A New Approach to Modern Languages

Dr. Paulette Ramsay, Head, Department of Modern Languages & Literatures

The man, who does not know other languages, unless he is a man of genius, necessarily has deficiencies in his ideas,” said French author Victor Hugo. His words encapsulate the ability of languages to connect the people and expand one’s knowledge and creative thought process.

The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures the Mona Campus has been striving to bridge the communication gap by encouraging and promoting learning of world languages.

“When I became the head of the department last year, I embarked on a plan of action,” says Dr. Paulette Ramsay, Head of Department and Senior Lecturer (Spanish), Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. “The objective was to get greater visibility, attract more students to the programme and to position the department as a vibrant, inviting and stimulating place for the students to study.”

Dr. Ramsay says that in 2012 her department has taken significant strides in its thrust to achieve those goals. The repositioning of the teaching and the department has been done in two levels; “One was to overhaul the curriculum and second I challenged those in the department to update their methodologies. “This was effective use of technology, by using OURVLE to post course outlines, lectures and other material.”

Learning a foreign language is both beneficial and gratifying in the constantly shrinking world. The globalised economies have opened avenues for the bi- and multi-lingual professionals to new markets. “Learning a language has social, cognitive and academic benefits, the ability to think and solve problems,” says Dr. Ramsay. “Jamaica has an advantage of being close to Spanish-speaking countries, so it is important for us in the Caribbean to learn additional languages.” Given these distinct advantages, she says, the viability of learning languages is more relevant than ever.

There are five languages that are taught at Modern Languages and Literatures – Spanish, French, Chinese, Portuguese and Japanese – which give students a wide perspective to choose from. As a part of the programme, the students are encouraged to get hands-on experience with the culture and people. “We encourage students to go abroad – we have several exchange programmes with China, Japan and Spanish-speaking countries. There are five students currently in China as a part of the exchange programme,” Dr. Ramsay said.

In the department, there are native speakers appointed by the respective countries to complement the programmes. There are instructors from Japan, Spain, France and China who help the students have a holistic experience. Recently, the language laboratory was refurbished with a versatile multimedia lab by the Japanese government through JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), which also supports the language programme by giving textbooks and audio books.

But, Dr. Ramsay explained, one of the challenges that the department is facing is the price of some of the textbooks, which is very high. “We need affordable texts, so we are looking at markets nearer to us from where we can source cheap text books.” She is also encouraging instructors to innovate. “They (instructors, lecturers) can prepare notes and share with the students. This would be beneficial and cost effective.” The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures is poised for greater heights. “We want to make ourselves on par with the world standards,” Dr. Ramsay said.

As a part of the new thrust, a proposal was presented to the board of undergraduate studies to encourage students from other faculties, apart from humanities, to take up foreign language as filler for foundation courses. “This came in effect in May of this year and the response has been tremendous. There are doctors who are learning Portuguese because of the economic boom in Brazil and also people in the tourism sector find knowledge of an additional language an advantage to them.” The advantage, Dr. Ramsay said, is that these students are doing a language at the level of their competence and they can pick up from where they left off, if they learnt it in high school or did any foundation courses. To create vibrancy and diversity, the department is also holding lunchtime classes in French, Spanish and Amharic, an Ethiopian language.

“The department is in discussions to introduce Russian and German into the fold,” Dr. Ramsay said. The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures is amalgamation of not only the world’s languages but also their cultures and peoples, equipping students to become global citizens. “The world is changing, we are living in a smaller global space,” Dr. Ramsay said. “The students should take advantage of this and move beyond our shores.”