Department of English and Foreign Languages
Jill Moyer Sunday, M.A., Chair
Minors
Overview
The Spanish program at Waynesburg University is designed to offer students study in the language along with an immersion experience in Seville, Spain (Semester in Spain). Students are required to take at least six credits of Spanish on campus before participating in the study abroad program. Students must also take a placement exam before beginning their program at Waynesburg to determine proper placement. In order to finish the minor, students must successfully complete 21 hours of Spanish with at least six (6) hours of college level instruction outside of the study abroad credits. Students can choose between study abroad programs in Spain or in Costa Rica according to their own interests and needs. Both programs offer service opportunities and also prepare students for service trips to Spanish speaking countries.
The Spanish program is committed to empower students with the linguistic and cultural skills that will allow them to succeed in the 21st century. In order to achieve this goal, the Spanish program has delineated the following outcomes:
- Help students, especially those who have completed the basic and intermediate cycle of classes on campus, reach a level of proficiency that corresponds with the ACTFL guidelines for the intermediate-high/advanced-low level.
- Allow students to develop an enduring respect for Judeo-Christian values, a commitment to service, and a foundation of life-long learning.
- Encourage students to recognize lifestyles, traditions, and rituals of diverse cultures.
- Develop the students’ ability to communicate in an interpersonal and presentational manner using Spanish.
- Develop the students’ ability to interpret texts (oral and written) in Spanish.
- Equip students with the necessary linguistic skills that allow them to take a substantial number of content classes during their study abroad experience.
- Guide students through the selection process for content classes in their study abroad semester.
- Recognizing the importance of cultural literacy, the Spanish program strives to develop interdisciplinary classes at the intermediate and advanced levels that invite students to make connections between Latin America, Spain, and the United States.
- Particularly at the intermediate and advanced levels, the program intends to expose students to the most significant episodes of historical and political relations between Latin America and the United States.
- The program expects to allow students to gain knowledge about laws, technology, and economics in Latin America and Spain.
- The program is committed to the development of critical thinking skills that use Spanish as the fundamental language of communication and integrate cultural difference.
- The Spanish program encourages students to make connections between service options domestically and abroad, the different facets of Hispanic culture, and interpersonal, interpretive and presentational communication in Spanish.