Category Archives: Language

My Experience Studying Abroad in Madrid

Having the opportunity to study abroad in Madrid was truly one of the greatest experiences that I will forever cherish. Now that I am back at UMass, finishing my degree in Spanish, I have had so much time to reflect on my experience studying abroad. As I have written in my previous blog post, studying abroad was something that I always envisioned myself taking part in, even prior to coming to UMass and choosing to pursue a degree in Spanish.

It really is hard to believe that my experience studying abroad is simply a memory now. I really mean it when I say that it went by in the blink of an eye. I know that may sound cliché because that is what everyone says. But really, it does. Continue reading →

Trying (and failing) to sum up my study abroad experience

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As soon as people find out I studied abroad, they immediately ask “How was is?”, “What was it like?” “Did you love it?”, expecting a quick and simple response.

I’ve come to dread these questions, hating the fact that I’m expected to sum up my entire 10 months abroad of innumerable experiences, both positive and negative, full of every emotion under the sun, into a few words or a few sentences. Maybe some people are able to do this successfully; I, however, am not.

I have been back in the U.S. for over 5 months now, and I am still unable to summarize my abroad experience. I actually avoid talking about it. Although I give the typical answer of “Amazing!” or “Incredible!”, a more accurate description would involve the words challenging, rewarding, difficult, and eye-opening. I still am in the process of reflecting on my study abroad experience, on what I’ve learned, and on how I changed. It was a year of incredible growth and countless learning opportunities, pushing me out of my comfort zone to take risks and encouraging me to open my mind to see the world through a different lens.

I’m hoping that someday I’ll be able to summarize it well in an efficient way. Since I am not there yet, I am going to share some of what I learned abroad by introducing you to a few of the people I met in Spain who impacted me greatly and what I learned from each of them.

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Music and Math—Universal Languages?

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I had the privilege of spending 9 months studying abroad in Seville, Spain, an experience I would not trade for the world. It was a time of immense growth and change, and I learned a lot about myself, gained independence, and repeatedly pushed myself out of my comfort zone. During my time in Seville, I pushed myself to become involved in the community and to build relationships. As a person who loves (practically needs) to be busy, I decided to fill my schedule with extracurricular activities, including taking piano lessons, joining a choir, and enrolling in a university physics class for math majors, hoping that the universality of music and math would assist me in overcoming the language barrier… not only did I like these subjects, but I was good at them… and aren’t music and math universal?! How different could it be? Continue reading →

The Spanish major means more than learning the language

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My motivation for choosing to major in Spanish stemmed from how much I enjoyed my Spanish classes in high school. Although the grammar and vocabulary lessons never quite thrilled me, I loved learning about the history and culture of the Spanish-speaking world and still do. I felt that I took to the language well, so might as well major in it.

In this class, however, I’ve learned that the Spanish major means more than a perfect knowledge of Spanish vocabulary, more than mastering the rough terrain of subjunctives, more than sporting the best Spanish accent, more than memorizing the pasts of Spain and South America. This class taught me that to truly understand the language, one must understand its people. Continue reading →

Doubts, Dreams, and My New Adventure

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As the end of the semester, and the first part of the Integrative Experience, draws closer and closer, I have begun to see changes in myself when reflecting on the beginning of the semester. Originally, I had no clue as to where I wanted to go abroad and found myself feeling a bit lost. Feeling lost and being a Junior in college do not make the best mix, and this caused quite a bit of anxiety for me in looking forward. I knew that I wanted to work in translation and interpreting but I wasn’t sure what next steps I should take to make that happen. I began to question myself and doubt if I had chosen the right field.

However, as the semester progressed and our IE class made us reflect deeper and deeper on our drives, our goals, and our passions for learning Spanish, I began to feel more grounded. This class does not just make its students do arbitrary work, every assignment and every minute of class time was used to help us form a plan for ourselves, and understand the difficulties that come with them. Continue reading →

Communication Disorders + Spanish

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My name is Christine Brennick, and I am currently a junior here at UMass. I am double majoring in Communication Disorders and Spanish. While these are two completely different fields, they are both related through language. My classes in communication disorders and Spanish are very different and at times I feel as though they are totally separate pursuits. However, I plan to take a few classes that link the two together including Hispanic Linguistics and Spanish Phonetics, two classes that I had to take in English for communication disorders. While these two majors do not complement each other as clearly as some other combinations, I know that pairing the two will be complementary for my career. Continue reading →

Career Decisions, Being Multilingual, and the Spanish Major

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What is it like to be multilingual? Languages have always been a passion of mine since the time I was a child. I am a native speaker of Greek, and being a native speaker of Greek has helped me cognitively to pick up the Spanish language. I started taking Spanish in 7th grade, and continued to take Spanish courses all throughout my years of secondary education. When I first started taking Spanish in the 7th grade, I was able to pick up on it easily because being a native speaker of Greek helped me to in addition to remembering a few Spanish words from the TV shows that I used to watch when I was a child, such as Sesame Street. After I graduated high school, I started college at Middlesex Community College where I had the opportunity to take Spanish courses. However, at the community college there was no such thing as a Spanish major. I did continue to take Spanish courses at Middlesex, and I knew that I always wanted to pursue a career where I got the opportunity to use Spanish, but I was not sure exactly what I wanted to do back then. At one time, I was doing some research on careers where Spanish is often used, such as a translator, interpreter, or even a teacher. In the beginning, I thought that I wanted to be an interpreter, Continue reading →

Language-Learning without leaving the US

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I transferred to UMASS in Fall 2017 from a community college. Coming in as a Junior, it has been stressful trying to make the most out of my UMASS experience and making use of everything the university has to offer. I spent most of my first semester feeling overwhelmed with prospects of studying abroad, service-learning and internships. Even deciding to have Spanish be my only major was a drawn-out internal struggle. At the beginning of the semester I questioned how much I was getting out of being a Spanish major. It seemed to me that most courses focused more on the culture of Spain, and I have more interest in learning about Latin American Culture. I’m from the Pioneer Valley originally so a lot of my interest in Spanish came from my connections with the Latinx population in the area, much of which is Puerto Rican. I want to do Social Work after I graduate so I spent a lot of time exploring the BDIC program (Bachelors Degree with Individual Concentration) with the hopes that I could take classes in departments that would benefit my career goals. I met with multiple advisors, making sure to advocate for myself and make connections with faculty – which is something I believe is extremely important for all students to do. I had even applied and been accepted to the BDIC program and planned to incorporate Spanish and Latino Studies classes with Psychology and Sociology classes.

When the time came to register for Spring classes, I found myself still drawn to many Spanish classes.

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Teaching Spanish as a World Language

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For this blog post, I will talk about how the Secondary Teacher Education Preparation (STEP) Program for Spanish works. I talk about my own experience with the program and also offer some tips for making the most out of it.

When I first entered UMass, I knew I wanted to teach Spanish, but I had a hard time finding the resources to get information about the Secondary Teacher Education Preparation (STEP) Program for undergraduates. On the College of Education website, most of the STEP material is geared toward graduate students, even though, with careful planning, undergraduates can also leave UMass with an initial licensure to teach in disciplines such as mathematics, biology, Spanish, English, and many more. My first step was getting in contact with the Spanish program director in charge of the licensure, in this case, Carole Cloutier. Continue reading →

Bilingual Educator

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My name is Alexander Ayala-Palacin and I am recent graduate of UMass with my Bachelors in Spanish and Certificates in Interpreting Studies, Medical Spanish Interpreting, and Spanish and Health. With this resume many would assume I am on my way to be a medical interpreter. I felt the same way until I received an email from Career Services that changed everything.

Much of the responsibilities of this position was things I had experience from a job as an After School Counselor in a Elementary School, so I felt confident of my ability to perform the work, and it seemed something that I could realistically do, a first step after graduating. Otherwise I had no idea what I wanted to do after graduating. Continue reading →