during the day and they want to give back to the community. A lot of them have actually gone through Miami Dade College and they love this place so much that they really want to help the institution. So it's really inspiring. As I said, in terms of the full time faculty, we have an incredible full time faculty. Professor Johnson is here and Professor Rachelson was mentioned earlier and we have Fatayeva, Natalia, and we have Paula Sanchez and Griselle Principe. And we have one more that I'm forgetting. Johnson, Paula, we can edit this, right? Yeah. And Kathy Biash, correct? That's right. [00:20:14] Speaker A: That's a great team. [00:20:15] Speaker C: Yes. Yeah. So we have an excellent team of professors. So. [00:20:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:18] Speaker A: Well, thank you for sharing that. [00:20:19] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:20:20] Speaker A: Dr. Johnson, I want to go back a little bit. You talked about, we've talked about study abroad, but talk about learning outside the classroom. I know you're very active in many clubs and some important activities on campus, but talk a little bit about how you use outside the classroom to support your students. [00:20:37] Speaker B: Like Dr. Fablish just said, my colleagues are very engaged in the campus life. They are very engaged in experiential learning. The good thing about teaching English is you can read any book, you can do any activity, you can engage with any student club. So we are really committed to not only giving students the language skills that they need for their classes, but helping them socialize and feel like they're part of the campus. And so for example, on the Kindle campus, we have this beautiful garden in the center of our campus. And that was actually started by one of my colleagues, Professor Rachelson. So she started this as a project where students could go outside and they could talk as they're learning about the plants, they're, they're working there, they are getting hands on experience. Another way that we engage students is through the ISED department, and we connect students through service learning. We use the Civics Action Scorecard in both our foreign language classes. We used it in our study abroad in 2024. We sort of based a lot of our activities on the environmental and sustainability portion of that card, but we bring that into our ESL classes as well. So we connect students to this concept of giving back to the community, which is really important in American culture. And so they learn not only about learning a language, but how it's important to volunteer to, to put some service hours on your resume, because just having a resume full of, of nice courses is not really going to make you competitive in today's job market. And so we teach the students the importance of either engaging through the campus or through some other community organization, whether it be through through the ISED department or a student club. We often take our students or we point them in the direction of Club Rush, which is happening tomorrow, and we tell them, you know, you need to be part of a student club, and that way you will meet students who are not only English language learners. You'll get to practice your English in a real world setting. And so that's really to the students advantage. And if they just drive to campus or take the bus to campus and then leave as soon as class is over, they don't get the full college experience. [00:23:01] Speaker A: Well, you've given me some ideas for some future podcasts with some of those great initiatives. Let's go back to our students. Claudia, I'm going to start with you. Learning a new language can be a challenge. What are some of the strategies and resources you use to be successful? [00:23:15] Speaker D: First, consistency was key for me. Second, I relied on the resources provided by the department, like workshops, tutoring, cultural events. The professors also create an environment where mistakes were part of the process. Learning. So this gave me the encourage to to keep trying. I also set small, achievable goals to track my progress. Staying motivated, reminding me why I started. [00:23:49] Speaker A: Very good. Ramir, what about you? [00:23:52] Speaker E: So I have three things that I did whenever I study a language. And I also help my family since a lot of them are also learning English. And it's not really. Like, as hard as some people would like to think about it, number one, I think you should never avoid, like, a difficult situation, like a conversation, or like a workplace environment, a reunion. I think you should immerse yourself, and I think you shouldn't think. Is everyone judging you? That takes me to the second point. I think you should never take anything personally. If you feel like you're messing up, I think you should take it as an opportunity to learn about what you're doing. And a third thing I would say use apps. Duolingo has been my best friend. I went to Italy, and I was doing duolingo every morning before I went in the subway. And the same thing in Germany, and I was talking to a professor using every sentence that I learned in duolingo, and it was definitely worth it. [00:24:48] Speaker A: It's good to hear that. It's good to hear that. [00:24:49] Speaker C: Dr. Stewart, I want to add some of these to what the students were saying. I know that you're a big sports fan, and I always use that metaphor about language learning. You have to train. You have to be consistent. You have to do it every day, you know, and that's how you're going to succeed. So, you know, it's. It's. I think there's a good kind of metaphor or comparison with athletics, you know? [00:25:11] Speaker A: No, I think you're exactly right. When I teach math, which you may not know, that's my discipline. I talk to students about math, and they want to work one or two problems. And you think about your favorite NBA player. He doesn't make free throws by shooting one or two free throws. And as your example. Exactly. You've got to do repetition. It's that muscle memory that. That becomes natural and so forth. So that's a great thing. And I'm glad to hear Duolingo because I hear the commercials all the time. [00:25:34] Speaker E: I'm glad you heard it. [00:25:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. One more question for each of you. A lot of our students are curious about languages and maybe a little hesitant about committing. What advice would you give students? [00:25:47] Speaker E: I'd say don't be afraid. [00:25:48] Speaker C: Use. [00:25:49] Speaker E: Use it as a tool. You know, especially here in Miami, like I said earlier, they always want a new language. And I bet you they wouldn't be afraid or they wouldn't be against you having a different language. For example, there's parts of North Miami that they speak French and Creole. They also speak Spanish in some parts. So I don't think anyone would be opposed to you knowing German or knowing Spanish or knowing any other language. Use it to your advantage. [00:26:13] Speaker A: Very good. Very good, Claudia. [00:26:15] Speaker D: Don't be afraid to take the first step. The world Languages department is here to support you every step of the way with professors and advisors who care about your succeed. Mistakes are part of learning. Every fourth brings you closer for achieving your goals. So embrace opportunity, learning a new language, open doors and transform your future. [00:26:45] Speaker A: Well, thank you both for being so open today and talking to us. I want to move to our two Miami Dade leaders here. Talk a little bit about some success stories that you've had with students. You want to start first, Dr. Johnson, and then we'll go over to our chair. [00:26:58] Speaker B: There's so many, but I would start probably with my experience, unfortunately, of being in the hospital in Miami. I've had two nurses that were graduates at Miami Dade College in the hospital here, and they were fantastic. Also, I had a former student of mine who learned English with me and then went into the nursing program that I bumped into in the hospital. So every time I'm in a doctor's office or in a hospital setting, I often see Miami Dade College students there. And they're fantastic in the way that they do their work in terms of, I mean, just with LinkedIn now I can follow students after they graduate from MDC, and it's amazing to see where they end up. Sometimes they end up in one of the top companies here in Miami. Sometimes they come back and they become professors here at the college, which has recently started to happen. The older I get, I start to see some of my students coming back. [00:27:58] Speaker A: I've seen that, too. [00:28:01] Speaker B: And from the foreign language side, sometimes our students just come in and take one semester or two semesters of a foreign language. And as professors, we think, well, maybe we didn't really impact their lives that much. But I've had several students who did study abroad or they've applied for scholarships through the U.S. state Department and gotten those scholarships and go on their own. They go overseas. I've had four or five students who have ended up living in Europe, working in Germany, working with either doing graduate school in Europe or working with banks. There are lots of opportunities in Europe for people who can speak English, Spanish and German because that combination of languages is really valuable in Germany. And one of my students just finished her PhD in psychology in Zurich, Switzerland. She studied, she started her German programs here in Miami Dade College, and now she's a graduate student in Zurich. And actually her mom is one of our adjuncts in our department. So we have a lot of connections. [00:29:12] Speaker A: Great success stories, Eduardo. What about you, Andy? [00:29:14] Speaker C: I Mean, I would say starting here, we see two students that we're so proud of, and I'm so proud that you're here with us, Ramir and Claudia. So right off the bat, we have these two students that are helping us with this podcast. I will speak to my former institution because I was professor there for 22 years. So I saw many, many students go, and I would start just like Professor Johnson started so many. I have a student that completed a PhD in Comparative Literature after she graduated from my program, and she's actually a professional translator of novels in France. I have another one that moved on to Paris and moved there and worked for the American University in Paris for many, many years. I have one student who is actually translating. She found John Quincy Adams, our sixth president wrote letters in French that have never been translated into English. Oh, how cool. I know. And she's working on this project, and I was helping her with this project to translate these letters of our sixth president. So some of the examples that makes us so proud. And we really speaks to why we became educators, because this is the payoff for us. [00:30:24] Speaker A: And you have a class getting ready to begin where you'll change lives in that class. [00:30:28] Speaker C: I hope so. Thank you. [00:30:29] Speaker A: Well, my last question to all of you. If you could have one takeaway on the importance of language, learning a language, what would you say? We'll start with Dr. Johnson and go around the table. One takeaway. Just one takeaway. I know that's a tough question. [00:30:44] Speaker B: It's hard, but I think that you can do two if you have one. No, I can do one. I think it's. For me, it was tolerance because I grew up in a place where I needed to learn more about the world. I was kind of sheltered growing up, and that first experience with study abroad taught me that it's okay for people to have differences or to disagree, but we can all still find common ground and we can celebrate difference. So for me, it's not necessarily about the language, but the culture of difference. [00:31:19] Speaker D: Learning a new language is more than just communication, is a gateway to new opportunities, perspectives, and human connections. For me, it was a path to personal and professional growth and to adapt to a new life with confidence. [00:31:35] Speaker A: Very good. Great answer. [00:31:37] Speaker E: I think learning a new language is real important for your relationships, because relationships are everywhere in life. You know, there's professional relationships, there's friendships, there's work relationships. Everything, if you think about it, is a relationship. And who knows, maybe one day your best friend might speak Mandarin and your boss might speak Italian. [00:31:58] Speaker A: So you have to be the middleman. [00:32:00] Speaker E: Exactly. [00:32:01] Speaker A: That's great. [00:32:02] Speaker C: Well, I mean, I was going to say the culture piece that Professor Johnson was talking about. So I'll throw in another advantage about learning language, and I'll talk about my father. My father is 87 years old. He is elderly now, and he's afraid of Alzheimer's. And research shows that if you learn a new language, it delays the onset of Alzheimer's. So he's taking Italian lessons. He's going to a local high school where they have night classes for adults, and he's taking Italian. And I think it's working. [00:32:31] Speaker A: If that wasn't some advertisement for our world languages program. Right. There were four great hats, so. Well, I want to thank you all for being here. This has been a great discussion. We like to end our Kendall Speaks podcast with turning the microphone around and asking me any question you like. Since I've put you guys on the spot, I'll open the microphones to anyone who wants to ask a question. [00:32:51] Speaker E: Well, I have a question for you, sir. What do you think is the role of languages in the South Florida large community? How can the college help students integrate a global community? [00:33:03] Speaker A: Well, that's a great question. You know, as I've been now in Florida almost seven years, it's one of the most diverse places with one of the different languages, different countries. It's just incredible, the different folks that are now here. And I think to be successful in South Florida, you have to have a language. You have to have more than just English or Spanish or German, whatever you're learning. And so I really think it's a very important tool that we need to have in our tool belt. So that's a great question. Claudia, you got one for me? [00:33:37] Speaker D: Yes. We know you are a big sports fans, and our athletic teams attract many international students. How do you think we can better serve these students? [00:33:49] Speaker A: You know, that's a great question. And I do love sports, all sports. Soccer has, you know, we've just added men's and women's soccer, and that's probably among our most international students, especially the men's soccer team. Our volleyball team is very international as well. I think one of the things we can do to support those athletes is provide them with tutoring sessions and provide them with people to support them that can kind of speak their own language. A lot of times we put athletes in a room and just send tutors in there. And, you know, we all want people that we look alike and speak alike. And so that's one of the initiatives that I plan to do. Second initiative that we're in the process of doing is having an athletic council. I'm going to have probably two athletes from each team meet with me regularly and they'll kind of be spokesman for their respective sports. And so maybe in that respect we can find out what challenges they have and issues. I just learned this weekend that we have a 6 foot 7 woman's basketball player coming next year. So we're going to do nothing but get more international. And to your point too, same with our students. So those are two really great questions, so I appreciate those. [00:34:57] Speaker C: I know that, that you're talking about soccer, so I wanted, I know that FIFA has a partnership with MDC and that actually one of the biggest international world, you know, sports events is going to be partly here with the World cup in 2026. So do you think the world languages might have, you know, some free tickets to go see some soccer games? [00:35:22] Speaker A: I hadn't thought of that. We can play the world part of that. What I will tell you is that every FIFA referee, which there's over 350 referees, has to be trained. Guess where? Miami Dade College. Every FIFA referee has to come here and spend two months. So we're going to have them here starting in June through 1st of August. We'll have 12 teams flown in, including our teams, and there will be some games you can see at our field that I will get you front row tickets for. So count on that. [00:35:49] Speaker C: Thank you, Dr. Stewart. [00:35:51] Speaker A: Well, I appreciate everyone for being here today. Today. This has been an incredible podcast. As always, I want to thank our head writer, Christine Saenz, our executive producer and producer today, Paul Klein, for all you do to help make this broadcast work. So thank you all for joining us today and goodbye for now.