German professor Teresa Bell uses her passion for teaching to fill a new role as president of the Utah Foreign Language Association.
The Utah Foreign Language Association (UFLA) consists of an estimated two thousand language teachers in elementary schools, middle schools, and universities statewide. Each year, the UFLA welcomes a new president into office; in February 2024, German associate professor and associate chair Teresa Bell (Second Language Acquisition and Language Teaching) took over this role, excited to support teachers across Utah as they teach foreign languages.
In her new role, Bell advocates for increased access to language learning by lobbying to change school language requirements statewide. Likewise, she works with various schools to bring new languages into the classroom. Bell hopes these efforts will get students excited to learn new languages and cultures.
Bell believes that her work will help improve the cultural competency of students throughout Utah. As she explains, knowing how to speak to another person in their native language helps create meaningful connections between individuals throughout the world. She says, “It’s really hard to truly understand another person’s culture if you don’t know the language. You can love people and you can reach out and you can learn all kinds of things. At the end of the day, though, without the language, [cultural understanding]’s just not quite there.”
To learn more about the UFLA, visit their site.
Visit BYU’s Center for Language Learning website to get started on a language today.