Certificate in Teaching Language and Culture

Since the fall of 2025, the Harvard Language Center has hosted the Certificate in Teaching Language and Culture, through which GSAS PhD students (Teaching Fellows) and Teaching Assistants may demonstrate their commitment to excellence in the teaching of language(s) and culture(s).

The certificate is open to GSAS PhD students and TAs who teach courses in language, culture, and literature in Harvard College and who want to deepen their knowledge of language pedagogy.

Teaching Language and Culture participants must fulfill requirements in three areas: teaching, research and practice, and professionalization.

Please plan ahead to make the most of each component of the Certificate; they are meant to be completed over time, especially the departmental pedagogy courses, which are offered on different schedules. If you have questions about any of the requirements, please contact us at language@fas.harvard.edu. Please find more information on the Canvas course page.

Apply for the Certificate | View the list of all Bok Certificate in Teaching Language and Culture recipients

Teaching

Teach a minimum of two semesters of foreign language/culture/literature courses at Harvard.

At least one of these courses must be a language course.

Research and Practice

To fulfill the course requirements, you must:

  • take one (1) departmental foundational pedagogy course (example courses listed below),
  • take one (1) advanced language pedagogy course (departmental offering or GSE language-focused course, e.g., ROM-LANG 230, EDU T549, or equivalent),
  • attend three (3) scholarly presentations sponsored by the Harvard Language Center, an affiliated language organization such as the The Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning, or similar entity. (See below for more information.)

Examples of foundational pedagogy courses:


ROM-LANG 210: Language Pedagogy: Theories, Practices, and Approaches
CELTIC 350: Teaching Colloquium
CLASSICS 360: Teaching Colloquium
CHINESE 280: Teaching Chinese as a Foreign/Second Language (J. Liu)
GERMPHIL 280: Approaches to Foreign Language Teaching (Parkes)
LINGUISTICS 173: Structure of Japanese (W. Jacobsen)
SLAVIC 126: Structure of Modern Russian (S. Clancy)
One advanced language pedagogy course:
ROM-LANG 230: Teaching Languages, Cultures, and Literatures
EDU T549: Technology-enhanced Language Learning and Teaching (N. Mills)
Equivalents may be approved from Linguistics or the Graduate School of Education.

Advanced language pedagogy course:

In addition to advanced language pedagogy courses offered within Harvard language departments, language-focused courses offered through the Graduate School of Education Language and Literacy program may also fulfill this requirement. (Search for courses in the course catalog. Confirm that the course fits the criteria before proceeding.)

Scholarly presentations:

Please visit our Language Center Events page to determine which offerings will fulfill this requirement. You may also sign up for our mailing list, which will also alert you of external events that qualify as pedagogy-focused events.

Professionalization

Submit a teaching portfolio. You should design a portfolio that will be useful for your individual goals. For the purposes of the Certificate, your portfolio should include at minimum:

teaching statement,
prospective syllabus, and
sample assignment prompt, lesson plan, or class activity.

Submit a reflective essay of approximately 1000 words that integrates what you have learned from your experience pursuing the Certificate in Teaching Language(s) and Culture(s). Candidates should write a reflective narrative about their trajectory through the certificate, incorporating any or all of the following: the connections between the pedagogy courses, Language Center events, and scholarly presentations attended; theory-meets-practice applications to their instruction; and/or particularly noteworthy take-aways that they will apply to their future teaching of languages, cultures, and literatures.

Certificate in Teaching Language and Culture Recipients

2024-2025

Valentine Bayard, Romance Languages and Literatures
Lucia Casiraghi, Romance Languages and Literatures
Luby Kiriakidi, Classics
Lucie Liu, Romance Languages and Literatures

2023-2024

Juan Manuel Arias, Romance Languages and Literatures
Quentin Bourgault, Romance Languages and Literatures
Ricardo Castro, Romance Languages and Literatures
Anselme Dojat-Gouttard, Romance Languages and Literatures
Carmen Fajardo Rojas, Romance Languages and Literatures
Julio Fernández Meza, Romance Languages and Literatures
María José Guerrero, Romance Languages and Literatures
Anna Ivanov, Slavic Languages and Literatures
Jacob Meister, Comparative Literature
Israel Mireles Cristino, Romance Languages and Literatures
Ruymán Pérez Ramos, Romance Languages and Literatures