Alternative Language Study Options
Many Wesleyan students study or intern abroad in countries whose languages are not regularly taught at Wesleyan. Those students are encouraged to explore various options to receive partial-credit for instruction in the relevant language, both prior to and following their experience abroad, through one of the following modalities.
SUPERVISED INDEPENDENT LANGUAGE PROGRAM (SILP)
The Supervised Independent Language Program (SILP) enables students to submit petitions to continue the study of a language that is offered through the Alternative Language Study Options Program or study a language which is not offered at Wesleyan.
Students whose petitions are approved study independently using texts and media materials. A native speaker of the language acts as a weekly tutor, and a qualified faculty member from another institution advises on the appropriate level of study and assesses the student's progress with oral and written examinations. First-year students may not undertake SILP study. A student may complete up to four semesters of language study through a SILP, however, only two SILP credits may be counted toward graduation (each SILP course is 1/2 credit and CR/U).
Only a limited number of petitions will be approved each semester. A petition is more likely to be approved if it supports further study of a language already in the curriculum and/or if multiple students want to enroll. The petition form is available here and further information about the program can be obtained from Emmanuel Paris-Bouvret, Director of Language Resources and Technology: eparis@wesleyan.edu. The following are the deadlines: November 15 for the Spring semester and May 1 for the Fall semester.
MANGO LANGUAGES
Mango Languages affords the entire Wesleyan community – students, faculty, staff, and alumni—the opportunity to be introduced to the over 70 world languages offered through this online resource. Anyone can create an account and begin to learn a language at any time!
Take a Mango Language course for a ¼ credit:
- the language has to be a Less Commonly Taught Language that is not available on campus
- the purpose of learning the language is for studying abroad, applying to a fellowship or internship, relearning a heritage language, and/or for professional development in a career field
How to get started:
SMALL GROUP LANGUAGE CLASSES
Each semester, Wesleyan offers a number of language courses outside of currently existing departments. The enrollment in these courses is smaller– typically about 6 students in a course– and the course can be taken for a half credit. Past languages have included Modern Greek, Swahili, and Tamazight, but languages available vary from semester to semester. These courses can be found in the "Alternative Language Study Options" page on Wesmaps.