Message from the Director

Welcome to the Foreign Languages Program! Thank you for visiting our website where you can discover who we are, what we teach, and how to spot us around campus. We are currently located in McNamara Hall. We hope you'll find reasons to stop by - or stop us walking by - to say hello and get to know us better. We are also pleased to announce that we now offer a MAJOR IN SPANISH.

First, let us share with you our Mission Statement:

Foreign Language study makes its unique contribution in preparing Lewis University students to live in today's and tomorrow's globalized world and to function effectively as global citizens. It is also inseparable from a high-quality liberal education because it leads students out of the narrow ethnocentrism that may result from the limitations of a monolingual education. The faculty of the Program has whole-heartedly embraced the Lasallian educational philosophy in that we are dedicated to making foreign language study available to and enjoyable for every Lewis student. Our goal is to provide Lewis students with quality instruction leading to immediate practical learning outcomes. To this end, all our foreign language instructors use an innovative approach informed by the most current approaches to Second Language Acquisition. The Program emphasizes oral communication and as you become one of our students you will immediately notice a striking difference between our courses and your high-school language learning experience: no tedious grammar rules and exercises or long vocabulary lists!

Established in 2004, the Foreign Language Program offers Lewis students instruction in a wide variety of different world languages. Our course offerings include both traditional or commonly taught languages such as Spanish, French, German, and Italian, as well as such critical and less-commonly taught languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, and Russian. Most of our faculty members are native speakers of the languages they teach and are able to provide students with cultural insights only native speakers born in the target language country are able to do.

Also, take a moment to look at the description and list of Foreign Language Minors. Please note that students majoring in ANY discipline can take an 18-credits foreign language minor — the step that would significantly improve your resume, and make it stand out in today's job market.

So please, consider this website a beginning of our relationship with you. As the Program Director, let me extend greetings from every member of the program—students and faculty alike—and invite you to get to know us better. We look forward to seeing you in a foreign language classroom!

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