Students from across the globe gather together every Monday evening from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Mills International Center to broaden their horizons with language and culture.
Alexander Diaz, a recent graduate from University of Oregon and current guest teacher at the 4J Eugene School District, created the language circles in 2009. As a native Colombian, Diaz wished there was a place for him to express his culture while learning about others.
Along side members of the International Cultural Service Program, Diaz was able to create the language circles.
It began first with three to four groups and later progressed. Diaz noticed the noise issues that began to arise, but saw it as a positive aspect. He thought of it as a huge motivator.
“Since the groups were meeting at the same time at the Mills International Center, we were worried about noise interference,” Diaz said. “However, this background noise of many languages spoken at the same time turned out to be an inviting atmosphere to the language learner.”
In 2009, they began with three different language circles: Spanish, Arabic and Russian. Swahili and French were later added as demand increased.
As time progressed, Diaz passed the baton to the current language circles coordinator Rafal La. La, currently a senior studying business administration, participated in the circles in 2011. Through his participation, he was able to develop a relationship with Diaz because they both spoke Spanish and were from bordering countries.
As La’s new role began, he and others started to market the language circles to increase participation. They wanted to focus more on the cultural aspect of it rather then just the languages.
The circles’ goal is to give students the opportunity to learn about a new culture while also learning a new language.
La gave the program more structure by creating responsility guideline documents for language leaders to look over. He also did so by creating excel sheets that showed the amount of students who participated in each group during every week.
“I decided to created a lot of different documents and give the program structure,” La said.
He was able to bring to life what Diaz had envisioned for the program.
Currently the Mills offers eight consistent language circles including Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic, German, Russian and two separate English circles at intermediate and beginner levels.
At the moment German is the most popular language circle.
Sonja Rasmussen, the Mills International Center’s coordinator sees the language circles as a positive part of the center. She believes that learning a language is great for all students and allows you to look at the world in a new way.
“Learning a new language opens your eyes to new ways of looking at the world,” Rasmussen said. “And a lot more people to talk to.”
All students, staff, and faculty are invited to join in on the fun.