Teams, co-coached by World Language faculty and students, played fast-paced 20-minute games in a round-robin format. Arabic faculty member Mazooz Sehwail and experienced recreational soccer students refereed the games with objectivity and precision. Teams were well-matched with scores often fluctuating until the final minutes. German faculty member Pascale LaFountain notes, “I love the camaraderie. Even on our diverse campus I think sometimes people come to the field with some cultural stereotypes. The soccer field really brings people together across identity groups and connects through a shared love for the sport.”

The field was lined with avid fans displaying flags from around the world, cheering for teams in a harmony of languages, sharing summer travel tips for world explorations, discussing study abroad plans, taking final pre-graduation selfies, and enjoying pizza with their teams. Faculty and their families, world language classmates, and friends all joined to support the students. This program is part of Montclair World Languages’ commitment to bringing language learning beyond the classroom, which the program does through a lively schedule of co-curricular activities, , , and career planning opportunities.

“Regardless of their background, major, language, gender, or experience level, everyone is so respectful on the pitch,” says LaFountain. “Maybe the World Cup could even learn something from these students!”

Winning the International Soccer Tournament Trophy from the French/Francophone team, the 2025 winners were the Arabic team! Yalla yalla! The Arabic faculty will display the trophy with honor … until it returns to the field next year as part of the warmup to the World Cup festivities.

Left: Professor Mazooz Sehwail poses with the trophy. Right: Students on the winning Arabic team pose together with Professor Sehwail.

According to Oppenheim, Arabic currently ranks as the third most popular language offering at Montclair State, behind only Italian and French. Sehwail mentioned several factors behind Arabic’s rise,  including the Arabic culture’s richness and the large Arab communities in North and Central Jersey. Abundant Arabic-speaking job prospects also boost the appeal of the language.

The career opportunities for students learning world languages range immensely, even for those with only a few years of exposure. Students who have taken one of the 14 languages at Montclair alongside other studies are using their skills in fields from the arts to the sciences, from business to the humanities and health or social science fields. With the recent launch of the public Montclair CHILL – Career Hub for International Language Learning, students can explore career applications for their languages at any point in their college experience.

The launch on December 11 brought together faculty, advisors, administrators, career counselors, study abroad officers, Modern Language Association representatives, and students, all of whom explored this new online resource, received career advising on how to foreground their languages, and entered raffles to win internationally themed prizes. A particular highlight of the hub is the collection of Languages on the Job videos made by recent graduates who use their languages in fields ranging from IT to manga editing, HR and beyond.

Students can also experiment with finding a fit for their own personal interests with the . Here, they can learn about a variety of jobs that require or encourage language knowledge or proficiency, including positions as international admissions counselor, change management team member, court interpreter, online content editor for gaming sites, and dozens more across fields.

Montclair offers an innovative Language, Business & Culture interdisciplinary major with a capstone international experience. In addition, many students also choose to pursue a language as part of a double major or minor, or add on a faculty-led, summer, or semester-long study abroad experience in addition to their world language requirement to demonstrate their international flair.

Having explored another language shows employers in any field that you are ready to speak to partners on their terms and ready to manage new cultural situations.

At the launch, faculty members and College of Humanities and Social Sciences Career Services representatives reminded students of the importance of highlighting multilingual experiences on their resumés, and of connecting with alumni. They emphasized that language exploration reflects professional readiness, demonstrating cognitive flexibility, resourcefulness, and the ability to build bridges with collaborators here and abroad.

A faculty member told students, “New Jersey is so diverse. On the one hand, we have many immigrant groups here who need health, justice, and education professionals comfortable working in their languages. And at the same time, we are home to so many large and expanding international businesses where our students with language skills can make special connections with managers and international clients.” Students applying for positions in these fields attract supervisors’ attention when they bring language skills to the table.

The CHILL website shares the stories of recent graduates using their language skills to facilitate internal communications at Audi, to recruit international students at colleges, to work abroad in their expert fields, and more. Professor Elizabeth Emery, who served as Principal Investigator on the Modern Language Association Pathways Grant that helped fund this grant, notes that this launch is only the beginning: “So many doors open for graduates with language knowledge–even just a few semesters of a language–and so many Montclair students have amazing language skills, that we hope that these tools will help students and advisors showcase their talents. Visualizing the paths taken by recent graduates also helps make it much less scary to plan for the job search!”

Students can meet to discuss how to use their languages with career advisors at the College for the Humanities and Social Sciences any time. The CHILL website is publicly accessible and will continue to serve as a career resource for students with language skills across all majors.

Curious what 14 languages Montclair teaches? Click here to find out!

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Locally, the 17 students in Montclair’s award-winning German program have just started a new season teaching in the SPARK for German KinderUni program, part of a national network of over that introduce children to basic German vocabulary through songs, games, STEM crafts, and more. Faculty mentors ensure that student instructors gain valuable professional skills in collaboration, material creation, organization, public-facing communication, and work with diverse audiences – skills that students can apply in any professional field after graduation. Many of the Montclair SPARK program’s former college student participants credit SPARK for German with the skills they used to land positions at Audi, internships with the UN, travel grants from the program, spots in paid Fulbright English teaching assistantships after graduation, or as teachers in local schools. Building on the program’s role as a hub for local German networking, students also frequently take on immersion childcare positions, tutoring work, and other language education gigs facilitated by mentor faculty.

French

Montclair French students are also strikingly active building cultural and linguistic bridges in local and international communities. Students working on the “Phares Haïtiens” have presented their work in local libraries and other educational settings. It is perhaps no coincidence that a number of Montclair students have recently won coveted to travel and teach in France for a year after graduation, sometimes choosing to do graduate study, work, and live in Europe for years afterwards. Montclair is also one of the strongest educators of New Jersey French teachers, with graduates of Montclair’s French BA and MA programs teaching in many of the townships surrounding the campus. A particular French educational highlight is the annual campus French Day, which often brings together as many as 400 local middle and high school students, their teachers (many of whom are alumni), alumni in other sectors, undergraduates, graduates, and professors. In the spirit of “everybody teaches, everybody learns,” workshops are typically co-led by a team of professors and alumni, with support from undergraduate students. “I love seeing the full pipeline of learners and teachers all in one place, playing with the language, immersing themselves, and modeling deep cultural exploration,” says French Professor Pascale LaFountain.

Asian Languages

Montclair’s lively Chinese, Japanese, and Korean programs pride themselves on interactive playful classes that encourage authentic engagement with popular media and culture, as students learn not just to speak, but also to sing, dance, prepare food, collaborate with local Asian American Pacific Islander advocacy organizations, and immerse themselves in Asian cultures. After graduation, students of Japanese often take their skills on the road by teaching English in Japan through the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET). For example, Cara Rosner ’21 and Stephanie Vincitore ’19 are currently Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) at an elementary school and a junior high school. Cara has cultivated strong bonds with the local Japanese community through her Japanese skills: “I’ve created lifelong friends and memories that I’ll never forget!” Some alumni continue their passion for promoting linguistic and cultural exchange after working as ALTs. Tatiana Figarola ’23 was an English teacher in Osaka, while Christopher Mack ’05 works at the Hirakata Board of Education. Jena Greco ’15 is a manga translation coordinator in Tokyo after passing the JLPT N2 exam. Japanese faculty member Yahui Olenik praises alumni for using Japanese in their workplaces: “We are very proud of Jena’s accomplishment in using Japanese and English while working among native speakers!”

Italian

Montclair’s Italian program also serves as a community hub for all things related to Italian teaching and culture. The Italian program has a rich teaching tradition and a vibrant network of alumni, many of whom teach in local schools, cultural centers, and other venues. For 17 years, the Italian Program and Coccia Institute have co-hosted a signature October event, Teaching Italian, which is led almost entirely in Italian since it is one of the few American teacher professional development programs that is focused on Italian. This annual symposium welcomes approximately 90 Italian teachers from around the country to campus. Many of the participants are Montclair teacher education students, undergraduate volunteers curious about teaching, and graduates. All share in discussion about the newest pedagogical innovations and the growing need for world language education today.

Dr. Enza Antenos, a professor of Italian and the symposium chair who has played many leadership roles in the American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI) and who also leads Montclair’s innovative interdisciplinary major in Language, Business & Culture, notes, “It is so exciting to see our students enrolled in the Italian teacher education program working alongside established alumni for the day, seeing what a rewarding career could await them after graduation.” The Italian Summer Intensive Program for Early College Credit also fosters a sense of community. Led by a Montclair alumna and promoted by the many alumni teaching in the area, the program not only brings high school students to campus, but gives them opportunities to work alongside college students, alumni professionals, often participating in cooking, site visits, or other collaborative explorations. The Montclair Italian program casts itself as an essential link in the “full circle” of local Italian teaching and learning and see this in action, every fall, high school students from around the region, some of whom themselves aspire to become Italian teachers, drop in on Italian classes, testing the waters to join one of the most active Italian programs in the region.

Preparing for the World

As international collaboration increases from year to year and the need for effective global diplomacy with international partners has never been greater, the need for multilingualism continues to grow. When students return to classes each fall, new students enter language classes and new future teachers discover their own spark to share language and culture with the next generation.

Montclair students’ commitment to balance majors and minors, or often double majors in a language and another field, makes students especially versatile and creative candidates for post-graduate positions. Many students also note that interviewers for graduate schools, scholarships, and work positions mention their community engagement and teaching experience as assets for career preparation.

Whether teaching or tutoring in the towns of New Jersey or immersing themselves in the career-launching experience of paid travel and teaching after graduation, Montclair students across the languages build communities through education while also opening doors to influential careers in professional settings of all sorts.

Funded by the and housed under the MLA’s new initiative, the grants provide up to $10,000 to support faculty members with the development of new structures, programs and resources that bolster the recruitment, retention and career readiness of undergraduate students, especially students of color, first-generation college students and Pell Grant recipients.

Led by Professor of World Languages and Cultures Elizabeth Emery, the Montclair team – which also includes faculty members Kathleen Loysen, Wing Shan Ho, Thomas Herold, Enza Antenos and Pascale LaFountain – will use the funds to develop a cocurricular career resources hub, which will offer tools for defining career pathways for students in modern languages.

The recipients of Pathways Step Grants will present their projects at the 2025 MLA Annual Convention, to be held in January of 2025.

“We are honored and delighted to have been selected for a MLA Pathways grant,” says Emery. “The funding will support the construction of new resources, like a language careers calculator to help students understand how best to hone and leverage their language skills in the workplace, and improve communication with partners on campus and in local communities. We are particularly excited to improve the career prospects of multilingual students in New Jersey, a state in which more than 200 languages and dialects are spoken.”

Montclair offers a diverse range of programs spanning 13 languages – Arabic, ASL, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. In addition to language study, students focus on the business practices, journalism, technology, health care, literature, cinema, music, art, cuisine and other cultural aspects of the countries in which these languages are spoken. They can major, minor or even double-major in individual languages, in translation studies or in Montclair’s bachelor’s in Language, Business and Culture program.

“Our World Languages and Cultures faculty are a dynamic and talented group who care deeply about the well-being and future success of our students,” says College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean Peter Kingstone. “This project is a critical part of our effort to help students choose to study languages and see its value in the workplace.”

For more information on World Languages and Cultures at ����vlog, visit .

In a round robin competition of back-to-back fast-paced 15-minute games, each team had a chance to challenge each of the three other teams. A final round had the Chinese-Japanese-Korean team, coached by Chinese Professor Dr. Wing Shan Ho, facing off against the Arabic team for third place, while the German team challenged the French and Italian team.

Coordinated by German professor Dr. Thomas Herold and German Club Secretary Lydia Schlegel, who played professionally in Germany before becoming a student at ����vlog, the tournament brings together all of the World Languages and Cultures faculty and their students of all levels, the only requirement for competition being that students must currently be in a World Languages and Cultures course. Most students are able to count the activity as part of community engagement points required for their courses.

This second annual tournament is developing a tradition of sportsmanship, diplomacy, dialogue, and high-level play. Professor Mazooz Sehwail, of the ����vlog Arabic program, officiated the game firmly, encouraging students to balance serious competition with fairness, issuing a yellow card as needed for overly aggressive play, and making quick transitions among games.

Student and faculty fans from across the languages lined the sidelines, carrying flags, sharing snacks, sharing ideas to practice their languages over the summer, practicing the longest words in the German language for an upcoming talent show, and discussing the use of diacritical marks in Arabic and writing systems in Japanese. Students learned to cheer in their respective languages, with “Yalla! Yalla!” and “Allez! Allez!” mixing among the sound of the whistle and of the players’ passes on the field.

In the end, it was international teamwork that won the day (as at the first modern Olympics of 1896 where players of different nationalities participated on the same teams). With help from Italian players and a student of Japanese recruited as a star goalie at the last minute, the French team took home the trophy. Coach Dr. Daniel Mengara held the cup high among cheers of “On a gagné! On a gagné!” chanted by fellow French faculty and students.

Other students exchanged contact info for future meetups and slowly left the field, vowing to return to try their luck again. In the meantime, proud Dr. Mengara will be in possession of the trophy until teams from all languages face off again next year.

Congratulations to Khadijah-Maryam and Ale!

Winner of the 2020-2021 Conrad J. Schmitt scholarship
Congratulations to

Winners of the Annual International Essay Writing Contest
Congratulations to the following students!
– 1st place in Arabic
– 1st place in Chinese
– 1st place in German
– 1st place in Japanese

We also congratulate Stephanie Vincitore, a Japanese Minor, for being selected by the JET Program to teach English in Japan this Fall. Good luck Stephanie!

To view a complete and up-to-date list of available Modern Languages and Literatures courses, course descriptions and meeting times, please log into .

How To Look Up Classes
Red Hawk Central has created a step-by-step instructional video on how to look up classes using the “Look Up Classes” option in NEST. This guide walks you through all the steps from logging into NEST to recording your Course Registration Numbers necessary for registration. .”

  – updated on April 15th 2020.
For a current list of available courses, please log into .