Program Overview

The goals of our Spanish program at Cal Lutheran are proficiency in the language and a high degree of familiarity with Hispanic literature and culture. In order to achieve these goals, we offer a wide variety of courses, from language through literature, linguistics and culture.

Most of our majors and minors go into teaching, some into private industry and some into government service. Our program tries to address itself to the needs of these students by preparing them for an increasingly pluralistic and globally oriented society as well as a competitive career world. To that end and because language and literature are inseparable from a cultural context, our program has a strong cultural orientation. In all of our courses, we strive to develop in our students an understanding of as many aspects of Hispanic culture and civilization as possible in conjunction with the subject focused on. We also place a strong emphasis on developing students’ critical thinking skills in all our courses and many are conducted in Spanish in order to develop students’ proficiency in the language.

Spanish faculty use interactive lectures, group work, entertaining cultural activities, such as singing, video and film presentations, computer-aided presentations and exercises to give the students a well-rounded learning experience. A computer lab is available to enhance this experience outside the classroom.

In addition, students have the opportunity to participate in a variety of cultural activities on campus, such as the Dia de los Muertos and Las Posadas celebrations in the fall, as well as the Encuentros festival in the spring. They also can become members of the Spanish honor society, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, Sigma Delta Pi and participate in the Latin American Students Association.

We strongly encourage majors and minors in Spanish to study abroad. The Spanish Department sponsors a program in Guanajuato, Mexico, which provides students with an excellent opportunity to polish their language skills through immersion in the culture. Other opportunities to spend a semester or junior year abroad at any one of a variety of universities in Spain and Latin America are available through the Cal Lutheran Study Abroad Program