TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — Have you ever started to learn a language, but found that classes alone weren’t enough to keep you engaged and learning? If this is you, you aren’t alone.

That’s why the Troy University Spanish department is holding a Spanish film festival. It’s in collaboration with the library and a grant through Pragda, a Latin American streaming service.

“We’re able to show our students some wonderful recent, current, films from Spain and Latin America,” Assistant Professor of Spanish Johanna Alberich said.

But how does watching movies in Spanish help students improve their fluency?

“Living in America, especially Troy, there’s not a lot of exposure to the Spanish language, so watching media and consuming media in Spanish can introduce you to new phrases, or things you may not learn in a class,” Spanish student Libby Thornton said. “It just gives you that exposure.”

Alberich says the film festival is an opportunity to show her students the world outside the classroom.

“It’s very hard to show students the world in a classroom. That’s one way, by encouraging them to watch films in Spanish that they’re able to see and hear people from other countries. They get to hear other accents and dialects, they get to learn about other cultures.”

Each week for the next four weeks, students will have a new film available for them to view.

“We’re trying to do a mixture of what students might want, and of course give them a variety of films to get them excited about Spanish and about the Spanish culture from Spain and Latin America,” Alberich said.