Nelson Earns Statewide Teaching Award

By Sid Robinson

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Terri Nelson, associate professor of world languages at California State University, San Bernardino, received the 2004 Outstanding Teacher Award from the California Language Teachers Association (CLTA) at the organization’s annual meeting held April 15-18 in Monterey, Calif.

Nelson received the award for her excellence in teaching, her work with high school language teachers in the Inland Empire and her outstanding record of professional service. She helped establish Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Advancement of Second Language Acquisition (CASLA), which provides scholarships to local high school students majoring or minoring in language study, and which also funds language teachers who wish to improve their teaching skills.

Nelson also developed the Internet activities for Volilà, a first-year French language textbook distributed nationally. Additionally, in collaboration with CSUSB Prof. Walter C. Oliver, she developed the French version of an on-line murder mystery, Meurtre à Cinet (Murder in Cinet) that received an honorable mention (out of 182 submissions world-wide) from the Paul Allen Foundation for the best on-line course. Nelson and Oliver funded CASLA by donating half of their royalties from the murder mystery CD-ROM, helping to fund projects for the center.

The statewide CTLA award follows Nelson’s Outstanding Teacher Award from the Inland Empire Foreign Language Association (IEFLA), which she won in 2003.

For more information, please contact the CSUSB public affairs office at (909) 880-5007.