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“We had an amazing summer,” says Alicia Brent, director of Intensive and Custom Language Programs at the Monterey Institute, of the annual Summer Intensive Language Program (SILP). She adds that both “students and faculty kept the bar very high this year, giving 150% of themselves, Olympic-style! They should be very proud of their accomplishments, as I certainly am!”

SILP now includes a number of both incoming and continuing MIIS students, some of whom are adding a third or a fourth language to their resume. The classes are small and the teaching is very collegial and includes insights into popular culture and traditions.

Six languages are offered this year: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish and Japanese. Instructors in each language program host a variety of cultural events such as film viewings, cooking, dancing, singing and field trips. Each language group publishes an active blog where you can find links, recipes, tips for travel and everything in between. For more information visit the SILP 2012 blog.

According to Alicia Brent, many instructors leave MIIS with a changed perception of both teaching and learning languages. Common feedback from instructors is that they love the camaraderie among faculty and the opportunity to share best practices in pedagogy and expand their knowledge of the field across languages. Fittingly for an institution like MIIS, which offers master’s degree programs in language teaching, SILP is a challenging and rewarding program not only for the students, but for the teachers as well.

For More Information

Jason Warburg
jwarburg@middlebury.edu
831.647.3156

Eva Gudbergsdottir
eva@middlebury.edu
831.647.6606