Photo by Nikki Roche
On English Story by Raina Levin, Study Abroad
Yes, I’m studying abroad in Lima, Peru, taking all
audibly groaned upon hearing this, and several
of my classes in Spanish, but hear me out.
turned to look at me.
In my Psychology, Culture and Education
On the bus every morning, I people watch. I
class, the first lecture included infographics from
see some scrolling through their social media,
an analysis called “The Weirdest People in the
with half the content they consume in English. I
World” with “WEIRD” standing for Western,
see students studying from English workbooks
Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic.
or reading complex economic theory – in
The lecture focused on our habit of studying a
English. Even the street lights serve as English
small, privileged subset and generalizing the
advertisements, plastered with papers that loudly
unrepresentative results to the rest of the world.
announce private English lessons from a real
The professor translated the English text on her
American, or occasionally, a real Brit.
slide on the spot. She warned us that while the
In another class, the professor started with
majority of the required readings are in Spanish,
a get-to-know-you activity, a variation of bingo.
more than a few are in English. My classmates
Each square on our scorecard contained an
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