Page 18 - South Mississippi Living - March, 2020

COAST NOTE
ABOVE: Students practice a bow as Dr. Javier G. Gómez (above) teaches in Japanese I. BELOW: Silvana Newkirk helps students absorb a new language and culture.
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC) is the only community college in the state to o er Japanese and Italian classes. The college also o ers Spanish
and French and students are excited about the opportunity to learn these additional languages.
“Since I was really young, I have been enamored with Japan and its culture,” said Kelsey Jordan, a student in Japanese I at MGCCC’s Jackson County Campus. “In my Japanese class, I feel both excited, challenged and motivated to immerse myself in learning the language and culture. One day I hope to
English as a Second Language, said that it is important for people to learn more than one language for a variety of reasons. “Students in the language courses gain more than just a respect for other languages and cultures. They also learn critical-thinking skills and an appreciation for their own culture and language.”
Japanese I student Alexis Litke agrees. “Learning another language improves your listening, analytical and comprehension skills. I have to go into class and switch a gear mentally so I can input and output a language that is so di erent from my native one. It makes you look at your own language and culture di erently and appreciate the di erences.”
A native of Italy, Silvana Newkirk, language arts instructor at the Je erson Davis Campus, teaches Spanish as well. She said that learning languages changes you as a person. “Charlemagne said that a person who speaks two languages possesses two souls,” she said. “That is true in so many ways. Learning a new language is about absorbing not only
the language but the culture. It makes you a di erent person.”
www.smliving.net | SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living
story and photos courtesy of MGCCC
BECOMING BILINGUAL
For more information about MGCCC’s Language Arts programs, contact us by email at questions@mgccc.edu
“Students are excited by the opportunity, especially learning something beyond the standard foreign language classes they are o ered in high school,” said Dr. Javier G. Gómez, language instructor at MGCCC’s Jackson County Campus. Japanese has been o ered at MGCCC since 2014. Italian will be o ered for the rst time in fall 2020.
Gomez, who is originally from Puerto Rico and spent many years in Japan teaching
visit Japan, and taking the class makes me like that dream is closer.”
feel
18 | March 2020