Luther senior Kennedy interns at Colegio Pinosierra in Madrid

Teaching the Spanish language to students in Spain this summer, Luther senior Lynnette Kennedy of Washington, Iowa, interned at Colegio Pinosierra in Madrid.

Kennedy, daughter of Cynthia and Jim Kennedy, graduated in 2014 from Washington High School. She plans to graduate from Luther in spring 2018 with a Spanish major.

At Colegio Internacional Pinosierra, now the Colegio Internacional Casvi, the American international school strives to include language instruction in both Spanish and English, as well as emphasizing innovative thinking. As an intern, Kennedy observed and co-taught a variety of classes. Her students ranged from the ages eight to 18. Through preparing and teaching lessons, she discovered how classroom norms differ from U.S. classrooms and gained insights into how to engage students.

Kennedy explained, “Ninety percent of my day was [spent] teaching classes in Spanish; however, I taught a class in English to some students.” The excitement with which her students approached their learning affirmed her desire to teach Spanish to students in the United States after college.

Approximately 10 percent of Luther students take an internship for academic credit each academic year. The Luther College Career Center assists students with their internship search through resume preparation, networking, online internship searches, career fairs, on-campus interviewing, and connecting the student to alumni through the college’s Alumni Internship Program. Students also meet with a faculty adviser prior to the internship to create an internship learning plan that includes learning goals and assessment benchmarks. An internship work supervisor assists in the process by writing an evaluation of the student at the end of the internship. Students also complete a self-reflection form to help finalize the learning experience.

A national liberal arts college with an enrollment of 2,050, Luther offers an academic curriculum that leads to the Bachelor of Arts degree in more than 60 majors and pre-professional programs. For more information about Luther visit the college’s website: http://www.luther.edu.