The Alternate Language Study Option (ALSO) is a guided self-study program for students who want to take languages that are not officially taught at Grinnell. Usually for one or two credits, one language can be taken over four semesters, according to Anastasia Izmaylova, director of the Center for Languages and Intercultural Communication (CLIC).
“They follow a syllabus, they are provided with course materials, textbooks, they study on their own and then they meet with a native-speaking peer tutor and their classmates for, basically, practice sessions during the week,” Izmaylova said.
According to Izmaylova, the program started in around 1984, and originally offered languages like Chinese and Japanese that are now officially taught at Grinnell. Nowadays, languages such as Brazilian Portuguese, Turkish, Korean and Hindi are offered as part of the program, Izmaylova said.
The available courses in a given semester depend on the availability of tutors for the language. “For example, there’s a lot of interest in American Sign Language, which we were able to offer one semester, but for that we need a native signing tutor … and the tutor graduated, so we don’t have anyone, unfortunately, right now,” Izmaylova said.
“It’s really nice to engage with the students,” said Ana Beatriz Fernandes Costa `24.5, a tutor in Brazilian Portuguese who is in her fifth semester teaching for the program. “When they come, they’re usually very passionate about it, and they want to learn more,” she said.
“It’s always really nice to engage with them and share a little bit of my culture and teach them little nuances and little things that we say, that they might not know just from reading a book,” she said.
Fernandes Costa also reflected on how the ALSO program had impacted her as a tutor. “I have gotten so much better at expressing myself and being comfortable in front of a classroom,” she said.
“It’s like, a little bit of language, a little bit of culture,” said Lal Verda Karaoglu `25, a Turkish tutor who started tutoring in her second year. According to Karaoglu, classes involve conversation practice, where she teaches her students how to speak Turkish properly.
From their time tutoring Turkish, Karaoglu has learned just how difficult it is for non-Turkish speakers to learn the language, due to its grammatical differences from English. “I had never thought about that before, because it’s very intuitive to me, that’s what I grew up speaking,” they said.
Karaoglu’s students have unique reasons for wanting to study Turkish. “There’s someone that learns it because they are dating a Turkish-American person, and they want to be able to talk to their partner’s parents,” she said.
“It’s supposed to be a non-stressful, … chill language learning environment,” Karaoglu said.
According to Izmaylova, students interested in studying a course under the ALSO program need to have second year standing and some language-learning experience, be it inside or outside of Grinnell. ALSO tutors must have native or near-native knowledge of the language they choose to tutor in. Most tutors are international students, but some are domestic students who have native or near-native knowledge of their chosen language. Students who are interested in taking an ALSO course should contact Izmaylova, prior to course preregistration at izmaylova@grinnell.edu.
