No Language Barrier

In the Spring semester of 2012, Mandarin Chinese, French, Portuguese, and Spanish will be offered by the Language Institute, which is part of the Department of Language and Literature department for credit and non-credit courses at the Texas A&M International University campus. Arabic, Italian, and English as Second Language classes are also offered through the semesters for all TAMIU students and the community interested in learning a new language.

The Language Institute used to be exclusively for ESL, which has six levels of intensive courses and are available for academically professional students, but as of January 2011 the Language Institute came part of the Department of Language and Literature. ESL classes are offered twice a semester because they are divided into two small intensive courses focused in the academic English. In effect, classes that were offered for non-credit are now offered for credit. Some of the credit courses that are usually offered are French, Portuguese, and Spanish. Mandarin Chinese is currently offered at TAMIU. Italian and Arabic were offered in the past, but just as other language courses these are not offered every semester because of the lack of Professors available.

These foreign languages are offered to expand and enrich students' knowledge of other cultures. It is not only to enrich the student as a person, but also helps every student majoring in anything to progress and expand in their career and communicate effectively in other parts of the world. As Lisa Gardner, the Director of International Language Institute mentioned, "If you're going into teaching, you're going to learn about the language structure…If you're into business will definitely help you broad your job prospects…If you're going into any kind of field is going to help you understand the world better." The Language Institute benefits the community in general, corporations, agencies, and businesses because these courses can be provided on their sites.

For more Information students and the public may contact Lisa Gardner Flores at lflores@tamiu.eduor in Pellegrino Hall 302E

(Sandy Lugo may be contacted at sandylugoespinoza@dusty.tamiu.edu)