As part of our community service, the Department of English and Foreign Languages in the College of Arts and Sciences offers Spanish classes at Miami-Dade County regional libraries. These classes are a result of an ordinance passed and adopted by the Board of County Commissioners on June 30, 2015, affirming Miami-Dade County’s support to provide opportunities for its residents to learn Spanish, Creole and English at no cost.
In response to a request from the Miami-Dade Public Library, Barry University has designed the “Teach for the community” project, a service-learning internship program for our Spanish majors in which they learn second language teaching methodology, design of learning materials and other interactive ways to engage students through language. The department has already offered four different sections of eight-week elementary Spanish classes, both in the fall and spring semesters, at Miami Beach Regional Library and at the North Dade Regional Library.
The Department of English and Foreign Languages also provides our Spanish majors the possibility to grow professionally through internship opportunities. Our students have fulfilled internships at Latin American News Digest, El Nuevo Heraldand Viajes El Corte Inglés. The department prides itself in its ability to tailor this program to each individual student based on their personal and professional interests.
These are unique experiences for our majors to develop their professional skills and simultaneously give back to the community.