In a push to broaden the cultural perspectives of its students, Worcester State University plans to offer two new language courses this fall— Quechua and Vietnamese.
Antonio Guijarro-Donadios, chair of the World Languages Department, said the new language offerings are a way to expand the department beyond Spanish, which is currently the dominant focus.
“If it’s a world languages department, we should be offering more languages than just Spanish,” he said. “Eventually, I would like to see a world language department offering several languages, but we will start with these two new additions.”
Quechua is the language spoken by descendants of the Incas and is widely spoken in the Andean region of South America, especially Peru. The new Quechua and Vietnamese courses were prompted by an influx of Quechua-speaking immigrants from Peru and Bolivia to Central Massachusetts and Connecticut in recent years, as well as significant Vietnamese immigrant communities in the region, Guijarro-Donadios said.
The university’s current world language offerings are limited, with four full-time Spanish professors. There is also an adjunct instructor for Arabic, a semester or two of which is offered occasionally. Adding Quechua and Vietnamese comports with Guijarro-Donadios’s goal of diversifying the language options to align with changing demographics of students and immigrants in the region.
“By broadening the scope of languages offered, the Department of World Languages is supporting the university’s commitment to providing students with a global educational experience,” said Russ Pottle, dean of the School of Social Sciences and the Humanities. “These expanded offerings are a significant recognition of the university’s commitment to serving an increasingly diverse student body and local community.”
Guijarro-Donadios said Swahili also is in demand among the university’s growing population of students of African ancestry. “We have students who are asking for Swahili classes so they can communicate with their families back home,” he said. However, finding qualified instructors has proven challenging.
“You need a master’s, or at least someone enrolled in a master’s degree in education program,” Guijarro-Donadios said. “It’s not just having the ability to speak the language—you need pedagogical training to effectively teach it.”
Guijarro-Donadios was able to find Quechua and Vietnamese teachers at Forest Grove Middle School, a nearby public school. One teacher already has a master’s degree, and the other is in a master of education program, he said.
Quechua and Vietnamese 101 and 102 courses will be offered in the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 semesters. The new language courses will be taught in the late afternoon/early evening time slot, after the teachers’ workday at Forest Grove ends.
Future plans include potentially adding Swahili and other non-Western language options if the initial Quechua and Vietnamese courses are successful, he said.
Guijarro-Donadios believes exposing students to diverse, non-Western languages and cultures is crucial for developing empathy and a global mindset. “When you learn another language, you’re not you anymore,” he said. “You’re going to have the native English-speaking you, and then you’re going to have the you that’s learning another language, because it’s more than a different way of talking. It’s a different way of looking at the world.”
Photo: Antonio Guijarro-Donadios in the World Languages Department
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