2008-2009 Catalog - Virginia Wesleyan College

94 FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURESpolicy; and sustainable development. May be repeated forcredit as topics change. Prerequisite: junior/senior statusand consent. Offered spring of even-numbered years.FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCEDR. LISA P. CARSTENS, CoordinatorA liberal arts education combats ignorance, narrowmindedness,and shortsightedness by promotingintellectual inquiry and compassionate judgment. Suchcritical inquiry involves asking and exploring complexquestions for which no easy answers exist—questions suchas, how do we address community energy needs withoutdoing environmental harm? What constitutes a “just war?”What’s the difference between art and propaganda? Liberaleducation demands that students explore such questionsfrom multiple perspectives and through a rigorousconsideration of historical, cultural, and ethical contexts,using careful reasoning to make judicious choices.An education founded on inquiry, then, is one thatemphasizes learning processes rather than pre-conceivedanswers.The First-Year Experience at Virginia Wesleyan initiatesstudents into this community of learners.Through summer and then fall orientation programs,students learn the ropes of residential and campus life andare introduced to Virginia Wesleyan’s educationalprograms. Through the two-credit first-semester First-YearSeminar course, students work closely with a facultymember, peer advisers, and a small cohort of other newstudents to build the independent critical thinking skillsand academic resourcefulness that will enable deeperlearning throughout their college years.FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCECOURSES (FYE)101 First-Year Seminar (2)Designed to help students engage and succeed bothacademically and socially in Virginia Wesleyan’s liberal artslearning community. In the process of investigating acomplex problem or question, students develop foundationalinquiry skills that emphasize critical thinking andindependent learning. Through diverse co-curricularworkshops, events, and activities, students gain additionalacademic as well as personal resourcefulness. Topics vary byyear and section. Prerequisite: fewer than 24 semesterhours. Offered primarily in fall semesters.401 Peer Advising (1)A leadership experience allowing experienced studentsto serve as mentors and teaching support for FYE 101.Does not fulfill any requirements for Latin Honors.Prerequisite: sophomore status and consent. Offeredprimarily in fall semesters.FOREIGN LANGUAGESAND LITERATURESDR. ALAIN GABONDR. DIANA E. RISK, Program CoordinatorDR. MAVEL Z. VELASCODR. SUSAN M. WANSINKIn the ever-changing world, where contact with a varietyof languages and peoples is both desirable and inevitable,the Department of Foreign Languages and Literaturesstrongly believes in the teaching of languages in theircontexts as the means to overcome obstacles to interculturaland international contact and communication. Seveneighthsof the world’s people do not speak English.Languages provide the keys for access to these other culturesand countries. At the same time, learning a foreign languagehelps grasp the nature, function, and social importance ofone’s own native tongue. Language learning, therefore,becomes the bridge between the peoples and cultures of theworld. Through language we penetrate from the mind andheart of one people to another, from one civilization toanother, from the wisdom of one literature to that ofanother. By learning a foreign language, students becomefamiliar with the literature, history, philosophy, art, and theeconomic and social conditions of the people who speakthat language. The Department of Foreign Languages andLiteratures strives, by teaching foreign languages in theircultural contexts, to expose students to ways of thinking,different from their own, and to help them become betterprepared to live in today’s multi-linguistic, multi-cultural,and transnational world.Students seeking certification in secondary educationmust fulfill the requirements for a French, German orSpanish major as well as specific courses required by theEducation Department. Those students are stronglyencouraged to take the Practicum Teaching Course. See theeducation section of this catalog.Major Requirements: FrenchCOURSE NUMBER AND TITLEFR 305Advanced Conversation & Composition IFR 306Advanced Conversation & Composition IIFR 313Cultural History I:Charlemagne-Revolution ORFR 315French Literature: La Chansonde Roland to CandideFR 314Cultural History II: 1789-1960 ORFR 316French Literature: Rousseau to GenetSEM.HRS.See continuation of choices next page3333