Language Programs

SpanishTESOLSIgn Language Interpreting Deaf Studies

Where language meets the world

Learn to teach, interpret and connect in classrooms here and communities around the world.

Language students at Goshen College learn by doing. Here, you’ll:

  • Support real learners and communities: Help English language learners in classrooms and communities, and practice interpreting in real-world settings.
  • Work mentors invested in you: study under professors who know your name and care about your future.
  • Learn beyond campus: our signature Study-Service Term takes your language education around the world.

Explore our four distinct language pathways below to find where you can work at the intersection of language, access and advocacy.

  • 60+
    students at Goshen College complete SST in a Spanish-speaking country each year
  • Unique
    as one of few U.S. colleges offering a TESOL major, minor, and teaching license — a combination that gives students flexibility most programs don't
  • 6
    professional development workshops are documented by sign language interpreting students in their portfolio before graduating

    Explore each program

      Languages as service

      When our whole campus gathers each week for convocation, ASL interpreters are part of how the community learns together. Our interpreting students practice their craft in chapel services, theater performances, concerts and campus events. Access is a daily practice, not an afterthought, at Goshen. That spirit of service runs through every language program:

      • Interpreting students build lasting relationships in the local Deaf community through partnerships and service.
      • TESOL students support English learners in area schools and churches.
      • Spanish students serve alongside neighbors in Goshen, where the language is spoken in homes and businesses across the city.

      Language studies here embody two of our core values: servant leadership and compassionate peacemaking.

      The language advantage

      • A skyrocketing demand: with over 40 million Spanish speakers in the U.S. alone, the need for bilingual professionals keeps growing.
      • Put your skills to work now: in a community that’s over 26% Hispanic/Latino, you’ll gain hands-on experience with local Spanish speakers and long before graduation.
      • Work with the Deaf community: Every sign language interpreting major graduates with 100 hours of supervised experience.
      • Go global: take your learning around the world through our signature Study-Service Term to places like Ecuador, Indonesia and Guatemala.

      ¡Habla, conecta, transforma! — Speak, connect, transform!

      • The community I formed while at Goshen College is one of the things I value most from my time there. Being at a smaller school gave me the opportunity to participate in many groups and make connections in different places including cross-country, orchestra, classes, EcoPax environmental club, and hanging out in the dorm connectors as a first-year student. Since graduating I am continually grateful to have past professors I can ask for career advice or references, teammates who will travel several states to reunite and run a road race, and friends who care about their relationship with me and the people and world around them.

        Alena Miller '23

        Goshen College Alum

      Learn languages by living them

      • Sign Language Interpreting: Goshen is one of the region’s few four-year bachelor’s degrees in interpreting, built on hands-on learning and a strong foundation in ethics and communication.
      • TESOL: add English-learner licensure, field placements and study abroad as part of your degree, as you prepare to teach English learners locally and globally to immerse yourself in another language and culture.

      The conversation starts here.

      One application opens the door to every language program at Goshen.

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