Chinese (Mandarin) Advisory Placement Test: Friday, December 7, 1-2 in Arts 211

The last advisory placement test for Chinese (Mandarin) for the Fall 2012 semester will be given on Friday, December 7 from 1:00-2:30 in the Arts Building, room 211.  Find out what this placement test is ... and what it isn't, by clicking here.  

Then select the appropriate class and register for your Chinese class for Spring 2013 right away. Classes will be filling up quickly at the Ocean, Downtown and Chinatown campuses!

Something "extra" for Students of French, German, and Spanish

From the European continent, where just about everyone speaks at least one foreign language, here's a fun and informative site for students of French, German, and Spanish, called Extra from the Channel4Learning.  In a series of videos, you will meet 4 students living in, variously, France, Germany, and Spain.  Activities accompany each episode.  If you click on the "18" in a circle, you will find a link to transcripts for all episodes, all languages.  Or you can click here.

Here are some sneak previews:

Spring 2013 Schedules for Day/Evening/Saturday Classes are now Online

Classes begin on January 14 - Register Early!!!  Right Now!!! This way> Don't Delay, classes fill up!  Take a placement advisory test to find the best level of class for you: Chinese. French, German, Japanese, Spanish. 

Spring 2013 Day Schedule

Spring 2013 Evening/Saturday Schedule

Bonus!  New Language Classes are at New Locations:

Downtown: Chinese, French, German, Italian, 

Japanese, Russian, Spanish 

Chinatown/North Beach:  Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Spanish             

    

Mission: French, German, Italian & Spanish 

John Adams: Russian, Spanish 

Ocean: American Sign Language (ASL), French, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Pilipino, Spanish

Spring 2013: Expanded Course Offerings at the Downtown, Mission, Ocean and Chinatown/North Beach Campuses

Good news for Spring 2013!  There will be expanded offerings of foreign language courses at the ever-popular Downtown Campus, the Mission Campus, the main Ocean Campus, and the brand new Chinatown/North Beach Campus, where (tentatively), Chinese, Japanese and Spanish classes will be offered. Classes will no longer be offered at the Castro Campus (Everett Middle School).  Check back here or go to the Foreign Language Departmentwebsite toward the end of October for details and class schedules.  

Resources for Students of Spanish 1, 1A/1B

If you didn't purchase iLrn, either with the textbook, Plazas, 4th ed., or from the publisher ($113.00 for 18 months' use), there are still abundant materials to access to complement Plazas.

First stop: study tools for Plazas, 3d ed.  Content-wise, it is quite similar to the 4th ed.  Here you can access auto-pruebas (self-corecting chapter quizzes), crossword puzzles, flashcards and more.  Use the drop-down menu in the upper left hand corner to browse by chapter.

Next, check out the Spanish Language and Culture site from Barbara Kuczun Nelson at Colby College , with numerous activities related to all your grammar questions, plus culture videos, music, and much more.

Study Spanish is a free, online tutorial that makes grammar easy to grasp.  Here's the thinking: "When most people think of "grammar", they don't get very excited.  But grammar can teach you something in minutes that might take days to figure out by immersion alone.  

 
Finally, have some fun with Mi vida loca from the BBC.  an interactive video drama and Spanish course, takes you on a mystery adventure to Madrid and beyond in 22 episodes, around 10 minutes each, covering basic learning points for beginning learners of Spanish. 

Students of French: Check out these Resources for French 1/1A, 1B

Here are some resources your fellow students in French 1 have been utilizing this semester as learning support:

First, if you haven't purchased iLrn access either in the bookstore or independently, you can still access the chapter quizzes for Horizons.  Click here, choose the appropriate chapter and then access both grammar and vocabulary quizzes.

Another favorite is Phonetique, which helps students of any level of French work on and learn, for example, the difference between "ou" and "u", or try some fun tongue twisters.  This site is recommended by CCSF French instructor Isabelle Motamedi. 

Français interactif.  Don't miss this one!  There are lots of videos that follow students studying in Lyon, France, covering topics that complement those you are covering in Horizons.  

plus, on the right hand side of the page, you can access Tex's French grammar site, to help you with many aspects of introductory French grammar.  

Last, but not least, and not just for fun, but that, too, the BBC presents, Ma France, a series of 24 interactive videos, complete with downloadable scripts, option to view with or without subtitles in French and English, as well as activities for each video.  Check out the card game!  And here's a short video to get you started:  How not to get lost!

Ma France - Great Interactive Site from the BBC

Students of French, check out Ma France from the BBC.  It is packed with interactive video units that cover many of the very topics you are studying and learning about in your French texts.   Each video also includes transcripts, the option of English and/or French subtitles, or none, and a comprehensive quiz.

Here's a sample, just a taste, to get you started: