Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy

The Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy (MMLA) is a summer language immersion program for pre-college students. Founded in 2008 by Middlebury College and its graduate school, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, MMLA convenes on college campuses in the United States. Languages taught at MMLA include Arabic, French, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish.

Curriculum

MMLA requires students to take a Standards Based Assessment of Proficiency (STAMP) test, administered at the beginning of the summer. MMLA faculty use this test to place students into proficiency levels. There are five proficiency levels in Chinese, German, French, and Spanish academies, and three proficiency levels in the Arabic and Italian academies. The STAMP test is also administered at the conclusion of MMLA’s summer program. MMLA uses these two STAMP tests to measure student progress and submit a metric to the regular school-year teachers of MMLA students.

MMLA organizes its curricular calendar into four weeks, each assigned a theme by MMLA faculty. Following these themes, faculty cover one lesson unit each regular day. There are nineteen total lesson units in a summer at each Language Academy. The curriculum that faculty use is a program designed by MMLA in 2010. MMLA asserts that this program is based around the student workbook, designed, edited, and translated by MMLA staff in 2011.

History

Middlebury College Language Schools

Main article: Middlebury College Language Schools

Founded in 1800 in Middlebury, Vermont, Middlebury College is most often recognized for an undergraduate liberal arts program on its Vermont campus. In 1915, the College established the first Language School, the School of German. In an attempt to maintain an immersion environment, faculty at this summer program asked that students and colleagues commit to a "Language Pledge" to communicate exclusively in their target language. The Schools offer instruction in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portugese, Russian, and Spanish. Currently, Middlebury College’s Language Schools run programs on the original Vermont campus, as well as at Mills College in Oakland, California.

Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy

Middlebury College and its graduate school, the Monterey Institute of International Studies opened MMLA with the intent of hosting a Language Schools program for pre-college students. The summer program has often highlighted its use of the Middlebury Language Pledge and maintains that the Pledge helps create an educational community and promotes a language immersion environment. MMLA opened in 2008, hosted by the campuses of St. Michael’s College, Vermont and Menlo College, California. These locations taught Arabic, Chinese, French, and Spanish. During the summer of 2009, MMLA moved its locations to Green Mountain College, Vermont and Bard College, Massachusetts. During the summer of 2010, MMLA opened a German program, reopened its location at Green Mountain College, and opened new locations at Oberlin College, Ohio, and Pomona College, California. MMLA has continually announced new locations for the summer of 2011.

Current Locations

Green Mountain College, Poultney, Vermont

Languages: Chinese, French, Spanish

Roger Williams University, Bristol, Rhode Island

Languages: Italian, French, Spanish

Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

Languages: Chinese, French, Spanish

Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina

Languages: French, German, Spanish

Lewis University, Romeoville, Illinois

Languages: Chinese, French, Spanish

Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio

Languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish

Pomona College, Claremont, California

Languages: Chinese, French, Spanish

University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California

Languages: Chinese, French, Spanish