Director: Claire Moisan
The Program
The ALSO program provides students with the opportunity to learn a language not taught in a department at Grinnell and usually less commonly taught at other institutions. Past languages have included Hindi, Czech, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Hebrew, and Kiswahili. For current course offerings, please visit the Schedule of Courses on the Registrar’s homepage; to request a new course offering, contact Claire Moisan at moisanc@grinnell.edu. Language courses using a western alphabet earn 2 credits, while others earn 3. It is not possible to audit, take the course S/D/F or take an incomplete.
In applying to the program, students must offer evidence of academic preparation (a 2.75 GPA.; enrollment in previous language courses–either 4 years in high school or one at the college level—and/or multilingualism). They must also describe how learning this language will enhance their four-year plan and provide two references. Applications and reference forms can be found on the sidebar; they are due by April 1st in order to preregister for a fall language course, and by July 31st in order to register at the beginning of the semester. (Dates for Spring applications are October 24th for preregistration and December 31st for the beginning of Spring semester). Students seeking to add a language course in the first weeks of the semester must receive special permission from the Director.
Upon acceptance to the program, the student will be paired with a conversation partner/tutor. Classes will start in the first week of the semester with a mandatory orientation session. In the second week of the semester, students will begin learning the language at their own pace, completing agreed-upon goals and deadlines, and meeting three times weekly with their conversation partner. Students will be evaluated twice a semester (at mid-term and at the end) by an outside examiner –a qualified instructor of the language in an established university level program—who will determine the final grade for the course.
