There are stories being told all over the Monterey Institute Campus. They take the form of video, audio, pictures, slideshows, spoken word, drawings, multi-media presentations, and more. They are about personal experiences, academic opportunities, language learning, campus-related activities, immersive learning projects, and countless other topics.
The following list is the initial gathering of all of these stories, as we try to create a common place to collect and tell them all. If you have a storytelling initiative to contribute to the list, or are looking for help with your storytelling endeavor, please email dlc@miis.edu, with the subject line “Storytelling.”
Coordinator: Naoko Matsuo
About: The main purpose of this blog is to feature students’ diverse backgrounds and experiences, cast a spotlight on the language skills they acquire, and understand how they plan to use those skills in their future job.
Coordinator: Rebecca Owen
About: This is a collection of student stories and resources that work together to show you how to build an international career through your undergrad, by living and studying abroad, and then while you’re earning a master’s degree.
Coordinator: Maria Osorio
About: Students at the Monterey Institute shed some light on what they do on any given day while they’re going to grad school. These stories take a variety of forms such as poems, timelines, and long form. Some are general overviews of a typical day and others are a very specific day in time. All are true representations of “A Day in the Life” of a grad student.
Coordinator: Evelyn Helminen
About: This series features a different student each week from a range of degree programs offered at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. In these short videos, the students elaborate on topics such as why they chose to come to MIIS, what has surprised them about the Monterey Institute, what kinds of cool things they’ve been involved in—both on and off campus, and more.
Coordinator: George Payne
About: MIIS Radio is an open platform for the Monterey Institute community to share stories, events and experiences. This online forum features segments including Pro Bytes, Real World Music, Africa Chatter, and MIIStales. Segments are posted in short, fun formats for all to enjoy. Participation is encouraged from any interested community members.
Coordinator: Pushpa Iyer
About: The goal of the Peacebuilders Fellowship is to give a voice to the voiceless. Fellows spend around two months in the field and collect stories of people who have experienced conflict. The hope is that the individual stories will give face to a “distant” conflict, providing empirical knowledge which in turn will empower people to act. Peacebuilder Fellows are therefore, storytellers for peace.
Coordinator: Max Troyer
About: Students in the Translation and Localization Management program keep blogs in their various languages of study. The individual blogs are listed below.
Coordinator: Eva Guðbergsdóttir
About: These are news stories coming from the Monterey Institute Communications Department. They cover current students, faculty, and staff, as well as alumni and events in the MIIS community.
Storytelling Nights on Campus
Coordinator: Various
About: These events are arranged on an ad-hoc basis to showcase experiences that members of the MIIS community have had. Storytelling nights have been arranged to talk about trips over spring break and J-Term, stories from Peace Corps, and have also included some Open Mic events.
Coordinator: Molly Lineberger
About: This is a learn-by-doing workshop in which participants hone their speaking and leadership skills in a no-pressure atmosphere. Members give impromptu and prepared talks on assigned topics, conduct meetings and develop skills related to timekeeping, grammar and parliamentary procedure. Then they evaluate one another’s presentations. This feedback process is a key part of the program’s success.
Language Learner Histories
Coordinator: Netta Avineri
About: TESOL/TFL students conducted 2 semi-structured audio-recorded interviews with a second language learner about his/her language learning history. The 1st interview was based on 10 questions provided by the professor, after which the students listened to the recording and created a “VIVID” (Visual & Verbal Interdependent) representation of what they heard. During the second interview, they shared and explained this “VIVID” representation with the learner, asking him/her to clarify and expand upon what was shared during the first interview. The students then analyzed the data according to particular themes and issues that emerged, providing a detailed analysis in light of SLA concepts and teaching/learning issues. Future courses will build on this framework to create a collection of language learner histories in a variety of digital storytelling formats. (This was part of Visiting Professor of Applied Linguistics Netta Avineri’s Spring 2014 Second Language Acquisition (SLA) course. The photo above is one example of the VIVID representations students created for the assignment.)
Voices of the Class
Coordinator: Maggie Peters
About: Each year in the fall, incoming students are asked to answer four simple prompts, which are then compiled and integrated into a skit during orientation. The goal is simple: to hear from as many of the incoming class as possible. Responses to the prompts can be any shape or size—a story, a poem, a rap. The prompts are: 1.) I am. . . 2.) What keeps you up at night? 3.) Where are you from and how has it impacted who you are today? 4.) Tell us something about yourself that people would never guess just by looking at you.
What do you do when someone asks you the loaded question, “Where are your from……wait, where are you really from?” This can be a challenging question, especially in a world of multi and complementing identities. Borders and nationalities don’t necessarily define us; they are constructs, inconstant and potentially stifling.
