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Brazilpod
About Us
Podcasting Team from the University of Texas at Austin
Orlando Kelm Orlando Kelm

Orlando was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada but raised in Salt Lake City, Utah (his German father never could get used to the cold weather, so he moved further south).  He earned his Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley in 1989 and then went straight to the University of Texas at Austin, where he has been ever since.

Have you ever seen the Mormon missionaries with the white shirts and ties?  That's where Orlando got his start with Portuguese, serving in São Paulo from 1977 – 1979.  Since then he's picked up quite a bit of Spanish, and a little bit of Italian, Catalan, German, Japanese, and he's now taking a crack at some Chinese.  Those are more of a hobby, but then a little stargazing and a little guitar make for good hobbies too.

Professionally, you'll find him working a lot with business schools, focusing on language for professional purposes.

Home page: http://orlandokelm.wordpress.com
Email: orkelm@mail.utexas.edu

Vivian Flanzer Vivian Flanzer

Vivian Flanzer teaches Portuguese at the University of Texas at Austin, where she also supervises the Portuguese Language program.  She holds a Master's in Anthropology from Museu Nacional of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, a cidade maravilhosa, this carioca da gema now lives in Austin.  Whenever she can, she goes to Rio to visit her family and friends and to drink água de coco in Copacabana.

Email: vflanzer@mail.utexas.edu

TLTC TLTC

Given the large need for instructional materials in foreign language, the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas helped establish the Texas Language Technology Center (TLTC) . TLTC seeks to enhance foreign language instruction by sponsoring the development of instructional materials and to help disseminate these materials for all learners of foreign languages, with special emphasis on the less commonly taught languages. To date TLTC has supported projects in French, Italian, German, Russian, Persian, Arabic, and of course ours in Portuguese. TLTC is lead by its director, Carl Blyth (Associate Professor of French Linguistics) and its Project Manager, Karen Kelton (Senior Lecturer in the Department of French and Italian). In fact, Brazilpod has been created through the support of TLTC, with special contribution by TLTC’s web developer Nathalie Steinfeld.

LAITS LAITS

The Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services (LAITS) has helped support projects in the development of our Portuguese materials for years. From IT grants to the use of the recording facilities and expert technical support, LAITS has made it possible for less commonly taught languages like Portuguese to have a resource for development. LAITS main objective is to provide multimedia and technology support for the students of the University of Texas. As such the focus is always on the student’s application of the development projects. LAITS is led by its Director and Assistant Dean for Technology, Joe TenBarge and its Associate Director, James Henson.

Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Texas, because of the size of the university and the emphasis on Latin America, has one of the largest programs in Portuguese in the nation. We are able to offer a full range of courses in Portuguese language, linguistics, and literature, including programs at the undergraduate and graduate level. The Department also sponsors study abroad summer programs in Brazil, as well as a number of affiliated programs throughout the year. Every semester nearly 150 students are enrolled in Portuguese courses, all using the materials that we have created for Brazilpod.

UT CIBER

The Center for International Business Education and Research at the University of Texas has been active in supporting the development of Portuguese language materials for years. The aim of the center is to develop the internationalization of business education, including the language and cultural issues that are involved. UT’s CIBER is one of over 30 that are sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, whose mandate is to improve the global competitiveness of U.S. business professionals. Many of the development projects in Spanish and Portuguese at UT have been created with the support of the UT CIBER. The director of the UT CIBER is David Platt (Senior Lecturer in the Department of Accounting) and his Assistant Director is Deirdre Mendez.