In the stores, in the streets, in the restaurants, at the universities, in your placements, and in your families you will hear both Spanish and English. You will also hear very creative and fascinating uses of language when both Spanish and English are spoken. The Border Studies Program offers flexibility in language use and offers programming for those with higher level language skills as well as for those who are newer to Spanish. In many ways students have the opportunity to structure the level of language use and language immersion that they would like. Some students, for example, may prefer an immersion program in Spanish, while others may prefer to locate themselves in an English dominant situation where Spanish is used in certain contexts.
Students also are very involved in the choice of the field study placement.
These range from complete use of Spanish to use of English with some Spanish, with many variations in language use in between. To work on your Spanish at a different pace, you can live with a family that is bilingual or English dominant, take courses primarily in English, and participate in a field study placement where English is the main language but Spanish is also used.