John Hartmann, Ph.D.
Presidential Teaching Professor
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
jhartman@niu.edu
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John Hartmann, Ph.D. Presidential Teaching Professor Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
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Teaching
Learning Thai – or any foreign language – should be both enjoyable and life-enriching. Because the Thai language and culture are so different from what we find in the Western world, I use the internet (www.seasite.niu.edu/thai) to make the exotic sounds and rich images from authentic Thai sources easily available both inside and outside the classroom. In this way, I engage the learner and provide interactive activities geared toward language and culture competency. The use of the internet also entices learners to explore things Thai on their own and thereby to expand their horizons. By the end of the first year of intensive Thai, the student will be able to comprehend basic spoken and written Thai and to speak and write enough to function in practical situations. Students even learn how to cook and enjoy spicy, succulent Thai food. At the intermediate and upper levels, students begin to move into areas of their own interest and research needs by learning from authentic materials that include internet news, folk tales, short stories, pop music, movies, and, for the graduate student, selections from scholarly publications or literature.
In addition to teaching Thai language classes at all levels, I also spend a good deal of time enhancing the teaching and learning capacity of SEAsite pages for Thai, Lao and Tai minority languages spoken in Burma, China, and Vietnam and, in a way, become teacher to thousands of people all over the world who use the site to learn something about those ethnolinguistic groups (www.seasite.niu.edu/tai).
Research
Doing research is critical to the creation of new knowledge and keeping current in one’s field. The reputation of NIU as a research university with a world-class Center for Southeast Asian Studies and the only Center for Burma Studies in the West depends on funded programs for research and outreach programs. Research excites me, brings out the competitive spirit in me, keeps boredom at bay and promotes peace and understanding in far reaches of the globe that are seldom studied and little known. Because most of my research has been in the capacity of joint-PI (Principal Investigator), I have both the pleasure and stimulus of working with brilliant and helpful colleagues. My accomplishments would not have been possible without their advice, support and cooperation.
Current Research Projects, Grants and Interests
Pedagogy
A good deal of my research and grant activity has been as partner in the development of SEAsite with Professors Henry and Zerwekh of the Computer Science Department and Kip Thammavogsa, former student of mine and theirs, who has been critical to the success of both the Thai and Lao web pages. Kip is currently working with me on a new experiment in audio and video podcasting Thai on SEAsite that we have dubbed “PodThai,” an obvious pun on “Phat Thai,” the popular “Thai Fried Noodle” dish. The Title VI grant (2006-2010) awarded to the CSEAS calls for me to develop materials for business and travel in Thailand (2006-2008) in cooperation with former NIU M.A. student in Anthropology, Jennifer Weidman; and a second project (2008-2010) of an electronic dictionary of Lao to be undertaken in cooperation with Dr. Boike Rebein of Freiberg University, Germany and his Lao colleague, Sisouk Sayaseng, who jointly published a Lao-Deutch (German) dictionary in 2000 in Hamburg.
Grants
More recently , I have been awarded a 2-year (Jan. 2007-2009), $250,000 grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for “A Regional Approach to Spatial Analysis of Tai Toponyms in Southern China and Southeast Asia Using GIS (Geographic Information System).” The research will involve two NIU geography professors, Wei Luo and Fahui Wang, NIU Professor of Burmese Saw Tun, and a Lao-American independent researcher, Vinya Sysamouth. A Thai Ph.D. student in Political Science, Kanavee (Non), will be one of two graduate assistants working on the project; the second will be a Chinese graduate student in geography arriving from China in 2007. This research is a by-product of prior fieldwork in a 3-year (2000-2003), $85,000 project funded by the Henry Luce Foundation for “The Origins and Spread of Tai Irrigated Rice Technology and Culture in Southern China.”
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