Course Materials

Where do I find my syllabus, study guides, multimedia materials, and textbooks?

Syllabus and Study Guides

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.

Find your Syllabus

  1. Open a new browser window and open the Langmedia website: http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu.
  2. Find the link to your language, click to the page and open the syllabus for your course.
    Exceptions: Some courses which are still experimental do not have an online syllabus or have only a downloadable document as a syllabus. If you are in one of these courses, study the syllabus for one of the other courses that is online now. The paper syllabi and schedule you receive when you register will take the place of the online syllabus.
  3. Look at the timeline for your course. Course assignments are organized by the week. Each week has one or two study guides assigned.
  4. Make note of when tutorials and conversation sessions start, what happens during weeks when there are holidays or breaks, and also make note of review and evaluation periods.
  5. Note that each week also has a link to a Self-Assessment form. Each student submits a weekly self-assessment. This will be discussed in more detail in the course requirements section.

Examine a Study Guide

  1. Click on one of the study guide links. Look at the overall structure of the study guide. The first section should list either the materials to be covered or a list of study goals for that guide (the exact section headings vary a bit among languages).
  2. The first section(s) is/are followed by "Assignments for Independent Study." These assignments will walk you through the materials and exercises you need to complete during your independent study sessions. The assignments include a combination of reading, writing, speaking, and listening exercises. As you work your way through these exercises, you will be doing the preparation which is expected of you for the course.
  3. The study guide includes references to any multimedia materials required for the course. In some cases, there are direct links to online multimedia materials. In other cases, the study guide refers to CDs or DVDs which are packaged with the textbook. Look over the assignments for these references to multimedia and make sure you understand what kinds of multimedia will be required for your course and how you will access it.
  4. Conversation Session Preparation: This section summarizes what you should prepare to do in your conversation practice. A significant amount of your study time each week needs to be devoted to oral practice. This means you must have a regular time and place to study where you can talk out loud without bothering others. To do well, you literally need to TALK TO YOURSELF. You need to act out various role plays or dialogs, describe things, and narrate events aloud, etc. At least 50% of your weekly study time should be spent on speaking practice and oral improvisation.
  5. Homework to Hand in at Tutorial: This section lists the written work you need to complete and bring with you to your individual tutorial session. Your mentor will go over questions and issues raised by the homework assignment in your tutorial. The mentor will then collect the homework and correct it more thoroughly before handing it back at the next tutorial session.

Textbooks

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.