MODERN LANGUAGES CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY
Posted on March 8, 2011
The Department of Modern
Languages and Cultures is celebrating 50 years of language teaching with
foreign films, a salsa dance workshop and a banquet honoring students with a
major or minor in Spanish. The film festival features six
movies with foreign-language themes. All begin at 7 p.m. in the Blaney Theater,
inside Steele Hall. Admission is free. In the series are: The “Salsa Night” will showcase
dance instructor and performer Ed Ribar, who will demonstrate the intricacies
of L.A.-style salsa from 8 p.m.-midnight March 29 in the Performance Center.
Admission and refreshments are free. The celebration concludes with
an anniversary dinner honoring outstanding language students from 6-9 p.m.
April 21 in the Kara Alumni House. Awards will be presented and a tango dance
performance is planned. French language classes first
were offered at Cal U in 1961. Before long, Spanish was added. Over the years
the department also has offered classes in Arabic, German and Russian. In the 1990s a series of classes
in culture were added to complement the language classes and help students
prepare for the Praxis exam administered to pre-service teachers. A
state-of-the-art language lab was set up in Old Main and faculty members,
mostly native speakers, were hired. Library additions were made to
reflect the growing interest in Latin American art and literature. Today, the department offers bachelor’s
degrees, dual degrees and minors. Through the years the
department has been a leader in offering study abroad, beginning with trips to
Spain, France and French-speaking Canada during the 1980s. Several years ago associate
professor Margarita Ribar, chair of the department, began leading full-immersion
trips, where students travel to a foreign country and attend intensive Spanish
classes for two weeks while living with a host family. Other students study abroad for
a semester or more while refining their language skills. The department offers
face-to-face tutoring, but also utilizes online learning and virtual language
labs that students can access from the privacy of their residence hall,
off-campus apartment or home. Students receive their assignments and
communicate with their professors online. “I know it sounds like
something from ‘Back to the Future,’ but that’s the way we teach languages
today,” Professor Ribar said.
Department History
