By Natalie Kim ’28 “Why memorize words you’re never going to use?” Learning a language can be really frustrating. In the U.S., English is by far the most commonly spoken language, and only around one in five people can speak anything else. Without people around you every day to practice speaking with, it’s hard to…
Foreign Language Teaching Assistants (FLTAs) visit Wesleyan for one year to study as visiting graduate students and enhance students’ language learning instruction. They work under the supervision of Wesleyan’s language learning departments and bring valuable cultural exchange to Wesleyan’s language community! This year, we welcomed 9 new FLTAs and 2 returning FLTAs. Hailing from France,…
By Charlotte Li ’28 My friend once told me that she feels sorry for her English-speaking friends. Not out of arrogance, but because they would never get to experience the funniest version of her. That version only exists when she speaks Mandarin. It was my freshman year, and we were still figuring out who we…
Blakemore Freeman Fellowships are awarded for advanced study of Chinese in Taiwan, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Khmer, Thai, and Vietnamese. Blakemore Fellowships are awarded for advanced study of Chinese in Beijing. Graduating seniors, college graduates, graduate students and early career professionals who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the United States, and who have completed (at minimum) the third…
The Fries Center for Global Studies is excited to inform you that, the application is now open for the 2026 Critical Language Scholarship Program! The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is an intensive language and cultural immersion summer study abroad opportunity for American college and university students to learn languages essential to America’s engagement with the world. Students spend eight to ten weeks over the summer studying one…
Each year, Wesleyan welcomes a group of Foreign Language Teaching Assistants (FLTA) from around the world to facilitate linguistic and cultural exchange! While here, the FLTAs will help teach their native language to Wesleyan students while also taking a few courses themselves. This year, we welcome 11 FLTAs from around the world, teaching Arabic, Chinese,…
by Oleksandra Volakova Every year, Wesleyan welcomes new FLTAs (Foreign Language Teaching Assistants) from all over the world – foreign students interested in teaching others their native language and immersing themselves into foreign culture. 11 people, coming from different backgrounds, help Wesleyan students to understand the culture and language better, becoming an irreplaceable support to…
by Baron Fisher After 18 hours of flight time, along with a 12-hour time difference, the first stop of my fall semester abroad landed me in Shanghai, China. I was too excited to be affected by jet lag just yet, but it was disorienting to have almost 2 days disappear from travel. Going forward, I…
by Oleksandra Volakova The very first event of International Education Week – a week celebrating cultures and languages all around the globe – was organized by representatives from various cultures worldwide. Wesleyan’s Foreign Language Teaching Assistants (FLTAs) collaborated with Fries Center for Global Studies to organize a FLTA Carnival – a festival featuring specific games,…
by Julia Gardner Interested in studying abroad, but not able to fit a full semester into your schedule? Many program providers also offer winter and summer study abroad experiences, and you can even transfer credits earned back to Wesleyan! Many winter abroad programs have deadlines throughout October or at the beginning of November. Some of…
