Well-deserved vocation

First home-grown Target Language Expert embraces teaching after academic U-turn

Three years into an engineering program in Mexico, Alejandra Arcos ’19, M.Ed. ’21, came to a frightening realization: All of the talent and passion she brought to architectural design might not be enough.

What if I make a bad calculation that causes a structural collapse? The prospect haunted her enough that it became a deal-breaker.

On to Plan B, the dual U.S. and Mexican citizen returned to Kenosha, the city where she spent roughly half of her childhood. Resuming her studies at Carthage in 2017, she intended to major in graphic design and, thus, preserve a fragment of her architectural dream.

That soon gave way to Plan C. Through some fateful connections, Ms. Arcos discovered a surprisingly strong pull toward teaching.

The abrupt U-turns caught her inner circle off-guard. Midstream academic changes are less common in Mexico, where the educational system often prompts students to commit to a career track as early as age 16.

Abandoning those accumulated credits at the Superior Institute of Technology of Ciudad Hidalgo seemed especially out of character for a “super-scheduler” like Ms. Arcos.

“All of my friends told me my decisions were very radical,” she admits.

Nope, just methodical. Her normal pace is everyone else’s accelerated.

Taking courses year-round here to speed the process along, Ms. Arcos earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and then stuck around to teach it as a Target Language Expert. She’s the first Carthage undergraduate alum ever accepted into the College’s own 33-year-old graduate program.

After a whirlwind five years, she left campus in May with two degrees, an armful of teaching certifications, zero student debt, and a newfound mission in life.

“She did everything right,” says Professor Emeritus Ed Montanaro, who directed the TLE program for more than a decade until retiring in 2020. “It was probably the most complicated arrangement we ever made, and it all worked flawlessly.”

A DISTINCTIVE PROGRAM

What’s now called the Target Language Expert program began in 1989, developed by the late Irene Kraemer (then associate dean and chair of the Modern Languages Department) and championed by former Carthage first lady Barbara Campbell. Graduate students from targeted countries are brought in to teach introductory courses while pursuing advanced degrees.

Within the five foreign languages Carthage offers, the TLE program exposes students to a range of dialects and backgrounds. For example, faculty hire Spanish instructors from different parts of Latin America and French teachers from Africa and Quebec — not just Spain and France.

In any beginning language class, there’s a segment of students who show up grudgingly to check off a requirement and nothing more. Young and creative, TLEs hook them with fun cultural stuff from their homeland: movies, music, comic books, even food. The vocabulary lessons go down easier after that.

The program’s founder envisioned that kind of authenticity. Raised in Paris, Prof. Kraemer knew the visitors would bring much more to the classroom than an accent.

“For her, language was culture,” says Marian Rothstein, a professor emerita of modern languages who directed the program for more than 15 years.

Rather than recruiting through mass advertising, the department relies mainly on personal recommendations from faculty members, alumni of the program, and trusted partners. Prof. Montanaro insists the process is “more orderly than it looks.”

Schools commonly use graduate assistants to teach intro classes, but Carthage faculty see a couple of unique elements to this program. For an international student with grad school ambitions, it’s hard to beat the cost.

“You don’t need a dime to do this,” says Prof. Montanaro. “All you have to do is get to O’Hare or Midway airport.”

TLEs typically make a two-year commitment to teach at Carthage. In exchange, each receives a free private room and meal plan, a small yearly stipend, and the big attraction: free graduate tuition.

Most take courses toward the M.Ed. degree, although 2022 graduate Franco Basili of Argentina arranged an alternate course of study in the Master of Music program.

Another distinctive feature: They’re fully immersed Carthaginians who share an office, live on campus in Swenson Hall, and sometimes lead J-Term study tours.

“I don’t know of many other places that have the combination of people who live on campus and not only teach courses, but also make a substantial contribution to campus culture while earning their graduate degrees,” says Professor Greg Baer, the current TLE director.

Plenty of personal milestones can be traced back to those years on campus, as well. Faculty receive a surprising number of wedding notices from alumni couples who met as TLEs.

“Sometimes I thought I was the captain of ‘The Love Boat’,” jokes Prof. Montanaro.

Graduates of the program fan out in all directions. Some go on to teach at universities where the atmosphere is more cutthroat than collegial.

“Looking back, they refer to Carthage as ‘the life,’” says Prof. Montanaro. “It’s a gentle introduction to U.S. educational culture.”

A ROUSING RESTART

The oldest of four siblings, Alejandra Arcos was sent to live with an aunt and uncle in Kenosha. She mastered English while attending elementary and middle schools in the city.

Heading out of town on Alford Park Drive, she’d stare out the passenger window at the pretty Carthage campus. Had she stuck to the original plan, the school probably would’ve remained a mystery forever.

“I never thought when I was little that I would walk the stage from here,” she says.

When she finally did enroll — technically as an international student — Ms. Arcos quickly found her footing. Assigned to clean Hedberg Library while working as an Environmental Services technician, she got to know seemingly everyone on the faculty roster.

Teaching wasn’t even a consideration at first. Her faculty advisor saw it before she did. After seeing her strengths up close, both in advising sessions and on a J-Term study tour to China, Prof. Montanaro encouraged Ms. Arcos to check out the Target Language Expert program.

Paula Ruiz Santamaria, M.Ed. ’20, then a Carthage TLE from Spain, befriended the curious undergrad and invited her to sit in on a couple of Spanish classes. That’s all it took. A teacher was born.

There’s a natural acclimation period as new TLEs try to make sense of their hybrid role as instructors and graduate students. On top of that, Ms. Arcos taught part-time at a private elementary school in town, which solidified a more specific passion.

“I really enjoy connecting with kids who are bilingual,” Ms. Arcos says. “I used to be that student when I came here to Kenosha.”

She feels strongly that it’s healthier for students to embrace their heritage than to hide it. That can start small, like saying tor-TEE-ya rather than purposely mispronouncing tor-TIL-la to blend in.

Bulldozing through the Master of Education program, Ms. Arcos graduated early with summa cum laude honors. Entering the final semester of her Carthage teaching duties, she filled the gap by taking interior design classes at a nearby technical college.

Second-guessing? Hardly. You can activate backup plans without renouncing everything you loved about the first one.

Plan C landed Ms. Arcos a job as a first-grade teacher at EBSOLA Dual Language in Kenosha. To secure the necessary (Bilingual) teaching license, she’ll need to make an encore as a Carthage student.

“It has been lovely,” she says. “This experience has opened my eyes to a lot of things.”

When the ones doing the teaching and the ones doing the learning both emerge with a changed outlook, it’s a clear sign that the TLE program is going according to plan.

“It was an inspired idea,” says Prof. Montanaro. “Over time, the College smoothed out the rough edges, and it’s been a real asset.”

TLE TRACKER

Where do Target Language Experts go after Carthage? Here are the latest destinations for just a few of the program’s alumni:

JAPAN Midori Iwamoto, 2021 Madison, Wis. Ph.D. student – UW-Madison

CHINA Long He, 2017 Ames, Iowa Ph.D. student – Iowa State

SPAIN Luis Diaz Perez, 2015 Shanghai, China English and Spanish teacher

GERMANY Ramona Kreis, 2012 Morgantown, W. Va. Visiting Assistant Professor – University of West Virginia

GERMANY Paul Szkoc, 2005 Jawor, Poland Director of Battery Production – Mercedes- Benz Manufacturing

COLOMBIA Harold Castañeda-Peña, 1997 Bogotá, Colombia Associate Professor – Doctorado Interinstitucional en Educación

FRANCE Sabine Loucif, 1991 Hempstead, N.Y. Professor – Hofstra University

COLOMBIA Marleny Perdomo, 1991 Arlington, Va. Principal – Escuela Key Elementary