Language School - Midd students examine life beyond the holy oath

Author: Dina Magaril

Most students have heard about Middlebury College's renowned Summer Language Schools long before they even set foot on campus. Rumors of the intense seven-to-nine-week programs flood the campus at the beginning of each school year, and students who participated in the schools over the summer have much to say to prove those rumors of work and play - without English, of course - true.

Middlebury currently offers instruction in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish and the newly added Portuguese. Upon entering language school in June, students take the infamous "No English Spoken Here" Language School oath. This stays with both students and faculty throughout their program. The students eat meals, study, play sports, sing, dance and sometimes even dream in their language of study.

According to Michael Geisler, dean of the Language Schools, the program is successful chiefly because of the total immersion into a language. "[At language school] the students swim in Russian and hike in Chinese," Geisler joked. Class sizes vary, said Geisler: The smaller ones have around five students and larger classes, typically in Spanish, have as many as 16. In addition to the undergraduate program, Middlebury offers graduate and doctorate programs of instruction.

"Language School was actually started as a graduate non-Middlebury program," Geisler said. The original goal was to provide courses for those who couldn't physically go to their target country of study. "It was World War One [when Language School started] and sometimes it was just not a possibility because of economic constraints," said Geisler.

He added that he believes those students in Language School often come out with a better grasp of the language than those that go abroad. "When you go to Europe you're bound to run into Americans, and you will probably speak English at one time or another," Geisler said. At Language School, with the English language banned, such an occurrence is nearly impossible.

A typical language day consists of three to five hours of language instruction and all meals are eaten with students from each particular language. Each department sets up various cultural activities to incorporate the language outside of the classroom.

The Arabic School strongly emphasizes Arabic culture in their curriculum, and students even immerse themselves in the text of the Qu'ran. The Chinese School students practice Tai Chi and Chinese chess in addition to their strong commitment to instruction in Mandarin. After giving their engagement d'honneur, the French School students enjoy the pleasures of French cinema, the French choir and even a cabaret.

The oldest of the schools, the German Language School, was the first of its kind, established in 1915 and held in Pearson's Hall. The German school recently introduced German for Singers, a program that combines musical performance training with language instruction. The Italian School students often frequent the Italian-style café that serves up delicious gelatos and espressos.

The newest addition to the language schools, formed in 2003, is the Portuguese School. One unique aspect of this program is the Portuguese class for Spanish speakers that is offered.

This past summer the Spanish School had its own soccer team on top of offering dance instruction in salsa, meringue and tango. Jeff Olson, a junior who attended the Spanish school last summer and plans to go to Buenos Aires in the spring, was very happy with his experience. He attended film classes almost every night and played on the Spanish School soccer team. He often frequented "Señor Arriba's" (Mr. Ups) with his professors. Olson made friends in the Spanish School but could not communicate with his friends from other language schools. "I waved to them but that was about it," he said. Olson mentioned the pronunciation workshops as particularly helpful to him.

"We were really close with the faculty. We lived with them and even went out to bars with them," said Olson.

Chris Bohorquez, another Middlebury junior who attended the Spanish Language School this past summer, agreed with Olson's sentiments. "Even though I knew Spanish prior to enrolling, I needed to improve on my grammar," he said when asked why he chose to attend the program. As for phone calls home, Bohorquez said he lucked out: "My father speaks Spanish so I wasn't breaking any rules."

When asked what was particularly memorable about Language School this past summer, Bohorquez mentioned Carnival Day and the dance parties the school threw for its students. "There was sangria at the grill," Bohorquez recalled fondly.

Not all the Language School students shared Bohorquez and Olson's sentiments. Alison Damick, a senior who studied at the Italian school said, "Language School is definitely what you make of it." Though she complimented her knowledgeable professors, she was disturbed by the "artificial environment" created by language schools. "As a Middlebury student it's very strange to be in your normal Middlebury context but under these imposed pretenses," Damick said.

Russian Language School students were able to balance out their intense schedules through a typically Russian spirit. "There was definitely a lot of drinking going on in fifth-floor Gifford," said Lelia Yerxa, a senior who attended language school in the summer of 2003. Karaoke nights were another memorable experience that Yerxa recalled from her summer.

Though students of different languages were not supposed to communicate, one Middlebury junior noted that relationships did form outside of the language confines. "There were some Italian/Spanish and Spanish/French dating going on. It was mostly in the romance languages," commented the student.

Perhaps one of the most intense programs offered at the language school was that of Beginning Arabic. "I worked every day for nine weeks," said James Gorski '07.5. In the end Gorski said the hard work paid off. "It was definitely an intense experience," he said, "but [you] can expect to speak Arabic proficiently by the end of the summer.'