Jax State Expands Global Learning Opportunities with Online Portuguese Course

02/19/2025

By Brett Buckner  

Since the fall of 2023, Jax State has been offering online Portuguese language classes (LAS 101) through a collaborative partnership with the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies (CLACX) at Vanderbilt University, the University of Alabama, and Tuskegee University. The initiative is federally funded through the Title VI grant. "It's an incredibly unique opportunity for our students," said Lance Ingwersen, associate professor of Latin American History. Ingwersen, a Vanderbilt alumnus, learned about the program while attending a global studies conference and was able to get Jax State written into the grant proposal.  

With more than 264 million native speakers, Portuguese is the sixth most spoken native language in the world. Due to its prevalence, the U.S. Department of State has designated Portuguese as a critical language and offers a Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) program to study Portuguese that helps U.S. citizens study critical languages abroad. LAS 101 provides a potential advantage for future studies. "The goal of those programs is to find individuals who can communicate effectively in the event the United States has strategic or national security interests within a certain region," Ingwersen said. "Those fellowships are really cool, and if our students can achieve an intermediate level of Portuguese to qualify for them, it can go a long way."  

A Portuguese instructor from the University of Alabama teaches remote classes to a combination of Jax State and Tuskegee students. There have been opportunities for students to meet each other and the instructor in person. According to Ingwersen, about a half dozen Jax State students have participated in this program. Samantha Schmick, a 22-year-old senior majoring in Spanish with a minor in Latin American studies, is one of those students. Schmick's interest in Portuguese classes came from a love for Spanish. Learning Portuguese was the next logical step in advancing her understanding of Latin American history. "I believe that culture is deeply interwoven with language, so understanding language helps me get an even deeper understanding," she said. "I have had an amazing time learning about the variety of cultures within Portuguese-speaking communities, and I might not have learned about them at all if not for my exposure in this course."   

With the class taught using Zoom, Schmick was initially hesitant, knowing that speaking out loud was the best way to learn a language. "But [University of Alabama professor] Dr. Jared Hendrickson makes it interactive and fun," she said, "So this is something we do very often. The class meets every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Students watch videos and movies, listen to music, and have lecture content to study. "He encourages us to interact out loud over Zoom, so it is essentially the same as an in-person class," she said. "We're encouraged to ask questions, make mistakes, and overall be curious to connect with the language on a deeper level."  

Schmick intends to use her language experience to help people in a hospital setting as a medical interpreter and is in her second semester of online Portuguese classes. "I would suggest that anyone curious about language or with a background in Spanish take this course," she said. "I feel like it has definitely widened my perspective and granted me new opportunities."  

Beginner Portuguese (LAS 101) will be offered in Fall 2025, providing students with a unique opportunity to gain valuable language skills in a growing global market.