<p>I was just wondering how good the English and Foreign Language (specifically Spanish) are? I know that's a pretty broad request, but I am looking into Carleton as a potential transfer school, and would like to hear more about these areas, especially because I can only tell so much from their website alone. Thank you!</p>
<p>Bumping this because I'm also interested in it.</p>
<p>A month old thread and two requests for help – hope this answers some questions.</p>
<p>The English Department has traditionally been one of the strongest and most popular on campus. About 8% or so of students major in the field and large numbers choose to take electives. Freshmen seminars limited to 15 students are especially popular. This year, Prof. Hecker’s “Shakespeare on Film” was probably most popular among the department’s freshman offerings, as in standing ovation popular (true for most of his advanced Shakespeare courses as well). Classes are uniformly kept small with a seminar discussion style dominating. Writing is a very important component of the program at Carleton. Graduation requirements include a writing element and the school’s efforts in this regard have been used as a model by others nationally. Study abroad is almost de rigueur at Carleton (about ¾ of students participate for at least a term). The school sponsors its own program in London (Theater and Lit) and also in Ireland (Lit in Dublin, Belfast, Sligo – Yeats) with multiple other destinations available via a bounty of approved affiliates.</p>
<p>Spanish is a much smaller major turning out only a handful each year (1-2% of grads). However, there is a large enrollment of students in beginning-intermediate level classes, in part due to interest, in part due to graduation requirements. Because of this, the department offers about a dozen Teaching Assistantships yearly to help tutor students with lower level Spanish grammar - not a bad gig. Much of Spanish’s strength is found in affiliated offerings outside the standard classroom setting: Language immersion while living in Parish House with on-floor native speakers, Carleton-run study abroad programs in Mexico, Madrid and Brazil (elsewhere via affiliates), year-round volunteer opportunities with Northfield’s Spanish-speaking immigrant children, “Coffee and News” – a popular partial credit pass/fail course meeting once weekly to discuss news of the Spanish speaking world, and sponsorship of independent summer research fellowships internationally.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>That's a great post, 1190. Thanks so much!</p>
<p>How is the rest of the Foreign Language department?</p>
<p>My daughter is minoring in French, seems to be a strong department with good professors. Carleton sponsors study abroad French programs to Paris and Mali. The Paris program is happening right now. I understand the Mali program is very popular. "Coffee and News" is also offered in French. </p>
<p>Carleton has just started offering Arabic, which is being heavily promoted by the president of Carleton. </p>
<p>All Carleton students are required to attain proficiency in at least one foreign language.</p>
<p>I double-majored in English and Russian at Carleton, and both majors were absolutely great - attentive professors, fun departments, interesting classes, lots of options. From what I can tell, the foreign language dept. at Carleton is really well-developed. My sister is a French major at Williams, and while their program is also great, I think that there are some things that are preferable about Carleton's. For one thing, most introductory-level language classes meet 5 days a week instead of 2 or 3, which means that you're immersed in the language every day. Also, upper-level language classes are almost always entirely taught in the foreign language, never in English. Even though this is all a pain in the neck at the time, it really helps you to learn the language inside and out. The Carleton-sponsored study abroad programs are also a huge plus. Instead of having to suss out the various benefits of different independent study abroad programs, Carleton students can just apply for them (which is usually really easy) and then you just pay your tuition, buy a plane ticket, and you're done! You don't have to figure out which program is best, don't have to struggle to find a program that aligns with the school schedule time-wise, don't have to figure out how the credits will transfer/count toward your major, and don't have to deal with the emotional stress of going on a trip with a bunch of strangers. I did the Carleton Moscow program, and it was super easy - I went with people I knew, the trip was supervised by a professor that I was already comfortable with, and the whole program was designed to be a holistic part of the Russian major, so all of my credits transferred and there weren't any holes or repeats in the curriculum. I highly recommend Carleton language programs.</p>