Department of Foreign Languages

Foreign Languages
Foreign languages are an integral part of liberal arts studies. Increasingly, foreign languages are either a requirement in a chosen area of study or a valuable skill for careers in specific fields. Many graduate programs require a reading knowledge of one and sometimes two foreign languages. The program is adapted to those students interested in language as part of a liberal arts education and those planning to major in foreign languages. Possible career fields for a student majoring in foreign languages include teaching, interpreting or translating, law, international relations, foreign affairs, government, international business, comparative literature, fine arts, library science, travel and tourism, and journalism.

The Department of Foreign Languages at Cottey College offers students beginning, intermediate, and advanced study in Spanish, French and German. Based on the recommendation of the Modern Language Association, Drs. Carmen Bourbon, Catherine Campbell, and Mark Pearson have adopted the following mission statement:

In learning a foreign language, students acquire a body of knowledge about the different ways humans think, view the world, express themselves, and communicate with one another. Language learning expands one's ability to create and discover new meaning in one's own language and culture. Indeed, learning a foreign language can be a paradigm of learning itself: the discovery of one's own world in the process of discovering someone else's. This process has become increasingly important as the communities of the world have become more interconnected and interdependent. The needs of our global society require that more citizens have access to other languages and cultures in order to cooperate in the process of improving the quality of human life. Our ability to meet the challenge of learning foreign languages may affect our ability to prosper, perhaps even to survive, in the twenty-first century. The Foreign Language Department at Cottey College takes seriously its responsibility to help meet this challenge.

The Foreign Language Department supports students who wish to study abroad through the Mimi Atwater Scholarship, which funds third-year study in France; the French Club-Reid Hall Scholarship for third-year study in France, Canada or Switzerland; and the Lucille Smith Scholarship available for any Cottey student or alumna for study in any foreign country.

The study of foreign languages continues to increase in importance, both as a requirement in a chosen field of study, and as a valuable or necessary skill for specific careers. Accordingly, the foreign language program at Cottey is adapted to those students interested in language as part of a liberal arts education, and to those planning to major in foreign languages. Potential career choices for the foreign language major include teaching, law, international relations, international business, government, travel/tourism, and journalism.

Drs. Bourbon, Campbell, and Pearson promote a five-skills approach to foreign language learning, i.e., the mastery of speaking, understanding, reading, writing and cultural awareness in the target language. Cottey College has a requirement of six hours of foreign language study in one language for the Associate of Arts degree. Beginning language classes are four credit hours each, whereas intermediate and advanced are three credits each. The small class size, which is a feature of Cottey, is especially advantageous in the acquisition of the requisite skills to progress from beginning to advanced levels. Spanish, French, and German classes utilize video, audio and computer technologies to enhance language acquisition and to enrich the cultural experience of students pursuing these languages. All incoming students who have previously studied Spanish, French, or German on any level are encouraged to take a placement exam in the respective language to facilitate their integration into that language at the appropriate level.

Faculty

• Prof. Carmen Bourbon
• Dr. Catherine Campbell
  
• Dr. Mark Pearson
  

Course Descriptions