How to learn a language without taking classes

This article is aimed at those of you who want to learn a language, but, for whatever reason, don’t have time to take classes at Reed. On campus, we’re really lucky to have access to all kinds of resources that allow you to study and practice languages at your own pace!

  1. Tutoring

Even if you only have 10 minutes, feel free to come by the Language Lab to spend some time with a language tutor. All of them are super friendly and supportive, and happy to help you no matter what stage in your language-learning you’re at. Drop-in hours will be soon be posted on the bulletin board in the Lab, and you can get to know a little bit about the tutors through our Tutor Interviews Series on this blog.

2. Language houses

If you plan on living on campus next year, consider living in a Language House! In these houses, you’ll be surrounded by other students looking to learn (or already speakers of) the same target language, and you’ll be roommates with a native-speaker language scholar! Also, whether you live in a Language House or not, everyone is welcome to the weekly events hosted there by the language scholars. These are great opportunities to practice your language, meet like-minded people, and eat yummy food!

3. Language scholars

Language scholars also hold office hours! If you have a question or just want to chat, you can drop them an email to find out when they’ll be in office.

4. Events

At the Language Lab, we often host fun (and catered!) events that are open to everyone regardless of language level, where we practice languages while doing a fun activity (in the past we’ve done craft nights, karaoke, and trivia). Also, apart from weekly events at the Language Houses, each language’s scholars are tasked with organising two larger events per semester, so look out for these!

5.Language Lab Blog

Finally, check out more posts on the blog! Here, we post media recommendations and free language-learning resources, and we announce events. Myself and Pulpi welcome you to our little nerdy community <3

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