Tips for Keeping your Language Skills Fresh During the Summer Break

Use it or lose it!  Don't let the summer break see your language skills trickle away or disappear!  Here are some tips to keep you on track with your foreign language skills until Fall semester.

• If you're in Spanish 1A, take Spanish 1B over the summer.  Click here for the foreign language summer schedule. 
• Watch television programs, listen to radio programming, or read news online in the language you're learning.  Click here for a link to resource pages for each language.  Look under "Media" for recommended sites for television, radio, or print media.
• Watch movies in your language on NetFlix, Comcast On Demand, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Streaming (to name a few resources). 
• Read magazines, check out books and DVDs from the San Francisco Public Library.  Don't know where to start?  Ask a librarian! 
• Listen to popular music and songs.  Try Spotify or Pandora. 
• Visit an ethnic market, in San Francisco that might be in Chinatown or Irving Street (@20th Street) for Chinese, the Mission District for Spanish (all over), North Beach for Italian (Molinari's, Lucca's or A.G. Ferrari), Japantown for Japanese (J-Pop Summit is coming up on 7/27-28) and the Outer Richmond for Russian.  For French and German markets of any sort, you'll have to book a flight! But French and German restaurants abound in the City. 
• Go to an ethnic restaurant and practice ordering from the menu with your very best accent!  Wienerschnitzel, anyone?   

Students, do you have any suggestions or tips that you have used?  If so, leave a comment to share with others. 

A Taste of Europe Language Fair - Free, Food and Fun at the Goethe Institute in San Francisco on 4/19/13

 If you're considering taking German, French or Italian at CCSF (or Modern Greek through non-credit), but would like to be a bit more informed about these languages, check out the free language fair at the Goethe Institute.  

When:  Friday, April 19, 2013, 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Where:   Goethe-Institut
                  ART-Lounge
                  530 Bush Street
                  San Francisco
                  Free admission

Come to the Goethe-Institut San Francisco and visit four European countries in one evening!

• sample classes
• 10 percent discount if you sign up for a language course on this day
• short films
• music
• travel information
• food tastings

Come and enjoy a fun night of learning a new language and get a taste of a different culture.

It doesn't matter if you are a business professional wanting to learn a new language for work, a student interested in going abroad, or a senior wanting to travel during your retirement, we welcome everyone! 

Please register by clicking on this link: www.eventbrite.com

Presented by:

 - Alliance Française de San Francisco
 - Goethe-Institut San Francisco
 - Consulate General of Greece, San Francisco 
-  Center for Modern Greek Studies, San Francisco State University
 - Istituto Italiano di Cultura, San Francisco

The Language Center Will Be Open During Summer Session 2013

The Language Center (R-403) will be open during the Summer Session (June 10 - July 26) as follows:

MONDAY - THURSDAY: 8 A.M. - 6:45 P.M.

FRIDAY: 8 A.M. - 2:45 P.M.

Support staff will be on hand to assist you with finding the correct materials to support your foreign language learning.  Not able to come into the Language Center?  You may access the audio materials and, in some languages, video material, via the Online Language Lab.  Ask your instructor for the user name and password.  

Enroll on April 15th for the Summer Session - 29 Foreign Language Classes Offered!

Tenty-nine foreign (29) language classes will be offered this Summer Session, beginning June 10.  Eighteen (18) are at the Ocean (Main) Campus and eleven (11) will be at the Downtown Campus.  There's something for everyone, and students completing a 1A class can jump into a 1B class in the Fall.  Are you travelling later in the summer?  Conversation classes (10 series) can give you a quick language infusion to add a new dimension to your travels, wherever they may take you.  Click here to view the schedule (in pdf format).  Then, apply and register!  Classes fill up quickly, registration begins April 15.

During Spring Break Don't Take a Break from Language Learning!

The Language Center (and CCSF) will be closed from Saturday, March 23rd and will reopen on Tuesday, April 2.  Don't loose any ground in your language studies over the break!  Log in to the online language lab  or use some of the resources for your language on the Foreign Language Programs pages.  Look under Language Learning and Culture Links, then check out the materials offered under Textbook Sites and Other Language Learning Sites.  Watch some newscasts or videos on Netflix in the language you're studying, listen to music, radio, read newspapers online.  World languages offer you the world right here in San Francisco!  

Advisory Placement Test for Chinese (Mandarin)

The Chinese Placement Test is used by the Chinese Program to assess students' Chinese language proficiency level so that they may be placed in the appropriate language classes at CVCSF.  The score of the CPT is used for advisory purposes only!

The next CPT will be on: 

Friday, May 10 from 1:15-2:30 

in Arts 211 

For more information on the CPT, click here.  

Some Interesting Facts about Foreign Languages to Inspire You!

The Spring 2013 semester is underway.  There are estimated to be over 7,000 languages in the world; City College offers 9 languages in its credit program to get you started.  They are: American Sign Language, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Pilipino, Russian, Spanish.  To inspire you to jump right into your studies, click here for some interesting facts about language and language learning.

And, for your amusement, check out these true-life stories of foreign language usage gone terribly, or not so terribly, wrong. (BBC)