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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 10/4/06 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
September 25, 2006 New classes expand language landscape Demand leads to offerings like Italian, Arabic, Hmong By Kelly McBride
"I thought, 'Ooh hey, that's something interesting,'" said Rihn, a business administration major. "So I actually dropped an accounting class and enrolled in Arabic."
Rihn isn't alone. Area high schools and colleges increasingly are redefining how they think about foreign language offerings, whether Arabic, Italian or Hmong.
In some cases, it's a practical move aimed at preparing students for an increasingly global economy. In other instances, languages like Italian have become more popular for personal enrichment or travel.
Whatever the impetus, educators say the change is tangible and likely to continue.
At UWGB, this is the first semester of Arabic instruction. Hmong language classes started two years ago, and staff could add Italian as soon as next fall, said David Coury, associate professor of humanistic studies.
"I think there's a general need for us to expand our language offerings at the university," Coury said. "There's been an expanded interest in Italian. Strangely enough, it's one of the fastest-growing languages as far as colleges and universities go."
While Spanish, French and German — what Coury terms the "traditional big three" — still are the most commonly taught languages with the highest enrollment, Italian rounds out the top four overall, he said. U.S. involvement in the Middle East has made Arabic increasingly popular as well.
St. Norbert College in De Pere began offering noncredit Arabic language instruction about a year ago. The school's Language Services department has offered Italian classes for a few years, started Chinese instruction in January and began Hebrew classes this fall, said director of language services Marcella O'Malley.
"Everybody wants to do better in their job, travel more," O'Malley said. "And people have the sense that ... you need this to be able to deal with the world of tomorrow. With the businesses, you need to know Chinese."
One of the advantages of post-secondary curriculum — and especially noncredit offerings — is that course choices are fluid and relatively easy to change, O'Malley said. Her department has a teacher ready to teach Portuguese, for example, if student and community demand warrants it.
But even at the more inflexible K-12 level, some schools and districts are re-examining what languages they want to teach. No immediate changes are in store, but the Green Bay School District has considered adding Chinese and Italian, said David Zadnik, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.
"I think we really have to start thinking globally now, in terms of preparing kids ... When we surveyed our middle school students recently, it came out that those two languages are pretty high ... in terms of interest from the kids," Zadnik said.
District staff and school board members also have discussed the possibility of adding Oneida or Hmong to its languages of instruction because of the local connections. For now, however, they're delaying any changes but are keeping a close eye on French and German enrollments.
At Green Bay Notre Dame Academy, students may soon be able to take Russian, said school principal Mark Schmitt. A recent student survey revealed interest in the offering, Schmitt said, and Notre Dame has secured a teacher.
Finding qualified instructors can be a big hurdle, Zadnik said, as can budget constraints that may limit curriculum offerings. The earliest the district could see any additional offerings would be the 2008-09 school year, Zadnik said.
After taking three years of French in high school, Rihn said learning Arabic is a completely different experience. She hopes the added language instruction will work in her favor.
"I hope it gives me some kind of different edge," she said. "You do find a lot of students who are taking French and Spanish and German. (I hope) to be a little different."
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