This tutorial answers many frequently asked questions about the program. Students applying for admission to the Five College Mentored Language Program are no longer required to complete this online orientation tutorial, but may wish to review the information before beginning their coursework.
Course schedules and applications are on the Five College Center for World Languages website. For questions, e-mail fcmlp2@umass.edu or call 413-542-5264 (413-542-LANG).
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.
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 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:
The Mentored Language Program is a vehicle through which Five College students can study many of the less commonly taught languages. The program combines structured independent study with indivdual tutorial sessions and small group conversation sessions. Weekly preparation is guided by specially designed syllabi, study guides, and multimedia materials. At the end of the course, students have both oral and written evaluations. The oral evaluations are conducted by outside evaluators who are professors of the language at other institutions or by local language faculty.
The format resembles an independent study more than a classroom course. Feedback and practice are provided through individual and small group sessions. Each student meets one-on-one with a language "mentor" to ask questions and get further explanations about the work covered that week. Students also meet weekly in small groups with mentors and/or native speaking conversation partners for conversation practice.
A variety of language professionals and native speakers of the language work as mentors and conversation partners with the Mentored Language Program.
Individual tutorials emphasize the reading and writing aspects of the course. A student brings his or her own questions about the homework for the week, the mentor looks over the homework for evidence of confusions or difficulties that need attention, and then the mentor and student work through various activities designed to evaluate and increase the student's mastery of the formal structure and vocabulary of the language. Mentors will also work with students on individual issues with speaking and pronunciation. The session will be conducted as much as possible in the language students are learning, but the mentors will also do some more complex explanations of grammar and usage in English.
In a traditional classroom course, a teacher typically presents some aspect of the lesson material before students read and complete homework on that topic. In the mentored format, students are introduced to the topic first through structured independent study using textbooks and available multimedia materials. Students complete written homework before coming to the session and keep a list of questions and confusions to ask the mentor about in the session. If the student has understood the material well on his or her own, then the mentor will work on more complex uses of the material with the student. If the student has had difficulty with specific aspects of the lesson, the mentor and the student will work through the difficulties together.
For the most part, students in the program need to be comfortable dealing with some confusion and sorting out problems for themselves by looking at numerous examples and going over materials multiple times if necessary. It is inevitable, however, that sometimes a certain concept is just too confusing and students come to tutorials with unfinished homework or with homework with many mistakes because of misunderstandings. In these cases, the mentor will work with the student to clarify the problems and then have the student do the homework over again before the next week.
In a language class that meets multiple times a week, there are multiple opportunities to have questions answered. There are fewer opportunities in the Mentored Language Program. Most of the mentors will answer questions by e-mail during the week. Some questions will be clarified during conversation sessions. While mentors do not do special makeup sessions for students who miss sessions, mentors will occasionally meet for an extra session with students who need extra help. Students are also encouraged to make use of other resources such as more advanced students of the same language, fellow students who are native speakers of the language, and various online resources. Students need to be aware that both fellow students and websites may not represent the most formal and accurate forms of the language and so students must be careful about the advice they are getting.
Conversation sessions provide a chance for learners to practice using the language. The session is conducted entirely in the language students are learning with an opportunity to ask questions in English at the very end of every session. Conversation sessions focus on using the language in the types of situations one might encounter in everyday life. Students commonly engage in role plays, question and answer activities, description, narration, and problem-solving exercises. In beginning level courses, typical topics are greetings, introductions, getting acquainted conversations, telephone calls, asking for directions, shopping and bargaining, and talking about schedules and events in the past, present or future. More advanced students will practice more complex speech activities that involve expressing opinions, giving reasons in arguments, and discussing current events and cultural issues.
In this program, the term "conversation partner" is used to refer to the person who leads the conversation session. That person might be one of the language mentors or it might be an undergraduate conversation partner who has been formally educated in the language. The role of the conversation partner is to facilitate activities that make active use of the language. In a successful conversation session, the students will be the ones doing most of the talking for at least 90% of the time. The conversation partner may engage students in dialogue or may have students work in pairs with one another. The conversation partner will use the language being learned throughout the session. At the end of the session, the conversation partner will give students a chance to ask questions in English.
Here are some characteristics of a good conversation session:
Syllabi and study guides are housed here on the LangMedia website. The primary web address for this website is: http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu. Choose the link for your language to find your syllabus. Syllabi are near the bottom of each language page. There are individual links for each mentored language.
Students should order textbooks online or check with Amherst Books or another local bookstore about special ordering the texts. Some textbooks are only available online.
We recommend purchasing textbooks a month or two ahead of time so that you can get familiar with the introductory material before the semester starts. Do not wait until the last minute. If you have questions about textbooks or are having trouble finding them in stock, contact the FCCWL office immediately so we can help you with the process and can be made aware of any availability issues as soon as possible.
The standard Mentored Language Program course is a half course. Courses labeled with a single level number are half courses: Swahili I, Hindi I, Turkish I, etc. In some languages, full courses are offered. Students in full courses complete two half courses during the semester. These courses are labeled with two level numbers: Swahili I-II, Swahili III-IV, Hindi I-II, Turkish I-II, etc.
Mentored language courses require a significant time commitment. Students spend less time in structured classroom settings and more time in independent study. Students in half courses need to devote at least one hour per day (seven hours per week) to independent study, plus the time required for conversation sessions and tutorials. Students in full courses need to commit at least two hours per day to independent study, plus conversation sesssion and tutorial time. Students need to arrange a schedule which allows for regular daily study and not try to cram language study into a few days a week.
Course requirements are listed on the online syllabus for each course. A general version of each of the requirements is discussed below. The requirements differ somewhat depending upon whether the course is a half course or a full course. There are also variations for courses which focus only on speaking or only on written language (such as Formal Spoken Arabic A or Written Persian I). Consult your syllabus for your course's specific version of the requirements.
IMPORTANT! Read your course requirements carefully! They will not be explained to you at another time. It is your responsibility to read and understand the requirements and to ask for clarification if necessary. You will be responsible for meeting the requirements in order to pass the course. Contact the program staff with any questions.
The format of the final oral varies somewhat depending upon the style of individual evaluators. The evaluations last between 20-30 minutes. Generally, evaluators adopt a conversational mode in order to see what the student is able to do with the language. Other activities may include: question and answer exercises, reading out loud, or having the student ask questions of the evaluator. In general, the oral evaluation covers the material practiced in conversation sessions during the semester, along with attention to the formal grammar and vocabulary covered in tutorial sessions and written work.
Address questions about course logistics to the FCCWL staff, not to your mentor or conversation partner. FCCWL language courses each have a staff member assigned as the course organizer for the course. The course organizer for all Mentored language courses is Theo Hull. They are the person to contact about issues such as difficulties purchasing or accessing materials, scheduling problems, evaluation scheduling, and questions about meeting course requirements. They can be contacted at fcmlp2@umass.edu or 413-542-5264.
Lack of sufficient time is the number one reason we will discourage someone from enrolling in a Mentored Language Course. It is also the number one reason students will drop a course after enrolling. To be successful in this program, you need to be sure that you will have enough time to study. Be realistic about your schedule. You need time to study for all your courses, eat, sleep, relax, and take care of work or extra-curricular activities. You also need to take into account work commitments, extra-curricular activities, and other factors such as job/internship searches, senior thesis/projects, or major family events which might affect your time for the semester.
Generally, we recommend that students take a half-course as a fifth major course, but not as a sixth course. We recommend that students taking a full-course take it as one of only four primary courses for the semester. The course load for UMass students is distributed slightly differently from the colleges, so UMass students sometimes take a full course as a fifth course as long as the overall load is still within the standard amount of credits for the semester.
Language study is a serious commitment. You need to think of language study as similar to athletic training, musical training, or practice in dance or theater. It takes sustained practice and study everyday in order to make noticable progress. Simply completing a set of exercises will not produce tangible results. Depending upon the course, you need to practice at least one or two hours everyday, using all four primary skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. In preparation for the semester, you should map out in your schedule the times you will devote to language practice. Take into account the times of day you work best and when you can work without interruption.
You need to practice where you can comfortably repeat and imitate the speakers in audio and video materials. You also need to spend time improvising out loud, thinking through the various types of scenarios and speaking tasks you will do in your conversation sessions. You need to pretend you are part of a role play or real situation in which you need to address and respond to people. Imagine how you would handle certain situations and practice the speech involved out loud.
Language courses are cumulative. It is easy to forget the vocabulary and forms learned in earlier weeks if you do not continually review. It is also easy to find yourself feeling lost and overwhelmed half-way through the semester, if you have not been systematically reviewing as you go. Include time for review every day.
Organizing the Mentored Language Program is a complex process. You will be one of 100-150 students in 60 different courses working with over 25 mentors and conversation partners. Mentors and conversation partners help you with learning the language; the FCCWL staff helps you deal with logistical issues related to your course. Each language has a staff member who serves as the course organizer for all courses in that language. Your course organizer is your first contact about logistical issues. If for some reason, your course organizer is not available, another staff member will help you. You will be introduced via email to your course organizer at the start of the course.
In this context, your success in the course requires you to take the initiative in communicating with your course organizer and in responding promptly to e-mail queries. Here are some situations that require PROMPT e-mails or calls to your course organizer:
In order to successfully manage the logistical side of this course, you need to practice proactive communication skills similar to those required in a professional internship or work environment. To do this successfully, you need to:
Students who need to complete this orientation tutorial as part of an application for a Mentored Language Program course, need to submit the TUTORIAL RESPONSE. Once your orientation is complete and your application approved, you will be able to make an appointment or attend a drop-in session to do the paperwork necessary to enroll.