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Employment

The Modern Languages Department offers selected students several employment opportunities. For example, student Assistant Teachers (A.T.s) are a vital part of first-year French and Spanish programs. Trained in advance, A.T.s meet once or twice a week with small groups of students. They drill grammar structures, help students practice vocabulary in communicative settings, and they introduce pedagogically-useful games. Many A.T.s intend to become teachers. However, regardless of their major, former Assistant Teachers agree that this opportunity teaches them valuable career skills. For example, they learn how to gain the respect of their peers, to give clear presentations, to organize an hour or more of activities, and to keep the interest level high.  Students of French, German and Spanish may also work as office aides or second-language tutors.

 

Spring Term at Alma is a one-month immersion on a single academic topic that offers learning experiences not typically available during the more traditional 15-week fall and winter terms. For example, during Spring Term ‘07 students explored important cultural sites in China, worked to restore a Jewish Holocaust cemetery in Poland, analyzed ethic politics in Scotland, and studied medieval literature in London.

 

Graduate Profile

Matt vandenBerg

Matt vandenBerg
Graduation: 2002
Major: Political Science
Minor: Spanish

Alma College political science major and graduate Matt vandenBerg says his Spanish minor was not only an opportunity for him to learn more about another culture, it honed his English speaking and writing skills.