Elkins -- The world has become something of a global village thanks to technology. A local college is introducing new classes to help its students and the community close the gap on the language barrier.

Davis & Elkins College takes pride in its International Studies Courses. Starting in the fall, students and community members alike will be able to benefit from the new language classes and study abroad locations.

"The basic idea of this center is global awareness or globalization," explains Chandana Chakrabarti, Dean of International Programs at Davis & Elkins College.

Thanks to her efforts and the U S Government sponsored Fulbright Program, teachers are coming from their native countries to teach Arabic, Bengali, and Hindi.

"If you want to communicate, if you want o do business, if you want to know them and if we want to have global peace, we have to communication to learn their language, learn their culture, be with them," explained Chakrabarti.

Arabic is spoken in North Africa and throughout the Middle East by over 530 million people. Bengali and Hindi are two of the world's most spoken languages from the Indian Subcontinent. Chakrabarti says the college chose these languages to help students contribute to a growing village."

"With this program we like to follow up late by going to those countries, so not only book study of language, but actually meeting those people, being involved in the culture."

The college has also signed on with new countries for study abroad destinations like Poland, Denmark, and India.

"All these things, we're hoping, would open up their world and make them true global citizens with a global passport," she remarked.

D&E will soon offer other study abroad locations, like Cairo, Greece, France, and Germany.

For more information on these classes, you can contact the Office of Admissions at (304) 627-1230.