王梅："你好，你要去公园吗？"
李冰："是的，我正要去，要一块儿走吗？"
王梅："好啊，听说公园里有个冰雕展呢！"
李冰："是的，我就是为此而去的。"
Do you sometimes wonder what itwould be like to be able to understand this conversation, or any conversation notin English? One of the greatest cross-cultural skills that you can develop inlife is to learn another language. In fact, when you take the effort to learnthe language of a culture, the people of that culture normally open up and becomemore interested in interacting with you. This may be one of the most importantfeatures of the GO Teams that travel every summer, as each team member tries tolearn the language to some extent.
So how can we offer additionallanguages to students who are already busy taking college courses? Somestudents do not have room in their academic program to add much else; if astudent is already taking 18 credits, how can they find space in their programto take French? With this problem in mind, Northland’s Center for GlobalOpportunities began a Language Mentoring program in the fall of 2009. Thisprogram features languages that are not part of the normal universitycurriculum, but are offered to students, faculty, staff members, and friendsfrom the community for the purpose of personal enrichment. These courses meet oncea week in the evening, and focus on conversational skills. In addition to theclass time, each language hosts a “language corner” where students can practicetheir conversational skills. At a nominal cost of only $50 per semester, thisprogram is an economical way to learn.
For the 2011–2012 school year, the LanguageMentoring program will offer Mandarin Chinese and French. For more informationabout Northland’s Language Mentoring program, please contact the Center forGlobal Opportunities by clicking here.