Service Learning, Internships, Independent Study, and Practicums
Tintern Abbey in Wales
The English department offers a number of opportunities for students to serve, study, and write outside of the classroom.
Central's nationally award-winning programs in service learning are reflected in the English Department's course in Writing for Nonprofit Organizations and in service learning components in a number of courses.
Internships are available at every Central College Abroad site, as well as more local internships with literary magazines, newspapers, state governmental offices, and local and area hospitals and businesses.
Upper level students may propose a course of study that extends a topic or question beyond the classroom. Study of this kind involves working individually with a professor, most often as part of the Central Senior Honors Program. Recent independent studies have included poetry writing, literary criticism, and travel writing.
Finally, selected upper level students have the chance to earn practicum credit while team-teaching lower-level courses. These opportunities involve lecturing, leading discussions, and grading papers under the direction of English faculty.
Study Abroad: London, Wales, China, and Chicago
Central College has long recognized the value of an international perspective and has three decades of experience in study abroad programs. Three sites are especially suited to English majors:
Students in London study Shakespeare and contemporary theater in text and in performance by taking advantage of the yearly offerings of the Royal Shakespeare Company and London's wide variety of professional theater. Students also have the opportunity to take other literature courses at the London Metropolitan University and Morley College. In addition, many students on our London Program have internships in theatre, professional writing, or in the British Parliament.
Kristin Clague at the Louvre in Paris
At The University of Wales in Bangor, Wales students have an opportunity to study Welsh heritage, language, and literature, especially the poetry of Dylan Thomas and R.S. Thomas. Creative Writing courses designed for Central students are especially popular.
The Hangzhou, China Summer TESOL Internship Program is an intensive three-week experience in teaching English to Chinese elementary and middle school students, with visits to Beijing and Shanghai before and after the teaching component. On the campus Zhejiang University, our Central College Abroad partner in Hangzhou, this program will allow students who have taught English during the regular, Spring Semester study abroad program in Hangzhou to extend their stay in China and expand their teaching experience.
At The Chicago Metropolitan Center students choose from a number of classes oriented toward the urban experience. These classes usually meet one day a week. The other four days students work at internships—usually in writing, editing, publishing, and teaching.
A number of English majors have been able to complete a second major in a modern foreign language such as French or Spanish, and have divided their time abroad between London and Wales and one of our other centers such as Paris or Granada.
Oxford shop and former inn where Shakespeare reportedly stayed