DU Students Relish the Opportunity to Learn a New Language at Home and Abroad
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Junior returnees and Sophomores who are contemplating studying abroad the following year are invited to the annual Global Gala to celebrate the experience of living overseas. One of the factors that colors the students’ experience abroad most vividly is the language they communicate in daily, which is oftentimes not English. Students come back excited about travel! Dr. Victor Castellani Chair of the Department of Languages and Literatures
Transcript of DU Students Relish the Opportunity to Learn a New Language at Home and Abroad
Junior returnees and Sophomores who are contemplating studying abroad the following year are invited to the annual Global Gala to celebrate the experience of living overseas.
One of the factors that colors the students’ experience abroad most vividly is the language they communicate in daily, which is oftentimes not English.
Students come back excited about travel!Dr. Victor CastellaniChair of the Department of Languages and Literatures
Members of the DU Tango Club perform at the Global Gala.
Language is a way for students to connect more intimately with a culture.
Students want to understand their environment, and they can’t do that if they can’t communicate. Otherwise, you’re a tourist.Dr. M. Kathleen MahnkeDirector of the Center for World Languages & Culture
While a small number of students are enrolled in the Chinese language program at DU, it is required that all Chinese minors study abroad in China.
In fact, Castellani says that nearly 100% of students studying Chinese at DU do study abroad in China.
He would like to see a similar requirement transfer over to the other language programs in the Department.
Students watch a performance of traditional Chinese drums at the Global Gala.
Tory Rust, a Communications Major who manages her own photography company on the side, studied Spanish in Madrid. Now back in Denver, she wants to learn
French. She believes this new language will help her break into the fashion industry as a professional photographer.
Guests at the Global Gala view photographs taken by DU students abroad.
About 10 percent of students choose to study
abroad in countries where the local language is not taught at DU, like
Botswana.
Lauren, a Junior at DU, looks at the Study Abroad board in the Delta Zeta house, which marks the spots across the globe where members chose to study abroad in the 2012-2013 academic year.
According to a survey conducted by the Office of International Education during Fall Quarter of 2012, 48 percent of students mention language acquisition as a very important reason for choosing to study abroad.
“I can’t stress enough how important it is that students have this foundation before going abroad,” says Mahnke.
According to Castellani, “We don’t like to send our students abroad without a foundation of two years of college-level study,” like Ali.
Ali, a Junior, studied abroad in Sevilla, Spain. She took Spanish classes every quarter leading up to her time in Sevilla.
Shawna, who studied in Valparaiso, Chile, skypes withher friend, Simón, a local Chilean she met while abroad.
Students like Shawna continue to find value in the language theystudy abroad as they maintain the friendships they developedoverseas once they return home.
The Center for World Languages and Cultures provides supplemental instruction beyond the traditional language classes offered by the Department of Languages and Literatures.
Free one-on-one language instruction is available to DU students and the wider community from Monday to Friday at the CWLC.
The CWLC sees more students visiting its language tutors (offered in Spanish, French, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Russian, and German) in the month of January than during Fall Quarter.
Mahnke attributes this interest to study abroad returnees eager to keep up with the language they’ve acquired.
The CWLC is keen to hear from students wanting to learn less commonly taught languages. If at least 10 students express interest in learning a language, then the CWLC will begin work on developing a program for its instruction.
If students ask, we make it happen.MahnkeDirector of CWLC
Domestic students are paired up with international students studying at DU. This way, DU students can experience study abroad from both perspectives, and help
someone who is developing their English language skills in our own backyard.
Each quarter, the Office of Internationalization organizes the Pioneer Partnership Program.
DU students can also learn a new language independently through one of the several language-learning programs available on Penrose Library’s online database.
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