Student interest needed before more language courses can be offered

Amidst the sea of drunken debauchery and depraved exploits posted to the “Chadron State College Confessions” facebook page, The Eagle Staff found a redeemable post, namely confession #423:

“I wish that CSC had a sign language class… or just more language class options.”

The only foreign language course in the current CSC catalog is WLAN 100: Conversational Spanish, however, it has not been offered since the spring 2012 semester.

In the fall semester of 2011, The Eagle ran an article about the possibility of CSC offering the Rosetta Stone language learning software, but the faculty and student government are still struggling with how to tackle the foreign language question.

“We are currently investigating a program out of Denver, [Colo.], called BridgeEnglish,” Joel Hyer, Dean of BEAMSS said in a phone interview on Wednesday afternoon.

BridgeEnglish is a school for foreign students trying to perfect their English skills. According to Hyer, the college is trying to broker a deal to have BridgeEnglish students to come to the CSC campus and teach a variety of conversational language classes.

If CSC can secure a deal with BridgeEnglish for instructors, the courses will most likely be offered under the current WLAN platform, but Hyer says that an improved student interest would accelerate the likelihood of adopting more foreign language options.

“It would be great if, for example, we had 4 students express interest in a conversational Arabic class,” Hyer said, “but if we had 40 students interested, we could see that as necessitating multiple sections.”

So if you are serious about wanting a foreign language option at CSC, rather than wishing, you should make it happen.

Student Senate meets Monday evenings at 5 p.m. in the Scottsbluff room of the student center.  Attend a meeting, voice your opinions, and let you interest be known.