Visiting Vermont and
New Hampshire by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
When
my husband Laurent attended the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of
Foreign Languages) in Boston, we decided to do a weekend trip to Vermont and
New Hampshire; these two states together are the size of Monterey County
California where we are from.
Our
ultimate destination was Middlebury College, the world famous institution for
teaching foreign languages. One of
Laurent’s degrees is from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies
(MATFL – Master’s of Teaching Foreign Languages) in Monterey, California. We were paying homage to the mother ship in
Vermont.
Middlebury
helps its students achieve language fluency through immersion summer courses
where they sign contracts to do everything in their chosen language during
summer. These effective courses have
been expanded to high school age students through the K12 program according to
Middlebury’s website.
To
get to Middlebury College in Vermont, you have to drive through New Hampshire
and leave Boston via hairpin turns on flat land.
“Are
the British still coming?” I asked myself as we zigzagged out of Massachusetts
into New Hampshire.
Once
in New Hampshire, I noticed that all the libraries and many town halls had
short Ionian columns along their porches overlooking Main Streets.
Ionian
columns were created in the Ionian Island chain off the coast of western
Greece. While most of Greece was under
Ottoman (Turkish) rule, the Venetians took over the Ionian Islands till the end
of the mid 19th century and formed local nobility that was Italian
not Greek. I liked the scroll- topped
columns on these small rural libraries.
When
we arrived in hilly Middlebury (Vermont), it seemed like there were three
bakeries on every block selling different kinds of cakes and cookies from
around the world. I guessed that
students practiced ordering and asking what cookie ingredients were in
immersion languages spoken by the different bakeries.
Humor
aside, language house programs at Stanford and the University of Wisconsin –
Madison may be been inspired by the success of Middlebury’s immersion classes.
I
smiled at the laidback winter dress in town – pajamas, parkas, and expensive
boots worn by students going to bakeries.
We
went to a restaurant for lunch and ate fish and chips, several choices of
Vermont cheese, and chocolate cake for dessert.
Snowflakes began falling during our meal, which made me feel snug
inside.
We
left, though, to beat the snow back to Boston.
Bells began to chime in the crisp winter air for a carillion concert as
we walked up the main hill towards the church and our car.
New
England embodies that meal, the snow, the music, and higher education goals for
me.
