Languages and Cultures   

Enjoy an opportunity to speak and listen to Spanish in a comfortable, nonjudgmental atmosphere. This course is for those who already speak Spanish with some fluency and would like more chances to converse in the language. Each week, students will be provided with questions, readings and song lyrics to stimulate conversation on the week’s topic. This term includes careers, buildings, myths and more, but it’s OK to stray from the theme. Grammar and vocabulary questions that arise will be answered, but the class is about enjoying conversation in Spanish. Students should spend some time with the materials supplied before each class. During class, we’ll talk in a whole group and in breakout rooms with three or four.

NOTE: This is not a Spanish course per se, and it won’t work for beginners; it’s meant for those who have achieved enough fluency to listen to others, converse freely, and enjoy readings and songs that reflect Hispanic culture. Translations are provided for readings and song lyrics, but not discussion questions. Those who have been in previous Conversaciones courses will find new material. 

You’ve studied Spanish for longer than you care to admit and have some basic vocabulary and understanding of mostly present-tense verbs. You can create very simple sentences. You can get around and converse hesitantly, asking only critical questions. Yet, you wish you were more comfortable, confident and fluent. Take this class! Here we’ll build stories together, one sentence at a time, with lots of interesting, comprehensible input, repetition and questions. We will speak in manageable chunks of language wherein students become part of the story. Students’ additions may enhance the story we create, one that each person will retell. We also write the story and read it. We emphasize high-frequency language. Active participation is required and absences are discouraged.  

NOTE: New students as well as those from the Fall 2025 class are welcome. The format will be similar, but the stories are always new. Students should have a basic understanding (like Spanish 1 or 2) of elements of grammar, present-tense verbs, a bit of past tenses and vocabulary of common everyday situations. Strong intermediate or advanced students are encouraged to continue their studies elsewhere.  

People with a healthy curiosity are welcome to join us for this introduction to the Cyrillic alphabet, used by Russian and about 50 other modern languages. No special preparation is needed. The course will begin with a brief historical survey of the alphabet’s creation, its place in European geography and culture, and its transformations from the ninth century until today. We will then take a close look at the letters of the Russian alphabet and examine the vowels and how they affect pronunciation of Russian words. With just a little practice participants will be able to sound out this beautiful, exotic tongue! 

NOTE: This course would be helpful preparation for the OLLI course Russian: Focus on Pronunciation.  

The focus of this course will be on maintaining and improving spoken Italian. There will also be reviews of conjugations and vocabulary. Students should be conversant in the present tense and be able to express events in the past and future. Following Boccaccio’s model for the Decameron, we will tell a total of 10 stories, two per week. The topics will reinforce the tenses we are practicing, such as indicativo, introdurre se stesso and raccontare una barzelletta. The prompts will be provided in advance. A typical class will consist of a brief grammar refresher, taking turns reading aloud to loosen the tongue, and conversing in small groups and then as a class. After a break, there will be a second prompt for informal chat and sharing with the class.

NOTE: Dictionaries, phrase books and other aids are encouraged but not required. Mistakes in Italian are preferable to slipping into English.