Foreign Language

The Foreign Language/ESOL department offers a comprehensive curriculum designed to help students develop the linguistic and cultural knowledge and skills necessary to contribute to a multilingual, international society. Riverside has students from more than 20 countries giving those studying another language the opportunity to practice what they've learned in class. Speaking another language gives students access to parts of the human experience closed off to those who are monolingual. The study of another tongue gives students the tools to communicate with people of other languages and backgrounds, thereby giving them a better understanding of their own; the study of culture allows them to understand and appreciate other ways of life; analysis of literary texts helps students develop critical thinking skills that will help them engage with issues that transcend national boundaries. As they challenge themselves with new structures and ideas, our hope is for students to develop an international perspective that will serve them and help them serve others at Riverside and around the world.

Foreign Language Courses

All courses offered in the Foreign Language/ESOL department use the same general learning outcomes:

Listening Comprehension -- Student can understand a wide variety of utterances ranging from main ideas in lower levels to comprehending more detailed information at higher levels; extract main ideas from recordings of tailored and authentic speech, including excerpts from lectures, films, radio and television broadcasts.
Reading Comprehension -- Student can understand and summarize main ideas in target language texts appropriate for each level, including social correspondences, short stories, and news and informational writing.
Speaking -- Student can sustain a conversation on a variety of topics in the target language, ranging from short, rehearsed utterances to more natural speech with more native pronunciation; narrate and describe a variety of topics at paragraph length, and respond to spontaneous developments in an exchange.
Writing -- Student can produce narratives and descriptions, cohesive summaries, and routine social correspondences (such as emails, short letters, etc.), demonstrating awareness of diction, syntax, and stylistics in the writing process.