Suzanne Stengl

Certificate in Spanish Language and Culture (2009)

In 2007, Suzanne Stengl participated in a Spanish immersion program that involved living with a family in Ecuador for four weeks. Before she left, she took two levels of Spanish through U of C Continuing Education—enough to give her the basics for simple conversation.

Sometime in the coming year, Suzanne will repeat her homestay experience in Ecuador. This time she has much higher expectations of herself. This time, she will be equipped with the advanced language skills she developed through her weekly evening classes in the Spanish Language and Culture Certificate program.

"This will be a real test for me," says Suzanne. "I'm anxious to see the difference. The first time I went I'd done just two levels of Spanish. This time I'll have eight."

Suzanne and her husband share a retirement dream of spending their winter months in a small village in the south of Ecuador. Her desire to feel at home in the village—and comfortable speaking the language—is why she studies Spanish.

"I did the certificate program because I knew it would motivate me to keep going," she says. "When I completed the certificate requirements, I stopped writing the exams, but I kept taking classes. I also watch soap operas every day for ear training."

Having always wanted to learn a second language, Suzanne thoroughly enjoys working with the instructors—all of whom she considers to be excellent—and the students. "You keep bumping into the same people in your classes," she says. "So, you connect for coffee and plan to take classes together."

"When I come home from class, I feel good," she says.

After all of her work, is Suzanne fluent in Spanish? "Well...I'm expressing myself and I'm understanding others..." she says. "I'm not thinking in Spanish yet...but almost."

A true lifelong learner, Suzanne's first career was nursing, which she gave up to be a mother and homemaker. Eventually, she returned to school to pursue business studies and convocated with a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Calgary in 1986. She continued to take classes, including Continuing Education courses in creative writing and novel writing.

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