The emphasis of Institute offerings is on the development of communicative competence by fostering speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. Our courses also emphasize exposure to, and the understanding of, the cultures associated with the languages studied.
Course formats vary across languages and levels. A typical course sequence lasts eight weeks, with classes meeting two to four hours a day, Monday through Friday. Institute participants are not required to enroll for complete course sequences, but can select single courses based on their needs. Single courses last two-and-a-half to six weeks, depending on the language.
All Institute programs are conducted on Penn State’s University Park campus. For more information, call 814-863-5100, fax 814-863-5190, or email PSUconferences@psu.edu.
Programs are conducted by the Departments of Classics and Mediterranean Studies; Comparative Literature; Applied Linguistics; French and Francophone Studies; Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures; Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese; the Jewish Studies Program; and the Asian Studies Program.