ENRICH YOUR LIFE WITH LANGUAGE COURSES
It is not unusual to walk the halls of Seneca College and hear students practicing presentations in languages ranging from Tamil to Italian. That’s because the college offers training in nine different languages through its modern languages courses and certificates.
“These courses are for people who are interested in career advancement, in wanting to gain a broader cultural awareness for traveling, and those who want to increase their analytical and problem solving skills because learning a new language certainly requires that,” says Fiona Bain-Greenwood, chair of English and liberal studies at Seneca.
While French was Seneca’s first language course, the college has since relied on student input and trends to expand its offerings to include American Sign Language, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Tamil, says Bain-Greenwood.
“French is still the most popular,” she says, “but American Sign Language has seen tremendous growth. Up next, we’ll be offering a business French course, which will focus on the language in a business context.”
The school facilitates varying 14-week levels of instruction for each language and students may be assessed to determine the level in which they will be placed. Faculty members who teach the courses are native speakers of the language they teach, says Bain-Greenwood.
“Because they embody that particular culture, they bring realistic experiences into the classroom and are creative in the ways they present lessons to students.”
Employed are immersive methods for teaching listening, speaking, reading and writing, but there is also a cultural element to the language courses that includes examining history, food, cultural traditions and more, says Bain-Greenwood.
“Learning another language really does expand your view of the world,” she says. “The world is so small these days that learning a little bit more about other cultures can enrich your life.”
In addition to the courses, the college offers shorter workshops in French and Spanish that are more focused on conversational skills as well as certificate programs in Chinese, Spanish and French. For certificate offerings, a Seneca certificate is received after completion of five successive courses.
For more information about Seneca’s modern languages training, please visit senecacollege.ca/ ce/language.