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By Suzanne Scoggins
suzannes@uga.edu
It’s after 11 p.m. and Josh McElroy, a sophomore from Douglasville, and his friends are in their pajamas, playing a game of Scrabble in the lounge of their dorm. It seems like just another Tuesday night at any residence hall on campus as the students laugh and joke with one another, but there is something different about this game and these students. McElroy and his friends have been spelling out words on the board for over an hour--and all the words are in French. They’ve also been speaking in French the entire time, laughing at each other when they try to cheat by making up words.
Mary Lyndon Hall is not the typical dorm at the University of Georgia. The second floor, where McElroy and his friends are playing Scrabble, is the first language community at UGA, an experiment started by Tom Dyer, vice president for instruction, as part of a campus-wide initiative to strengthen teaching at the undergraduate level.
The language communities in French and Spanish offer students the opportunity to enhance their college experience by combining their residential and academic lives. Each community houses 15 to 18 students who share an interest in French or Spanish. The students speak their second language together on a daily basis in regular conversations and at special events such as language hours, movie nights and dinners hosted by the community. To further enhance the learning experience, each community benefits from a graduate resident coordinator who lives in the community with the students.
Although it is barely midpoint in the first semester of the program, students are already responding positively. “It’s the best dorm experience I’ve ever had,” says Mary Thomas, a junior in international business from Fairburn. Thomas is a member of the Spanish community, and she moved back on campus to participate in the program after spending her sophomore year in an apartment. “I’ll spend my senior year here too if they’ll let me,” says Thomas.
Michael Lindsey, graduate resident coordinator for the French community, is excited about the program and the students’ reactions. “The language community erases the boundaries between the academic world and real life by providing a fun learning environment for students,” says Lindsey.
The students echo the assertion that the community provides a new approach to learning. “When I first heard about the program, I knew I wanted to take part,” says McElroy, who is majoring in French. “It’s tailor-made for people whose interests in foreign language extend beyond the classroom and into the culture.”
A key part of the program’s classroom extension is the facilities made available to participants. A computer lab with Internet connection and the latest language software has been developed for the exclusive use of the language communities. Students also have access to a newly renovated kitchen and conference room, where they eat dinners and host get-togethers. In addition, they attend weekly language hours hosted by their resident coordinators, where they discuss a current event or topic.
The language communities are also geared toward further learning and application. “We hope the students will continue to use their language skills after they graduate,” says faculty coordinator Diana Ranson, an associate professor of Romance languages.
The most frequently asked question about the program is whether the students actually speak French and Spanish all the time. “We don’t police their rooms or anything like that,” says Eric Williams, Spanish graduate resident coordinator, “but I think the students speak in their second language most of the time because they want to. That’s why they came here instead of another dorm.”
Williams’s point is proved when two students pass by in the hall outside. They greet one another and ask a few questions in Spanish before heading off to class. |
