About

Who sponsors the Mentored Language Program and where do sessions meet?

Joint Sponsorship

The Five College Mentored Language Program is sponsored jointly by the Five Colleges: Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The administrative home of the program is the Five College Center for World Languages (FCCWL), which is located at Amherst College, at 79 S. Pleasant St. in downtown Amherst (directions). FCCWL's operations and staff are supported equally by each of the five institutions. The courses offered by FCCWL are listed at the University and have been approved for Five College interchange credit by each of the other four campuses. FCCWL's staff are Five Colleges, Incorporated employees.

Mission of FCCWL

The role of FCCWL is to support study of the Less-Commonly Taught Languages (commonly abbreviated as LCTLs) by Five College students. FCCWL works only with languages not represented in traditional classroom language offerings at the colleges. The one exception is Arabic for which the Mentored Language Program offers supplementary courses in spoken and colloquial Arabic. In addition to offering courses, FCCWL also engages in numerous course and materials development projects funded by government and private foundation grants.

Sessions on All Five Campuses

Sessions for Mentored Language Program courses meet on all five campuses. We try to vary the schedule each semester so that beginning level courses are spread among the campuses. Sessions meet in regular classrooms or in special satellite offices established on some of the campuses:

  • Amherst College: Sessions meet in classrooms, often in Converse Hall near the Five College bus stop, but also in other classroom spaces.
     
  • Hamsphire College: Sessions meet in classrooms and in the FCCWL satellite office on the 3rd floor of the library.
     
  • Mount Holyoke College: Most sessions meet in Ciruti 6A in the Language Resource Center (lower-level of Ciruti), sometimes in other classrooms.
     
  • Smith College: Sessions meet in the FCCWL satellite office in Henshaw B3 Room 102 or in classroom space.
     
  • University of Massachusetts-Amherst: Sessions meet in Machmer 407B or in classroom space.