Fall 2025 Newsletter

This semester the Modern Languages and Literatures Department has organized many events. We had the annual events such as The Regina Ann Haig International Film Series , French Week, and Tea Time Talks. We hosted our annual Essay Contest. The department held informational events to bring attention all the wonderful advantages of taking language courses and having a language degree. There were many academic outings and events held by our faculty. Our Arabic, French, Italian, Chinese, and Spanish clubs had many exciting events. We also welcomed a new faculty member to our department! Read all about her in our Faculty Corner.

The Regina Ann Haig International Film Series 

Empire M

Arabic Film
presented by Dr. Inas Hassan
Sept 24th

Argentina, 1985

Spanish Film
presented by Dr. Cynthia Fraga
Oct 29th

Libere

Italian Film
presented by Dr. Silvia Raimondi
Nov 19th

French Week

Griot Performance: Pape Demba Samb and Super Ngewel

Nov 3rd

Film Screening: Entre les murs (The Class) with introduction by Dr. Andre Colombat

Nov 5th

Accents and Slang Expressions Around the Francophone World with the French Club

Nov 6th

French Conversation Hour

Nov 7th

Modern Languages and Literatures Informational Events

International Translation Day

Sept 29th

MLL Coffee Hour and Advising Q&A

Oct 1st

MLL Internship Finding Workshop with Rizzo Career Center

Oct 1st

MLL Career Night

Oct 22nd

LALS Social Hour

Nov 5th

 

Tea Time Talks

Bilinguals and Trauma: Psycholinguistics and Sociolinguistic Considerations 

presented by Dr. Heidi Shaker

Fool Me Twice: Deception, Trickery, and Gaslighting in Medieval Italian Literature 

presented by Dr. Alyssa Falcone

 

The Summer I Turned Witty: Inspiring Latino Families to Pass on Spanish to the Next Generation 

presented by Dr. Cynthia Fraga

Winners of the Annual Essay Contest

First place winners

Owen Kearns-Advanced French
Payton West-Intermediate French
Angelina Di Giglio-Advanced Italian
Leah Rottler-Gurley-Advanced Spanish
Lisette Szeman-Intermediate Spanish

Second place winners

Sawyer Little-Advanced French
Ava Berberian-Intermediate French
Anne Sullivan-Advanced Italian
Gaby Lopez-advanced Spanish
Kevin Feldtmose-Intermediate Spanish

Honorable mentions

Tobiloba Oladipo-Advanced Chinese
Kylie Rice and Adrienne Wolfram-Advanced German
Charlotte Devecka-Advanced Spanish
Mary Duque-Intermediate Spanish

Academic Events and Outings

Sauerbraten Dinner Outing

103 and 104 level German students were taken to the downtown German Lutheran church for their annual Sauerbraten dinner. There was food, music and dancing. Three students were asked onto the stage to sing and one led a conga line through the dining room! After dinner, the students were taken on a historical tour of the church.

 

Write That Down: Chinese Calligraphy

Yu Stearns was invited by LNDL to host one of their Pop-up classes. This in-person session taught students from both Loyola and Notre Dame the history and the basic techniques for practicing the art of Chinese calligraphy.  A total of 20 students and a few librarians attended the session.

Hora De Café con Leche

Spanish conversation hour hosted in partnership with The Thrive Center

Piñatas Workshop

Workshop for Spanish minors to teach how to make a Piñata for Christmas time. 

Hermitage French Plantation Visit

Dr. Andre Colombat, 4 students, and 4 professors drove to Frederick and offered guided tours of the Hermitage French Plantation, the historic cemetery and the Catholic historic quarter.

 

Spanish Linguistics Gallery Walk

Students in SN 320: Introduction to Spanish Linguistics wrapped up the semester by presenting their final projects at the Spanish Linguistics Gallery Walk in Maryland Hall. Their projects examined various linguistic, social, and cultural aspects of the Spanish-speaking world, showcasing their knowledge of Spanish history, phonetics, syntax, and sociolinguistics. 

Hope For the Holidays

The students wrote messages of welcome and hope for newly-arrived, Spanish-speaking immigrants as an assignment for our virtual day on 11/24. Then, they wrote those messages in cards when they came back on 12/1. The cards were then sent to Hope for the Holidays to be distributed.

Faculty Corner

Sara Castro Cantu

The Modern Languages and Literatures Department is happy to welcome Sara Castro Cantu to Loyola.  Sara is an Assistant Professor of Spanish, specializing in sociolinguistics, Spanish in the U.S., and heritage language maintenance and shift.  She teaches classes on Spanish linguistics and SN 104. 

Born and raised in Mexico City, Sara moved to Los Angeles as a teenager. She attended El Camino Community College, then went to on to California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), where she received her BA in psychology. While there, she took an introductory class in linguistics. This class opened a world to her and she realized that this was a field she wanted to pursue. She went on to do her Master’s degree in Linguistics with an emphasis on language and culture at CSULB. She worked two years at the graduate center there as an advisor, but knew she wanted to continue on to get her Ph.D. She attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, receiving her Ph.D. in Linguistics with a graduate minor in Latina/Latino Studies. Having lived in highly Latino areas of California and being from Mexico herself, she developed an interest in heritage speakers of Spanish. Her dissertation focused on heritage language maintenance in Los Angeles over time with the different factors that pull these speakers toward speaking more English than Spanish.

Sara has always wanted to live on the East Coast and was attracted to Loyola by its small size and its emphasis on teaching and building relationships with students. She has found her colleagues and students to be welcoming, kind and dedicated. In her free time, Sara enjoys spending time with her partner, her dog, and her cat. They enjoy hiking and exploring the area, especially museums and local places of interest.  Welcome, Sara!

-written by Robin Bauer-Taylor

Arabic Events

Arabic Henna & Tattoos-Stickers

Oct 8th

Short Film screening- I Don't Care if

Nov 7th

Couscous Tasting

Dec 1st

 

 

Chinese Club Events

Lantern Decorating

Sept 16th

Kite Decorating

Sept 29th

Autumn Festival Celebration

Oct 3rd

Chinese Hand Fan Painting

Oct 8th

Talisman Painting

Oct 29th

Glassblowing Trip

Nov 15th

Make Your Own Chilli Oil

Nov 6th

Chinese Knots

Dec 1st

Italian Club Events

Movie Night: Luca

Sept 19th

Game Night

Italian club to played games involving history, art, music, and more. Games like Jeopardy, Bananagrams, Scopa, and more were played.

Oct 24th

Arts and Crafts Night

Featured a brief presentation on Italian history and the meaning of the Italian flag. 

Nov 19th

Cena di Natale

Brief presentation about Christmas and holiday traditions in Italy, followed by food and desserts from Little Italy

Dec 8th

 

 

French Club Events

Crepe Night 

Sep 30th

French Movie Night 

Oct 28th

Accents and Slang Expressions Around the Francophone World

Nov 6th

A Night of French Fashion 

Dec 2nd

 

Spanish Club

Movie Night: The Curse of the La Lorona 

Oct 24th

Christmas Crafts Night 

Dec 5th