In the first segment, Philip Stewart and Edith Schall discuss the teaching of foreign languages and cultures in American high schools and universities. Stewart and Schall touch on methodology, teacher preparation, and the global dimensions of the works they teach. Both agree that once students master the basics of a foreign language, the teacher’s job is to put students into the social and cultural milieu of the foreign-language work being taught. At the time of the interview, Philip Stewart was professor of romance studies at Duke University and later was a Fellow at the National Humanities Center (1995-96). Edith Schall taught Spanish language and literature at Athens Drive High School in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The second segment [20:15] is a commentary by Phil Nelson in which he laments Americans’ provincial attitudes regarding foreign languages, but finds hope in the establishment of the Governor’s Language Institute and in North Carolina’s then-recent adoption of an educational program requiring second language classes for the state’s elementary school students. At the time of the interview, Philip Nelson was a consultant to the (N.C.) Governor’s Language Institute and a resident associate at the National Humanities Center (1991).
This episode of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
