International

Are you world ready?

Learning how to see the world from multiple vantage points prepares you to work with people from other countries, analyze complex ideas, and find solutions others can’t see.

Japanese language students at Clark can choose to study abroad at Kansai Gaidai University in the Osaka prefecture, Japan.

Student perspective

Lily Daher sits with an open book at a café. — Lily’s parents came to the U.S. from Lebanon, so while she grew up hearing Arabic, she wanted to study the language so she could participate more in conversations at family gatherings.

Lily Daher ’25, MAT
Major: English
4+1 Accelerated degree: Master of Arts in Teaching

Lily Daher knew she wanted to study languages in college and work in education. She studied English and Arabic, then stayed a fifth year to earn her Master of Arts in Teaching.

Worcester is a city of many languages. Its public schools serve about 25,000 students from more than 70 countries who speak over 100 languages. Lily saw that firsthand while student teaching at Claremont Academy, a few blocks from Clark.

Lily Daher writes in Arabic. — In Arabic, most letters change shape depending on how they join their neighbors. Meaning lives in the connections.

A global perspective on education

Languages can have a different syntax or structures. Lily finds that language learning has helped her connect with her students, even when she doesn’t speak their language.

Lily treats that as an asset. Students’ home languages, she believes, have real value in an English classroom. Students draw on everything they know about grammar and syntax in every language they speak, to master a concept in English.

Literacy through connection

At Claremont Academy, Lily taught Othello and The Kite Runner to high school seniors. Her students show what they understand in many forms: essays, blogs, photography, podcasts — everyone has a way to contribute.

Lily finished Clark’s education program with the Sheltered English Immersion endorsement that Massachusetts requires for teaching English learners. The following fall, she began her career as a literacy teacher at Worcester East Middle School.

“Studying other languages makes our communities more inclusive for people who come here.”

—Lily Daher

Explore Programs

Lia Tang in Jordan during a language intensive class to study Arabic

Combined Languages, B.A.

Geography, B.A.

International Development and social change student with community leaders in africa

International Development and Social Change, B.A.

MAT student Sophie Keliher in an elementary school classroom

Teaching, B.A. | MAT

French and data science major, Jake Bernstein ’26 spent a semester in Rennes—an experience that transformed his language skills, deepened his cultural understanding, and changed the way he sees the world.

“Study abroad exposes you to new perspectives and new ways of living. It makes you question and challenge things that you take for granted in your own culture, and it opens your worldview.”

—Lia Tang ’23, M.A. ’24

18%

Clark students study abroad

20%

First generation college students

Countries represented in our
undergraduate student community

4 + 1

An advanced degree within reach

The 4+1 Accelerated Master’s provides an opportunity to earn a pathway to a master’s degree — with one year of additional study and available tuition scholarships.

Explore 4+1 options

With a longstanding water crisis and drought conditions, Mexico City — the fifth most-populous city in the world — has become a barometer for the impacts of climate change. A team of faculty and student researchers from Clark are bringing together expertise in languages, geography, film studies, and interactive media, to help policymakers and the public mitigate the problem of water scarcity.