World languages and cultures students at this year’s COSS (Celebration of Student Scholarship) took the expression “out of the classroom learning” to a new level. Students completing a PEAK course for Chinese, German, or French language led their peers in language immersion sessions. These sessions were modeled after the immersion teaching approach at Concordia Language Villages (CLV), a program of the college in Bemidji, Minn.
The spirit of Concordia Language Villages is to dive headfirst into language and integrate it into all parts of daily activities. This same approach was used as students planned different sessions for Chinese, German, French, and Spanish. Those languages were chosen as Concordia offers majors and minors in each of those languages. Students across campus were invited to experience a new language or learn new things in a language they knew. Along with students, members of the world languages and cultures faculty also joined in the sessions.
The Chinese session was led by Cassie Bergman, a senior Chinese student, and Shih-Jou Pan, this year’s Chinese Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant. The pair led students in an exploration of the origins of Chinese characters.
The French session taught students the game Voleur (thief) and was led by Rachel Anderson and Mariame Ghayout, both students in the French program. Students received the game’s explanation fully in French before spending the session trying to steal markers without getting tagged out.
The German session offered two different activities. The first introduced students to a song that is part of every weekend program at Waldsee, the German Village at CLV. Students learned new vocab and then were led in song by German students Tasha Branden, Bree Sheridan, and Trey Zeltinger. The second activity offered students the opportunity to learn Fraktur, the old German script system of writing.
The Spanish session was led by Megan Weber, a Spanish student. She taught students several different line dances that are featured at the Spanish Language Village, El Lago del Bosque. Weber, like many of the other students who taught in these sessions, has worked weekend and summer programs at the Villages.
This experience was designed as a way to introduce students to highly interactive and dynamic language learning activities that blend the target language and cultures. Starting out the session, Marty Fankhanel, the associate director of programs for CLV, came to meet students, share a little about CLV for those who have never been, and talk about opportunities for students to become involved. Fankhanel then jumped in and joined the students in the different language sessions.
The department of world languages and cultures would like to thank Marty and the Villages for their help in setting up this event and is excited to begin planning its next collaboration with Concordia Language Villages for the annual WLC Fall Retreat. The department is also extremely proud of the hard work and dedication put into this event by the students who led it to success.
Written by Emma Skuza ’22, world languages and cultures administrative assistant