COM3278 Deliverable 5 - Podcast of Global Health Crises Language Issues Latest 2023

COM3278

Deliverable 5 - Podcast of Global Health Crises Language Issues

Assignment Content

Prepare for a podcast interview on the importance of language education as it relates to global health crises.

Competency

Analyze the value of computer coding and markup languages as a replacement for foreign language requirements.

Student Success Criteria

View the grading rubric for this deliverable by selecting the “This item is graded with a rubric” link, which is located in the Details & Information pane.

Scenario

After the success of the WHO Director-General's speech to the Executive Board of the UN's World Health Assembly, she was contacted by The Center for Global Health about recording an interview for the CGH's regular weekly podcast. The Director-General suggested a topic near and dear to her heart: global lingua francas, and she suggested the CGH communications team talk to you, as Eastern Hemisphere Communications Director of the Infectious Disease Task Force (IDTF), instead.

The Director-General was very pleased with herself for avoiding an interview, and she was delighted to give you this opportunity to shine on your own. Because of everyone's tight schedules, the podcast producer has arranged for you to talk from the communications room at the headquarters of the IDTF. The podcast host will interview you from CGH-America's offices in Boston. The Director-General is aware that you are from the U.S. Midwest and thought you would enjoy reconnecting with "the colonies across the pond."

To give you time to prepare, the host has prepared the topics and a set of questions that he will ask you. The Director-General, an old hand at interviews, has suggested that you write out your complete answers to the questions—writing text for the purpose of being spoken rather than read silently. While you are free to ad-lib during the actual interview, having fully written answers means you will not forget anything.

Instructions

As a rule of thumb, a single page of text—double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman (standard APA format) can be read aloud at a normal pace in slightly less than two minutes. You should, therefore, write 2 ½ to 3 pages for your 5-minute segment of the podcast. Answers to each section—of the 6 topics below—would run roughly 125 words.

The Director-General provided the following topics she would like to have addressed in the interview to both the interviewer and you:

Topics to be covered in the podcast:

Analyze the purpose of foreign language requirement.

Outline the History of Foreign Language Study in the U.S.

Asses the advantages of foreign language in a global community.

Evaluate computer languages as an educational requirement.

Explain how programming languages are structured.

Evaluate the usefulness of learning coding as an educational requirement.

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of programming and markup to the study of foreign languages.

Contrast human languages with markup and programming languages.

Illustrate the advantages of human languages as Lingua Francas in building bridges between cultures.

The podcast host has thoughtfully created questions he will ask to lead into your answer. After a brief greeting and introduction, he will ask you these questions:

1a) While Europe and Asia consist of many countries with many languages, it seems like English is the "foreign" language most studied by citizens of the Eastern Hemisphere. In the U.S., we have traditionally only taught French or Spanish or Latin in our high schools. Has that always been the case?

1b) So, then, what's the advantage of learning one of the romance language? So many cultures seem to speak English already. Would there be other languages—Arabic, maybe, or Mandarin—that might be more useful for Americans to learn?

2a) One of the topics frequently discussed across the U.S., particularly in light of continued technological advancements and the rapid growth of the tech sector and the Web, is the substitution of a programming language as a substitute for foreign language requirements. Are the programming and global languages that similar in syntax and usage?

2b) Several US states, though, have proposed—or passed—laws to allow high schools to substitute coding for foreign language learning. Coding would be more useful in uniting a global community it has been said. Does the WHO agree?

3a) Perhaps you could discuss the differences between human languages and programming languages as a means to communicate across cultures. The Director-General of the WHO is an outspoken proponent of the development of a global lingua franca. Is that a better path for global communication? Wasn't the original lingua franca essentially just a trading language?

3b) Speaking of lingua francas... to wrap up the conversation... how might human languages as lingua francas be useful in the event of a global health crisis? Do these bridge languages still exist, and wouldn't English—since it's used so widely around the world—be sufficient as a universal lingua franca?

Again, a normal APA formatted page takes just under two-minutes to read out loud, so considering that you will not really be reading word for word, but will provide in the interview the passion that you are known for, the Director-General suggests (and you know how strong her "suggestions" are) that you limit your answers for each question to no more than half a page (about a minute). If you go too much over a half a page per question, you might run out of time in the interview and that would not be good, so keep your answers clear and concise.

The Director-General would like to see your prepared response before the interview, so make sure you write well and that you pay scrupulous attention to detail in your spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Moreover, read it out loud to yourself, she has "suggested," so you do not end up with a lot of short or run-on sentences and that you have proper noun-verb agreement. (She is a great boss, but she is a stickler for detail.)

You may either separate your responses with the question number (e.g., 1a, 3b) or include the entire interview question. Just do not include the lengthy question in your page/word count.

NOTE — Even though the intent is to talk extemporaneously from the script outline, proper grammar, punctuation, and form are required.