Major Requirements

Major in French

Students must take 8 courses (minimum 30 credits) with at least 6 beyond FRE 2020. Majors will be encouraged to spend one semester of foreign study in a country where French is the native language.

Courses beyond FRE 2020:
FRE 3010 Composition and Culture
FRE 3020 Conversation and Culture
FRE 3030 French Cinema I
FRE 3040(W) Five Centuries of French Civilization in Films
FRE 3050 Actualités Françaises
FRE 3110, 3120 Survey of French Literature I and II
FRE 3130, 3140 Studies in Modern French Literature I and II
FRE 3510, 3520 French Civilization I and II
FRE 4900 Directed Study

Interdisciplinary Major in Italian Studies

The Italian Studies major requires 9 four-credit courses for a total of 36 semester credit hours. The major is comprised of 24 semester credit hours in Core Courses with an ITA designation and 12 semester credit hours in Elective Courses. Students must also complete a Capstone Project designed to integrate their studies. This project will be done in connection with the last Italian culture course that students take in the program. Contact the Italian professor if you have any questions about becoming an Italian Studies major.

Requirements for the Italian Studies Major

1. Core Courses: 24 credits in Italian Language and Culture; at least one course must be at the 3000 level or above.

1. Italian Language – Students must take two Italian language courses (8 credits total) at the intermediate level or beyond. Students will be placed in the appropriate level. The Introductory Italian sequence (ITA 1110 and ITA 1120) will not be counted as part of the major. Only the following courses may be used to fulfill the language requirement in the major:
   ITA 2010 Intermediate Italian I
   ITA 2020 Intermediate Italian II
   ITA 3010 Composition & Culture
   ITA 3020 Conversation & Culture
   ITA 3050 Attualità Italiana
2. Italian Culture – Students must take 4 Italian Culture courses (16 credits) chosen from among the following. Courses in the Italian Culture category are drawn from a group of ITA courses which share a common focus on Italian cultural topics and texts. In keeping with common practice among Italian Studies programs, some Italian Culture courses are offered in Italian and some are offered in English:
   ITA 2530 Italian Women Writers
   ITA 2570/2580 Italian Culture through Film I and II
   ITA 2550 Italian Americans and Film
   ITA 2560(W) The Italian Southern Question in Literature and Film
   ITA 3010 Composition & Culture
   ITA 3020 Conversation & Culture
   ITA 3050 Attualità Italiana (formerly ITA 2510)
   ITA 4900 Directed Study
3. Three elective courses. Refer to the catalog for listing.

 

Major in Romance Languages

This major combines two Romance Languages with a total of 9 courses (minimum 34 credits). Students must take at least 22 credit hours beyond 1120 in the principal language (French, Italian or Spanish), and 12 credit hours beyond 1110 in the secondary language (French, Italian, or Spanish). Romance Language majors are required to take the intermediate (2010, 2020) sequence of the language they studied in high school in their freshman year and to begin the study of the second language by the first semester of their sophomore year. Please note that only one course may be taken in English. Majors wishing to take such a course need the instructor’s permission, as written assignments for the class and weekly meetings with the instructor to discuss the material, both in the target language, will be required.

Major in Spanish

Students must take 8 courses (minimum 30 credits) with at least 6 beyond SPA 2020. Majors will be encouraged to spend one semester of foreign study in a country where Spanish is spoken.

Core course: Spanish majors and minors are required to take SPA 3200 Introduction to Advanced Studies after they take SPA 3010 or 3020, and before they move on to upper level courses. Depending on whether the course is being taught in the Spring or the Fall, Spanish majors and minors might be allowed to take an upper level course before taking SPA 3200. Spanish majors and minors are allowed to take one of the courses regularly offered in English as one of their required courses. For majors, a second course in English might be accepted at the discretion of the instructor, provided that all the work done for the course is in Spanish.

Courses beyond SPA 2020:
SPA 3010 Composition and Culture
SPA 3020 Conversation and Culture
SPA 3050 Actualidad Española
SPA 3060 Actualidad Latinoamericana
SPA 3200 Introduction to Advanced Studies
SPA 3310 Latinos in the U.S.: Literature and Service Learning
SPA 3510, 3520 Culture and Civilization of Spain and the Hispanic World
(3510 offered in English, 3520 offered in Spanish)
SPA 3610 Race, Literature and Culture
SPA 3620 Gender, Literature and Culture
SPA 3630 Studies in Popular Culture
SPA 3700 Special Topics
SPA 3750 Crossing Borders (aka Convivencia: Study-Travel Course Throughout Spain)
to Examine “La Convivencia” (Co-Existence) of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Medieval Spain (711-1492) offered in English (Learn about SPA 3750 first hand from a student perspective) 
SPA 4050 Literature(s)/Culture(s) of Resistance
SPA 4060 (W) Film and Literature of Contemporary
Spain and Latin America
SPA 4070 Short Fiction of Spanish Speaking World
SPA 4080 Hispanic Literature in Translation
SPA 4900 Directed Study

Teacher of Foreign Languages

Students interested in preparing for a career as a teacher of French, Italian or Spanish at the secondary and middle school level, have the following two options: they may major in French, Spanish or Romance Languages and pass the Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure (MTEL) to obtain a 5-year preliminary Teaching Certificate in the teaching of foreign language. Alternatively, they may double major in French, Spanish or Romance Languages and Education to obtain an Advanced Provisional Certificate.

Elementary Teachers can easily double major in French, Spanish, Italian Studies and Romance Languages combined with an Elementary Education major. They will not need to take the MTEL in French, Italian or Spanish.

Study Abroad and the Language Major and Minor

The Department of World Languages and Cultures strongly recommends that all majors and minors study abroad for a semester or more and participate in any of our study-travel courses offered. The choice of program and the choice of courses must be approved beforehand by the department. At least half of the major course requirements must be taken at Merrimack College, including one upper-level course, upon return from the study abroad program.