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Pamela Bogart, an instructor at the University of Michigan's English Language Institute, explains the ins and outs of massive open online courses (MOOCs), particularly those that can support language learning. The author begins by describing what a MOOC is; she then identifies the various types of MOOCs and their pedagogical benefits and shows how MOOCs can aid in the language learning process and offer students a more richly textured blended learning experience. The text concludes with tips for creating and designing a MOOC. Each section includes an Exploration Task that invites readers to deepen their personal understanding of and experience with MOOCs. 

Spanish-speaking patients are no rarity in United States hospitals and clinics, as many English-speaking health care providers have discovered. To help these providers better communicate with the patients they serve, Ana Malinow Rajkovic has prepared the Manual for (Relatively) Painless Medical Spanish, a lively and innovative self-teaching guide to the grammar, pronunciation, and medical vocabulary of Spanish.

Presented in a systematic and highly entertaining fashion, twelve lessons cover some of the most commonly encountered situations. These include the family clinic, the emergency room, appendicitis, the social chat, pregnancy, family planning, pelvic inflammatory disease and urinary tract infection, depression, children with asthma, patients with angina, explaining a venipuncture and a spinal tap, and patients with shortness of breath. Each lesson closes with a bilingual interview that includes vocabulary and grammar introduced in that lesson. A guide to the medical history and physical examination appears in English and Spanish in the appendix.

Excellent in the classroom or for independent learning, the Manual will enable health care providers better to understand and supply the needs of Spanish-speaking patients.

The key to the study of the language and history of the Classic Maya (A.D. 293–900) is the verb. Maya Glyphs: The Verbs is a comprehensive study of the verb morphology and syntax of the Maya writing system.

Linda Schele's summary of methodology makes available in a single place many important discoveries and approaches to the Maya language. Hers is the first sourcebook to include so broad a range of dates and to identify for the first time so many Maya rulers and events.

The admirably lucid text provides an excellent introduction to Maya hieroglyphics for the beginner, and, for the experienced Mayanist, it offers a fascinating explanation of methodology, including paraphrasing, and important information about syntactical structures, special verbal constructions, and literary conventions.

Schele's extensive catalog of known verbal phrases is useful for a variety of purposes. Because it is organized according to verbal affix patterns, it provides the only available source for the distribution of such patterns in the writing system. At the same time it registers the date of each event, its agent and patient (if recorded), the dedication date of the monument on which the glyphs occur, and a pictorial illustration, rather than a T-number transcription, of each example. Extensive notes treating problems of dating, interpretation, and dynastic information contain theories about the meaning and function of the events recorded in the Maya inscriptions.

The Yucatan Peninsula draws many North American and European travelers each year to view the ruins of the pre-Columbian Classical Maya civilization and the abundant native flora and fauna. For these travelers, as well as armchair travelers and students, Gary Bevington has prepared the first general English-language introduction to Yucatec Maya, the native language of the people indigenous to the region.

Written in nontechnical terms for learners who have a basic knowledge of simple Mexican Spanish, the book presents easily understood, practical information for anyone who would like to communicate with the Maya in their native language. In addition to covering the pronunciation and grammar of Maya, Bevington includes invaluable tips on learning indigenous languages "in the field." Most helpful are his discussions of the cultural and material worlds of the Maya, accompanied by essential words and expressions for common objects and experiences. A Maya-English-Spanish glossary with extensive usage examples and an English-Maya glossary conclude the book.

Note: The supplemental audiocasette, Spoken Maya for Travelers and Students, is now available as a free download through the book's page on the University of Texas Press's website.

For language learners finding their way in new environments, the deluge of daily media messages—billboards, signs, videos, movies, memes, and advertisements—may be overwhelming. Yet this media provides engaging, accessible opportunities to teach about linguistic features; representations of people, places, and ideas; and social and cultural topics. With an informed, methodical, and purposeful pedagogy, Media Work can help teachers cultivate students’ critical media literacy skills along with language learning.
 
Media Work offers a practical, hands-on approach to illustrate how language, imagery, and media platforms convey meaning. With almost 100 illustrations for use in teaching and many valuable sample lessons, the book brings to life the processes of observing, interrogating, interpreting, reflecting, and responding to a wide variety of media. Drawing upon critical perspectives from applied linguistics, communication, and media studies (e.g., semiotics, critical discourse analysis, media ecology), it develops a conceptual model that can be adapted for a range of ages and contexts. Chamberlin’s approach enables students to investigate the origins, purposes, and implications of messages that surround them in their everyday lives. With sample topics that range from pets and food to identity and discrimination, teachers can give students opportunities to learn more about their own communities and reflect on their reactions to media messages. By addressing the disinformation and propaganda that are prevalent in today’s media, teachers can also help students confront messages about social issues in order to gain knowledge, confidence, and agency.

Today's public schools are brimming with students who are not only new to English but who also have limited or interrupted schooling. These students, referred to as SLIFE (or SIFE), create unique challenges for teachers and administrators.
 
Like its predecessor, this book is grounded in research and is designed to be an accessible and practical resource for teachers, staff, and administrators who work with students with limited or interrupted formal education. Chapters 3-5 focus on classroom instruction, but others address issues of concern to administrators and staff too. For example, Chapter 6 explores different program models for SLIFE instruction, but the planning and commitment to creating a successful program require the involvement of many across the school community, not just teachers. 
 
This edition features case studies, model programs, and teaching techniques and tips; also included is a new chapter focused on the Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm (MALP (R)). A major theme of this new edition is moving school personnel away from a deficit perspective, when it comes to teaching SLIFE, and toward one of difference. The goal is to help all stakeholders in the school community create and foster inclusion of, and equity for, a population that is all too often marginalized, ignored, and underserved.

Modern Hebrew for Beginners—which is now revised and updated—and Modern Hebrew for Intermediate Students are the core of a multimedia program for the college-level Hebrew classroom developed at the University of Texas at Austin in the early 2000s. Within an intensive framework of instruction that assumes six weekly hours in the classroom, the program provides for two semesters of instruction, at the end of which most successful students will reach the intermediate-mid or intermediate-high levels of proficiency in speaking and reading, and some will reach advanced-low proficiency, as defined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).

In addition to a variety of written exercises, the workbook includes vocabulary lists, reading selections, discussions of cultural topics, illustrations of grammar points, notes on registers, suggestions for class and individual activities, and glossaries. The workbook is complemented by a website (http://www.laits.utexas.edu/hebrew) that provides short video segments originally scripted and filmed in Israel and the United States, vocabulary flashcards with sound, interactive exercises on topics included in the workbook, sound files parallel to the reading selections in the workbook, and additional materials that enhance the learning experience. The stability of the workbook, combined with the dynamic nature of the website and the internet searches the students are directed to conduct, allows language instructors to reshape the curriculum and adapt it to the needs of their students and the goals of their programs.

Modern Hebrew for Intermediate Students—which is now revised and updated—and Modern Hebrew for Beginners are the core of a multimedia program for the college-level Hebrew classroom developed at the University of Texas at Austin in the early 2000s. Within an intensive framework of instruction that assumes six weekly hours in the classroom, the program provides for two semesters of instruction, at the end of which most successful students will reach the intermediate-mid or intermediate-high levels of proficiency in speaking and reading, and some will reach advanced-low proficiency, as defined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).

In addition to a variety of written exercises, the workbook includes vocabulary lists, reading selections, discussions of cultural topics, illustrations of grammar points, notes on registers, suggestions for class and individual activities, and glossaries. The workbook is complemented by a website (http://www.laits.utexas.edu/hebrew) that provides short video segments originally scripted and filmed in Israel and the United States, vocabulary flashcards with sound, interactive exercises on topics included in the workbook, sound files parallel to the reading selections in the workbook, and additional materials that enhance the learning experience. The stability of the workbook, combined with the dynamic nature of the website and the internet searches the students are directed to conduct, allows language instructors to reshape the curriculum and adapt it to the needs of their students and the goals of their programs.