Recipe for a New Language: World Languages I

Way down near the end of the On-Campus Course Schedule sits a description of a course that could change your life. Sure, you enrolled at Prescott College expecting epic adventures and fresh perspectives and by those standards a course titled World Languages I seems a bit tame. Until you start thinking about how much impact learning a new language can have on your life during and after college. 

World Languages I is offered every semester so that you can create an Independent Study course in any of the world's 6,000 languages that you deem necessary to your global citizenship. The ingredients for a successful IS that aims at conversational proficiency in a language other than English are these:

§  Your motivation and commitment to learning a new language. We hear all the time "I've always wanted to learn to speak ____," whether it's a matter of family heritage or simply a desire to connect across cultures. Once you have the drive to really communicate with people in a new language, you're a good candidate for World Languages I.

§  A set of multi-media learning materials and a clear study plan.  Because you won't be in a traditional class led by a teacher, your learning resources and objectives will have to be identified in advance of the IS. The Learning Commons Coordinator helps you put together the best available resources and plan. Her role as instructor of World Languages I is to co-create the IS study contract with you.

§  A fluent speaker of the language you want to study (known as the 'target language'). This speaker may or may not act as the mentor for your IS. The important thing is that we identify a speaker who can meet with you in-person or remotely for at least three hours per week during the semester to converse with you in the target language. The Learning Commons can offer a qualified speaker a small stipend (comparable to a mentor's stipend) even if s/he is not the official mentor for the IS. 

To register for World Languages I in any semester requires the signature of the course instructor. That's because typically each student enrolled in World Languages I has a unique goal and study plan. We have to determine in advance if we have the right ingredients for success in each case. When multiple students want to study the same language at the same level, we put together a small group IS, if appropriate.

World Languages I is offered for lower division credit because it focuses on beginning-level language study only. Students who want to study at the intermediate or advanced levels or who want to do intensive language study abroad should also contact the Learning Commons Coordinator for help. To date we have arranged successful IS courses in Spanish, Russian, Japanese, and French. Which language have you always wanted to learn?