In this blog post, we will compare our experiences and outcomes as two primary Spanish majors, secondary linguistics majors, and TESOL certificate students. We hope to shed light on the opportunities for students pursuing these studies and potential career paths. 

Kaylie’s Experience:

Upon arriving at UMass as a Spanish major, I always planned on adding a second major or minor, but I did not have any ideas as to what that second course of study might be. After researching majors that pair well with Spanish, I thought Linguistics was the most relevant and interesting choice, so I added it as a secondary major. After looking more into the minors and certificates that coincided with Linguistics, I chose to work towards obtaining the TESOL certificate, as I thought teaching English to Spanish speakers would be fascinating. Pursuing this certificate completely transformed my experience as a Spanish major at UMass. Through taking classes for both of my majors and my TESOL certificate, I learned how languages were acquired, which helped me learn and teach Spanish. In addition, these classes informed me about language attitudes and linguistic discrimination involving Spanish speakers in the US. Feeling passionate about fighting these injustices I was learning about, I was inspired to work towards a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn languages with adequate resources geared toward their needs. During the spring semester of my junior year, I studied abroad in Alicante, Spain. Through my study abroad program, I had the opportunity to teach two English classes in a Spanish elementary school. I also tutored a young Spanish girl in English speaking once a week. As a senior, I am currently an ESL intern at UMass. This is a position I was able to obtain by completing the TESOL certificate. As an intern, I create lesson plans to co-teach an ESL class to local community members and also tutor ESL students on campus. These are fundamental experiences in my education that have led me to determine that I want to work in language program administration, creating and ensuring that language curricula are available to all. I was able to come to this conclusion by taking what I learned in each class and piecing together my interests. I am grateful for the experiences and opportunities I’ve had through both the Spanish and Linguistics departments at UMass and I am excited for what the future holds!

Sarah’s Experience: 

Before entering UMass, I thought that my ideal career was teaching. As a high school senior, I had the opportunity to be a peer mentor for the ESL students in my school. This experience opened my eyes to some of the greater issues in English as a second language learning programs, such as not being able to provide sufficient resources for students. I really wanted to make a difference in ESL programs in the US to improve the educational experience for learners. Therefore, I decided to become an Education major at UMass Amherst. However, in my sophomore year, I quickly realized that the Education major was not for me. Because of my passion for speaking and learning Spanish, as well as my interest in one of my Gen-ed Linguistics classes, I decided to switch to a primary major in Spanish and a secondary major in Linguistics. Both of these majors solidified my love for language and gave me multiple perspectives on the future. Through my linguistics courses, I have learned about the structure of language and how it differs across cultures, the reasoning behind why we produce sounds in the way we do, and how we can create and receive messages through words. Without majoring in Linguistics and taking phonetics and phonology classes, I would have never discovered the curiosity and interest I have in those subjects. Similarly, when I studied abroad in Granada, Spain, I took a lot of courses in Spanish. My favorite classes were, ‘Diversity of Spanish in the World,’ and ‘Spanish Linguistics.’ These two classes helped me gain perspective on how phonetics and phonology apply in the context of the Spanish language, and how there can be intercultural miscommunications in both English and Spanish that I could potentially help mitigate.

Furthermore, it was not until switching to both of those majors that I discovered the TESOL certificate program at UMass. This certificate program involves courses that teach people how to teach English as a second language, develop lesson plans, and improve leadership skills. Pursuing this certificate has helped me to understand more about myself and what I want to do in the future. Learning how to make lesson plans that would best benefit non-English speakers has given me a wider perspective on education. There are so many factors that need to be taken into consideration when determining lesson plans, such as how varying subjects can make students react differently. As I am finishing up my certificate program, I am realizing that I want to use these skills and apply them to a different field: bilingual speech-language pathology. Not only does this field apply the skills I learned from the certificate program, but it will also combine my passions for phonetics and phonology, Spanish, and helping people improve their lives. I am very grateful to have had access to all of these programs in my four years at UMass, and I feel that my experience has set me up for a successful career in Speech-Language Pathology. 

Although both of us completed the same paths of study, we had different experiences and outcomes during our four years at UMass. Kaylie’s experience has allowed her to discover her passion for Language Program Administration and teaching, whereas Sarah’s experience has steered her towards Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology. Majors in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts are unique because there is not one set career path to pursue. As our experiences show, the same majors can shape us in very different ways. Through reading about our two distinct experiences as students pursuing the same studies, we hope that we have provided insight into just a few of the many possibilities for future career paths.