Staff Spotlight: Markus Clark, Bilingual Assistant, Italian School
Markus Clark, an alumnus of our Italian Immersion and MA programs, spent his second summer as a Bilingual Assistant at our Italian School in summer 2025.
Language Schools Blog
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Why Learn Chinese
Drawing on her professional and personal experience, Dr. Pen-Pen Chen shares insights into how language connects identity, community, and opportunity. Dr. Chen highlights the cultural and professional advantages of learning Chinese in today’s world while reflecting on her own journey as a Chinese American. This engaging discussion offers both inspiration and practical reasons for embracing language learning.
Video originally published by the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Arizona, June 26, 2025.
Meet 8-week Chinese Immersion Student: Mark Roose
For level-1 Chinese immersion student Mark Roose, our instructors’ personal investment in his success made all the difference. He went from never having studied Chinese, to being able to carry on full conversations by the end of the program.
German for Singers Program Featured on NPR
A unique summer language course in Vermont opens the door to opera singing in Germany. At Vermont’s famed Middlebury Language Schools, opera singers perfect their German.
Meet 8-week Japanese Immersion Student: Johnathan Vazquezcook
U.S. Marine Johnathan Vazquezcook, currently stationed in Okinawa Japan, can now hold a basic conversation in Japanese after attending our School of Japanese: Level 1. Our dedicated faculty and staff ensured he was never afraid to stumble and helped make every interaction feel meaningful.
Staff Spotlight: Motoko Tabuse, Director, School of Japanese
Motoko Tabuse has been the Director of the School of Japanese since 2019. The School of Japanese includes our 8 week (12 credit) immersion program as well as two graduate programs: MAT with Teaching Licensure and Master of Arts in Japanese Language and Culture.
Staff Spotlight: School of Japanese Bilingual Team 2025
Our bilingual assistants are indispensable to the success of our programs. Each summer, they plan and execute co-curricular activities and support our students, faculty, and staff. In this article, three of our bilingual assistants share about what they love most about working at the School of Japanese.
How the Language Schools (Just like Scooby-Doo) Changed My Life
PhD student Shahriar Akhavan Tafti’s summer at our German School “rewired his brain,” and “changed his very being.”
Meet 7-week German Immersion Student: Michelle Keefe
For Yale PhD student Michelle Keefe, who is typically very talkative, entering the German School at Level 1 was a daunting prospect. In the end, she was surprised to find that her impulse to communicate overrode her lack of language.
Language teachers build skills, earn license in new Middlebury program
| by Marin Howell
Middlebury Union High School 2017 alum Meigan Clark is back in town this summer taking part in the inaugural class of a new Master of Arts in Teaching program offered through the Middlebury Language Schools. The program offers participants a secondary teaching license in modern languages valid for teaching 7-12 grades in public school systems around the country.