Friday, March 29th, 2024
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New Spanish Heritage Course

Spanish speakers can learn to read and write the language.

Dr. Ana Börger-Greco

Say “Hola!” to the new Spanish for Heritage Speakers course being offered this fall.  MU’s Department of Foreign Languages is offering a course that focuses on reading and writing skills for students who grew up speaking Spanish and English at home.

The beginner and intermediate Spanish courses at the University introduce the basic principles of learning to speak, understand, write and read. Spanish for Heritage Speakers (SPAN 279) will provide students who already speak and understand the language with the writing and reading skills needed for 300-level courses.

“This new course is aimed specifically at our Spanish heritage speakers and addresses the unique skills they already possess and the specific learning needs they have,” says Dr. Ana Börger-Greco. As a member of the steering committee that crafted the Bold Path, Börger-Greco feels the addition of the course embodies the University’s goals by engaging learners to contribute positively to contemporary and future workplaces and communities, ensuring long-term success and embracing agility.

The course can take the place of the beginner and intermediate courses required in the Spanish major or minor and it can also count toward the Latino Studies minor. With the successful completion of this course, students can go on to Composition and Oral Expressions I (SPAN 351). If students do not wish to continue formal studies of the language after this course, they will still be able to carry the skills learned into any formal context, such as business.

Similar courses for heritage speakers are offered at West Chester University, Kutztown University, Bloomsburg University and East Stroudsburg University; however, they require students to take the beginner and intermediate classes as prerequisites. The Department of Foreign Languages at MU is putting students on the fast track to success by responding “to the urgent and emerging needs of our growing regional, urban and metropolitan communities.”

At this experimental stage, there will be one section offered with no more than 25 seats. More sections may be offered in later semesters, depending on the course’s success this fall.

SPAN 279 is open to any student who can speak and understand spoken Spanish with ease. No formal study of the language is required. Students interested in the course should see Dr. Ana Börger-Greco or Daniel Mercado for more information.

2 replies on “New Spanish Heritage Course”

It is really nice and helpful to have a course like this one. A lot of students grow up speaking or hearing Spanish but they do not know how to write or speak it correctly. This class will help them develop multiple skills. For those English speakers, this course will encourage them to learn the language, because they will be surrounded by Spanish speaking students. The learning would be easier.

It is really nice and helpful to have a course like this one. A lot of “Hispanics” or Latino young students, grow up speaking and hearing Spanish but they do not know how to write it or speak it correctly.

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