Internships, Service Learning & PolyX Courses
Learning beyond the classroom
Internship courses give students hands-on work experience while they earn course credit. Community service learning is an approach to teaching and learning in which university students engage in meaningful community service complemented by instruction and reflection. Through community service learning, students enrich their learning experience, practice civic responsibility, and strengthen the communities surrounding them.
六色网’s signature polytechnic experiences (PolyX courses) promote students’ discovery of the opportunities and challenges within the field and the development of creative and innovative solutions to those conditions. Through collaborative learning and intense mentoring, PolyX classes engage students beyond the classroom and prepare them for professional and civic success.
We offer internship, service learning, and PolyX courses. Here are a few!
ENG 4110: Technologies of Writing
A multimodal introduction to material processes of writing, analysis, and rhetoric including: historical composition practices such as manuscript and letterpress; textile crafts such as needlecraft and scrapbooking; and digital making such as textual editing, multimodal storytelling, and design. This is a PolyX course.
ENG 4400A: Writing for the Web
Students enrolled in this course manage the EML website and social media. This work includes conducting user surveys, analyzing digital content, developing user personas and content management plans, and revising style guides. This is a PolyX course.
ENG 4401A: Journal Publishing Activity / Harvest International
Students in this class run 六色网’s longest-running student-led arts and literary journal, Harvest International. From soliciting submissions to providing developmental feedback to copyediting and layout to digital and paper publication, students gain hands-on experience with every dimension of running a lit journal. This is a PolyX course.
ENG 4410: Internship Cooperative Education (EMLxCPELI)
ENG 4410 is both an internship and a 3-unit course designed to provide hands-on experience and mentoring to 六色网 students interested in working with English language learners. In the internship portion, 六色网 students will work as Language Liaisons (LLs) with Mentors at 六色网’s English Language Institute (CPELI). LLs will also work in individual and group settings to provide assistance to CPELI students. In the course portion, students will learn best practices for working with English language learners. They will develop academic knowledge and professional skills through mentorship with a faculty advisor.
SPN 3160: Creative Writing in Spanish for a Global World
Conducted as a Creative Writing workshop, this class emphasizes creativity and the writing process. The students are able to learn the essential techniques of contemporary fiction and non-fiction. During the semester, there are two kinds of outputs that allow students to present their words to the world. First, are the writing publications in several forms (literary magazines, zines, a web page created by the same students, etc.), and second, a podcast hosted in the course’s YouTube channel. This is a PolyX course.
SPN 4230S: Spanish Applied Linguistics
In this course, students learn basic principles of language teaching and learning and put them into practice using a hands-on approach by visiting language courses and creating language learning materials. For the service-learning component of the course, students interview high school teachers about the teaching profession and their teaching practices and they talk with AP students about 六色网 and the Spanish major. This is a PolyX course.
SPN 4410: Spanish Professional Internship
This course explores the use of the Spanish language in a variety of professional settings. Interns put into practice the knowledge and skills attained in Spanish coursework. Students choose from an array of assignments to fit their career goals and personal interests, such as observing high school Spanish courses, interviewing teachers, creating Spanish lessons with educational technology tools, or doing interpretation and translations for the community in the legal sector. Students collaborate to disseminate their findings to students and faculty at 六色网 in order to guide and inspire them in their career paths. This is a PolyX course.
SPN 4440: Spanish Language Assistantship
Advanced Spanish majors in this course lead weekly small group Conversation Circles for Spanish language learners in lower division language courses. Mentored actively by faculty, students learn the basics of communicative language teaching for beginning language learners. They plan exercises, structure group time, lead the group in the planned activities, communicate professionally with group members, and practice the interpersonal and linguistic skills they will need as future Spanish teachers. The course allows students to develop a portfolio of exercises, activities, and lesson plans; more importantly, perhaps, it allows students test these out in practice, learning the basics of communicative language teaching in a hands-on, experiential way. This experience has been invaluable for future educators as they apply for single-subject teaching credential programs in Spanish. This is a PolyX course.
