Language and Literature Department
Department of Foreign Language
Spanish Program Highlights
- Fall, 2006: New Spanish Major at Bethel College
- Fall, 2007: New Spanish Education Major at Bethel College
The new Spanish Major at Bethel College is likely the most exciting new program at the College. With the completion of the first summer program to Salamanca, Spain in 2006 and the implementation of the Dominican Republic ministry and language program coming in the Fall of 2007, there has never been so many Spanish ways to complete your Bethel College coursework.
Spanish is America’s Second Language
The demographic shift in the American population from monolingual to bilingual has been dramatic and it will continue in this way for generations to come. The fact that the fastest growing minority in the United States are Spanish-speaking individuals seems to indicate that Spanish will become the second language of the United States and this is why so many students want to learn that language and also why so many middle and high schools who are looking for people qualified to teach it.
Spanish at Bethel College
In our Spanish program, the lower level classes are designed to achieve proficiency in speaking and writing and the upper division courses emphasize reading, research, and critical thinking. Also, the new Spanish for Textual Proficiency course will foster a smooth transition from the proficiency-oriented introductory courses to the content-dense upper divisional ones by featuring readings from popular magazines, comic books, TV shows, movies and anything else in Spanish that you will encounter in cultures that speak the language.
Bethel College’s mission statement indicates that the college endeavors to build students who are prepared to provide leadership in the church and in the world. Equipping students to teach Spanish (or any discipline, for that matter) would certainly fit the bill. However, instructing students in the use of Spanish and in the culture and literature of Spanish-speaking nations will make them particularly well-suited to provide leadership in the future of this region and country given demographic patterns of immigration from South of the Border.
