New program to offer language instruction

A new language program on campus will give international students the opportunity to teach their native languages to the Augustana community. 

Language ambassadors will teach lessons in Portuguese and Mandarin to interested students, faculty and staff. Faculty are also considering adding Urdu or Amharic.

The Bilingual Resources and Global Dialogue Exchange, referred to as Bridge, started last fall as a group project in Reading Augustana, a course taught by Janet Blank-Libra.

Junior Nina Luz brought the idea to her group after talking with fellow international students about job opportunities on campus. 

“At the time, I was trying to learn Urdu, and I was talking to [a friend] about how it would be so nice if she could teach me or something,” Luz said. “I was like, oh, it would be good if we had a program where the students could teach the languages because we actually need employment for international students.”  

According to Luz, the program is centered around three goals: providing employment opportunities for international students, giving students an opportunity to learn languages not offered by the language department, and bringing the international and domestic student communities together. 

Pilar Cabrera, professor of Spanish, said Blank-Libra approached her about Luz’s group project to discuss if such a program could collaborate with the language department. 

“We all felt that it was a great initiative, and we would be very happy to help,” Cabrera said.  

Luz was an Augustana Student Association (ASA) senator at the time, and drafted a resolution based on her group’s project to receive funding. According to Luz, ASA approved funding to begin with three ambassadors, with the potential for expansion to include more languages in the future.

She also chose which professors would be responsible for selecting the student tutors.

Language ambassadors are required to be current students and native or fluent speakers. In addition to their applications and interviews, each ambassador will take a previous version of the First Year Seminar English grammar test and create a sample lesson plan before being hired.

The faculty responsible for choosing the tutors will also receive a writing sample in an applicant’s native language, then a non-applicant native speaker will look over the sample.

While Augustana’s language department has offered a wider range of languages in the past, the department currently offers French and Spanish, as well as American Sign Language. 

“That is our hope as a department — an expansion, indeed, of quality language instruction,” Cabrera said. 

Additionally, Cabrera noted that participation in the program could act as a student’s language requirement if they are able to pass the College-Level Examination Program.

The languages selected for the Bridge program align with the nationally recognized critical languages. The U.S. Department of State has outlined 15 languages they consider critical and of “strategic importance to the United States’ national security and economic prosperity.” 

The list of critical languages includes Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic, Hindi, Portuguese and Urdu.

“Critical languages, it doesn’t mean that it’s hard or something. It’s just the languages that are not really spoken in the U.S.,” Luz said.

It just so happens, Cabrera said, that Augustana has an international student body who are fluent in many of those languages.

Junior Adam Brachman was a member of Luz’s class project and said he supported it because he wanted to help students think beyond the Midwest. 

“The whole point is to get Augustana students thinking and learning about other cultures outside of their own, and potentially even someday going to those places,” Brachman said.

Brachman has been studying Japanese on his own and received a Critical Language Scholarship to study in Japan this past summer. Since returning, he said his interest in studying language and culture has only grown. 

Christina Sanchez, the executive director of the Center for Global Engagement, said she believes Bridge will give international students the ability to act as a “cultural informant” and spark curiosity on campus to learn about other languages and cultures.

According to Sanchez, several of the student job opportunities on campus are work-study positions, limiting options for the international student population. 

“An international student who cannot take federal money is not eligible to be hired into that type of a role, and that does restrict where some of the placements are or where they’re able to pursue opportunities,” Sanchez said. 

However, Sanchez said this program is a way for international students learning about the U.S. to “return the gift” and allow the Augustana community to learn about their home countries. 

“We can’t get all around the world, so we bring the world to Augie,” Sanchez said.