One of Penn’s most venerable and vital residential programs,
MLP is dedicated to students who wish to improve their language proficiency and
immerse themselves in new cultural experiences… while having fun at the same
time. MLP participants range from novice speakers with little foreign language
experience to multi-lingual international students; generally, about half are
freshmen. Residents in Class of 1925 belong to one or more of the five language
houses,
Chinese, French,
German,
Italian,
Spanish, each of which holds in-language dinners several nights a week,
biweekly film screenings and weekly coffee hours. Popular supplemental
activities include game nights, dance events, and the annual International
Dinner, as well as restaurant, film, museum and performing arts trips downtown.
Program Directors—graduate students who are either native or
fluent speakers—supervise the houses; several Managers—upperclass veterans
working in collaboration with Program Directors and Penn administrators—also
play an essential role.
One unique facet of MLP is that the language departments at
Penn realize the value of our programming and award students a half credit per
semester for their work. Students enrolled for credit must attend the majority
of events that semester, of course; enrollment for credit is entirely optional.
MLP also prides itself on serving as a hub for other language-based programming;
in the past, the program has hosted Arabic dinners and coffee hours, a Polish
film series, and more.