Spanish
At Clark, students can major or minor in Spanish. A minor consists of six classes and offers flexibility in class selection. The major is more specific, with required classis in literature, culture and a senior seminar. Majors must complete two units abroad, although most take a full semester or a year. Many of the students enrolled in the International Studies Stream join our language classes, and we enjoy their diverse cultural backgrounds. Among our most popular courses are classes in cultural studies, literature and film.
Supplementing the major and minor in Spanish, the Spanish program offers a variety of academic and extra-curricular
activities designed to enrich your contacts with the Spanish language
and Hispanic cultural life here at Clark.
Spanish 117: Fieldwork in the Latino Community
In this course, students serve the Hispanic community at several sites in Worcester including Centro Las Americas, the Goddard St. School, St. Peter's,Pernet Family Health Services and Main South C.D.C. In addition to teaching E.S.L, helping at food banks, mentoring young people, interpreting for health care providers, translating materials or helping the community in numerous other ways, the students also meet weekly to discuss readings in Latino culture and literature.
Study Abroad
Those who major in a foreign language are required to have two units of study abroad. Study at the Tandem Language Center in Spain is available for students who have completed intermediate level Spanish, while the program at the University of Sevilla is for more advanced students. Follow this link for more information.
Internships in Spanish
We want our students to have a full understanding of language and culture both at home and abroad. At Clark, students can take Hispanic Fieldwork, which places them in a local internship, and allows them to give back to the community within a Spanish context. We have students working in bilingual classrooms, medical clinics, and social service agencies.
Advanced students who want to combine Spanish with either business or international development may study in Spain or the Dominican Republic, respectively. The Internship program in Madrid is the more fully developed, with opportunities to work with the Fulbright Commission, the United Nations and UPS, among others. The program in the Dominican Republic is popular with students studying International Development.
La Tertulia
The Spanish custom of the tertulia, or conversation hour, is a venerable institution in many Spanish-speaking countries. The tradition is usually an informal gathering of friends at sidewalk cafés. We carry on that tradition at Clark with a monthly gathering, time and place announced in the Foreign Languages Newsletter. Students from all levels of language study, including native speakers, stop by for a few minutes or for an hour, to sample traditional Hispanic foods and to practice their Spanish.
Worcester Latino Film Festival
The Foreign Languages and Literatures department is proud to be one of the patron sponsors of the Worcester Latino Film Festival, now in its eleventh year. We join Centro Las Américas and the consortium colleges to bring to Clark and Worcester communities a week-long festival of recent Spanish-language cinema.
The films are shown in Spanish with English subtitles, and they reflect the rich diversity of Spanish-speaking cultures in the United States and in Latin America.
Each year, the festival invites a Latino filmmaker of note to join us. Students have an opportunity to meet the directors as well as actors, authors, producers and to chat with them during informal receptions and open workshops.
In recent years, Clark has hosted the Dominican filmmaker, Angel Muńiz (Nueva Yol and Nueva Yol 3) and the Chicana filmmaker, Lourdes Portillo, whose El diablo nunca duerme/The Devil Never Sleeps has also been shown at film festivals around the world. Other visiting directors have included Ela Troyano, Natasha Estebanex, Jan Egleson, José Luis Valenzuela, Ivonne Belen and Jorge Dyszel.
We welcome your questions. The coordinator of Spanish is Maria Acosta Cruz and she may be reached at
macostacruz@clarku.edu.