Voices of language: A conversation with Oluseye Adesola, Theresa Schenker, and Mercedes Carreras

True to Yale’s mission as a liberal arts university, every undergraduate student is required to gain proficiency in a new language before graduating. Although Yale offers over 50 languages ranging from American Sign Language to Zulu, and the classes vary in size, level, and structure, the experience of taking a language class is shared universally by every student in Yale College, making it an essential component of a Yale education.

Of the students taking core-sequence language classes in the 2017-2018 academic year, 64 are enrolled in Yoruba, 182 are taking German, and 910 are registered in Spanish. In their offices around campus, three language instructors of those languages—Oluseye Adesola, senior lector II in Yoruba; Theresa Schenker, senior lector II in German; and Mercedes Carreras, senior lector I in Spanish and Portuguese—discussed the courses they teach and their views on language pedagogy. 

Continue to article