Hitachi Sister Cities Host Family Search, August 1 - 3

We are still looking for a few good host families for our Hitachi students who will be here the first week of August. If any of your families, or families that you know, are interested in this golden Birmingham Sister City tradition, please email Scotty
(rscolso@ci.birmingham.al.us) as soon as convenient. Please spread the word! Information can be found below.
 
Thanks,
Kristin Olson
 
Economic Development, intern
Mayor's Office
Ph: 205-254-2501
Cell: 256-503-9148

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Please see the below information about AITC upcoming seminars on Website Design for the Global Marketplace.
http://www.aitc.ua.edu/website-design-series
 
The seminars are free.

Upcoming Trade Events

• Website Design for the Global Marketplace Seminar Series:
  Small Business Strategies for Targeting International Customers
  Did you miss this event in Montgomery, Enterprise, Birmingham, or Huntsville?  You still have 3 more opportunities to participate:
  • April 22 – Gadsden – Location - TBA
  • May 6 – Florence
  • May 13 - Mobile

The Alabama International Trade Center, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Commerce, is presenting a series of seminars throughout Alabama that will teach small businesses how to leverage their online presence to find and fulfill international orders.  The seminars will be offered in the following locations: Montgomery, Enterprise, Birmingham, Huntsville, Gadsden, and Florence.
Download the Website Design for a Global Marketplace event flyer here.
Participants will learn:
• Simple, inexpensive modifications that will improve your website’s ability to attract and retain customers
• How to refine websites to specifically target international customers through website internationalization, regionalization and localization
• Best practices and techniques related to website translation
• Proactive promotion of websites overseas
• Leveraging internet tools to target foreign markets and track inquiries
• International eCommerce options, risks and foreign payment mechanisms
 

Carolyn Turner
International Trade Specialist
Alabama International Trade Center
The University of Alabama
AITC Tel: (205) 348-7621
AITC Fax: (205) 348-6974
Birmingham Tel/Fax: (205) 467-2165
Email: cturner@aitc.ua.edu
Website: www.aitc.ua.edu

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Tim Cook - UAB FALL Distance Learning - Japanese

 This coming fall semester, I will be teaching a distance learning version of Japanese for UAB credit and I'm hoping that it will work out for interested people who haven't been able to take Japanese before. The course will be delivered entirely through Internet, but unlike most online courses that allow students to access it at their convenience, this course will require students to set aside 20 min a week, at the same time every week, in order to participate in online conversations in Japanese with real people. It will also require participation in online videoconferences once or twice a month. The videoconferences will be every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 9:00-9:30 a.m. The main content is taught through the videoconferences. If students are not themselves assigned to participate live on a given day, they can view that lesson as an online video after the live event, but before the next live videoconference.
 
For more information, go to http://www.uab.edu/foreignlang/nihongocast/.
 
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I'm very excited about this and think students will be too.
 
Thanks much,
 
Tim Cook
 
 
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Timothy M. Cook, PhD
University of Alabama at Birmingham                        Phone: (205) 934-4961
SOPH Instructional Media Group                              Cell: (205) 790-2794
Ryals Public Health Bldg., Room 120                          Fax: (205) 975-5484
1665 University Blvd.                                    E-mail: timcook@uab.edu
Birmingham, AL 35294-0022                        http://homepage.uab.edu/timcook
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Adjunct faculty in Japanese
UAB Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures             Phone: (205) 934-4652
Humanities Bldg., Room 413A                                  Fax: (205) 934-1944
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Japan Meets World - Japanese and Western classical and traditional music

My name is Shawn Wyckoff and I recently created a program with violinist Maria Kaneko Millar (both Juilliard graduates) called Japan Meets World.   The program – performed by our group Silver Rootson flute, violin & cello – explores the intersection between Japanese music and the Western World.  It includes Japanese and Western classical and traditional music as well as works composed by Maria for violin, flute, cello, voice and dance.

Japan Meets World has been performed for the United Nations (NYC), Embassy of Japan in Canada (Ottawa), Japan Foundation (Toronto), Ana Tzarev Gallery (NYC), University of Calgary and Kaede Cultural Society (Calgary).  After our concert in Ottawa, Ambassador Nishida (Japanese Ambassador to Canada) greeted the audience with: "I enjoyed today's music very, very much! The presentation by these three great musicians so successfully represents Japan today: not only beautiful, refined, exotic but also dynamic, inclusive, powerful and fresh."

For info about the concert and my group, please click on the following links:

-Japan Meets World reviewtitled The Day the Crane Flew (in Japanese)
-Japan Meets World audio & video selections
-Japan Meets World audience testimonials
-Japan Meets World concert program
-Silver Roots flyerand info

We are setting our touring schedule now and are will be available for performances in your area in February & March 2011 (flexible). Let me know if you would like any additional information!

212-690-2195
www.silverrootsmusic.com