by Julia Gardner All Wesleyan students remember how tough the college application process was– and the various ways we spent our time avoiding it. Ting Tsai, now a sophomore, calls language learning her 16 year-old self’s own way of “procrastinating without procrastinating.” Growing up in Taiwan, Ting (any pronouns) has always spoken Hakka and Mandarin…
Language Learning
The Language Fair: Bringing the Language Learning Community at Wesleyan Together
by Oleksandra Volakova The Language Fair, organized by the Language Ambassadors at the Fries Center and other passionate Wesleyan students, welcomed visitors with music in various languages, and activities to learn more about them. The students could start their exploration by talking to representatives of the Study Abroad office or Wesleyan Linguistics club, writing calligraphy,…
The Critical Language Scholarship: Application Due November 19 at 8 pm!
by Zaynah Almasri Applications for the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) are closing soon, on Nov 19, 2024 at 8:00pm eastern time! The CLS is a wonderful opportunity for American college students interested in studying languages and engaging with cultures that are vital to America’s involvement with the world. Participants are able to spend eight to…
Language Buddies: Don’t Lose Your Language Skills Over the Summer!
Registration for the Language Buddies program is open for the summer break! Coordinated through the Fries Center for Global Studies, Language Buddies is a program that matches Wesleyan students, faculty, or staff members with one another to practice their language skills over academic breaks through a series of self-paced, online conversational activities. This initiative was…
Adventures Around the World for Children: Wes Students Volunteer at Russell Library for Intercultural Fair
by Oleksandra Volakova Traveling to ten different countries in four continents in less than two hours sounds impossible, but not for those who visited Russell Library on Saturday, April 27. At the “Adventures Around the World” event, children got a chance to get acquainted with different cultures, listen to other languages, and taste various international…
The Class Goes to the Museum
by Ana Pérez Gironés Teaching Spanish K-12: Second Language Pedagogy (SPAN 204/EDST 204/GBST 318) is a service-learning CLAC course in which students learn about basic concepts of language learning and teaching while engaging in supporting Spanish classes at Lawrence School, one of the Middletown public elementary schools. During the first half of the semester, Wesleyan…
Power of Language Week Call for Events: Focusing on Multilingual Identities and Belonging
The Power of Language Week Committee is excited to announce that the event submission form for the upcoming Power of Language Week is now open! The Fries Center for Global Studies is proud to host the second annual Power of Language Week, celebrating the Bengali Language Movement and International Mother Language Day. The Bengali Language Movement began in East Pakistan, or East…
FLTA Series: Introducing Amira Ounis
Hello! I am Amira Ounis from Constantine, Algeria. Constantine is one of the ancient cities in the world. It is known with its seven hanged bridges that date back to ancient epochs. I graduated from a Teachers’ College in 2017. Since then, I occupied a position of a primary teacher of English in high school.…
Perspectives on the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) in India from Wesleyan CLS Alumni
article by Julissa Mota, ’26, Fellowships Assistant at the Fries Center for Global Studies, Fall 2022 The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is an immersive summer program that provides US citizens 8-10 weeks of language learning at various study abroad institutes around the world. These institutes promote rapid language gains in 14 different languages essential…
Changes to the Middle Eastern Studies Minor
Established in 2010, the Middle Eastern Studies Minor is an interdisciplinary program that offers students interested in a Middle East concentration with a curriculum that integrates government, history, religion, art history, and language study. The minor has historically required eight credits, including two language courses at the intermediate level. After a re-evaluation of the curriculum…