Course Offerings, Department of Modern Languages, WSAS, Baruch College

Language
Literature and Civilization
Comparative Literature

Languages
Language studies are divided into two strands: language courses for heritage speakers and language courses for non-natives. In both areas we are revising our courses to make extensive use of our new state-of-the-art language laboratory, which integrates the latest audio-visual and computer technologies.

Language Courses for Heritage Speakers

Chinese (3005/3006):
The course is an intensive study for native speakers who have little practice with the written language. It focuses on reading efficiency by developing the skills of intensive and extensive reading. Using Chinese feature films, it also develops the skill of extensive description.

Spanish (3005/3006):
This course offers an intensive study of Spanish grammar, phonology, orthography, and sentence structure, specifically designed for students who are native speakers having little or no practice with the written language. Reading and aural comprehension skills are developed.

Language Courses for Non-Heritage Speakers

Elementary Courses (1001/1002):
A year's introductory program designed to provide the students with the grammatical structures and the vocabulary to communicate in the target language. The culture and the mores of the studied language are an essential part of the course. Students are drilled in the language while gaining a basic knowledge of the culture. Self-expression is developed through the use of dialogues, skits, and audio-visual material. Extensive use of the audio-visual laboratory is required. The department offers courses in Arabic, Chinese, French, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.

Intermediate Courses (3001/3002):
These courses emphasize review of the fundamentals of the language. Special emphasis is paid to speaking, writing, and reading. Among special assignments are compositions, newspaper article analysis, and interviews of native speakers of the target language. The student is exposed to the language's culture through literature and sociohistoric documents (film, song, video). Emphasis is placed on the acquisition of cultural knowledge through language communication. Courses are offered in French, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese and Spanish.

Civilization and Culture Courses

Cultural Studies:

A study of the history, geography, art, music, literature, politics, and society of the target language. These courses examine how the particular histories of a culture influence the way it deals with contemporary socioeconomic and political situations in the world. Students have to present oral reports and are required to visit museums and libraries for special projects. Courses offer study in French and Francophone, Hebrew, Italian, and Hispanic cultures.

Commercial Courses:

These courses are designed to provide students with vocabulary and grammar structures to communicate in business situations and make transactions with foreign clients and companies. Students are immersed in real business situations and have to read commercial documents, write business letters and speak in business situations. Audiovisual techniques are used, also visits from New York specific commercial communities. Commercial courses are offered on beginning, intermediate and advanced levels in Chinese, French, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish.

Oral Communication Courses:

These courses are conducted entirely in the target language. Emphasis is placed on speaking with fluency and correctness. Throughout the course grammar is stressed, but with a view to communicate ideas on various issues. Special assignments include writing dialogues, phone conversations, and interviewing native speakers of the target language. Culture is introduced through films, realia, short readings, poems, transparencies of maps, and traditions of the culture studied. Courses are offered in Chinese, French, Hebrew, Italian and Spanish.

Comparative Literature Courses and Curriculum

LTT 2800-2850 (Great Works of Literature I and II)

Besides being part of Baruch's base curriculum requirements, these courses are essential to becoming a well-educated person. Designed to encourage a deeper understanding and appreciation of our cultural heritage through a systematic study of distinguished works, of literature from ancient times to the present, these courses also enhance students' analytical abilities and communication skills. Five salient goals are achieved:

1) students are taught to read critically and to appreciate literature as a form of artistic expression
2) our multicultural student population are exposed to literature from all over the world and from all time periods to demonstrate that human nature is more alike than different throughout history and across cultures. It is important for the student to see how, in each generation, individuals grapple with the same concerns and values

3) students examine a variety of cultures and discover the similarities as well as the differences in values in each culture

4) students are introduced to significant literary texts from cultures that are relatively unknown in the Western world. In addition to great works of western literature, classes read the great literature of Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. The material is selective, and yet representative since students are exposed to fiction, poetry and drama from all over the world

5) students are taught to view literature in a context of other academic disciplines such as psychology, sociology, anthropology and religion. The literary background helps them understand the history of the period, whether ancient, medieval or modern. A study of literature also enriches student understanding of the art and music of the respective periods.

Foreign Language Literature Courses

Our department offers a great number of literature courses taught in the original language. These courses are designed for students of either native or advanced ability in the target language. Not only a forum for ideas and culture, our literature courses give extensive experience in writing and logic through term papers written in the native language.

Courses frequently taught in the department of Modern Languages and Comparative Literature include:

Courses in French Literature and Culture

Black French Literature (French 4226)
Francophone Literature and Cinema
History of French Literature I, II (French 4181, 4182)
The Eighteenth Century (French 4118)
The Modern Novel (French 4122)
The Modern French Story (French 4125)
The Literary Avant-Garde in France 1898-1945 (French 4127)
Theory of Translation (French 5001)
Translation/Techniques of Translation
Translation Workshop I, II, III, IV (French 5002, 5003, 5004, 5005)
Women Writers in France (French 4183)

Courses in Hebrew Literature and Culture:

Biblical Prose (Hebrew 4315)
Biblical Poetry (Hebrew 4316)
Great Works of Hebrew Literature (Hebrew 4148)
Hebrew literature in Translation (Hebrew 1320, 1321, 3020, 3021)
Hebrew literature and culture
Hebrew Philosophical Literature (Hebrew 5320)
Hebrew Seminar (Hebrew 5300)
History (Ancient) of the Jewish People as Reflected in Literature (Hebrew 3311)
Masterpieces of Literature: The Psychological Novel (Hebrew 3303)
Poetry of the Hebrew Renaissance (Hebrew 4331)
Prose of Modern Israel (Hebrew 4342)
Talmud I, II (Hebrew 5301) (Hebrew 5302)
The Hebrew Essays (Hebrew 4304)

Courses in Italian Literature and Culture:

Dante: La Divina Commedia (Italian 4150)
History of Italian Literature I, II (Italian 4181, 4182)
Italian-American Contributions (Italian 2072)
Italian Cinema (Italian 2075)

Courses in Spanish and Latin American Literature and Culture:

Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican Literature (Spanish 4383)
Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican Literature II (Spanish 4384)
Cervantes (Spanish 4150)
Twentieth-Century Spanish Literature (Spanish 4124)
Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Spanish-American Poetry Poetry (Spanish 4220)
Contemporary Spanish-American Short Story (Spanish 4224)
History of Spanish Literature I (Spanish 4181)
History of Spanish Literature II (Spanish 4182)
Modern Spanish Drama (Spanish 4121)
Modern Poetry (Spanish 4120)
Nineteenth-Century Spanish-American Literature prior to Modernismo (Spanish 4219)
Modernismo in Spanish America (Spanish 4223)
Neo-Classicism to Romanticism (Spanish 4118)
Nineteenth Century Spanish-American Literature Prior to The Contemporary Spanish-American Novel (Spanish 4222)
The Generation of 1898 (Spanish 4123)
The Modern Spanish Short Story (Spanish 4125)
The Modern Novel (Spanish 4122)
The Literature of Spanish America I (Spanish 4281)
The Literature of Spanish America II (Spanish 4282)
Spanish American Theater (Spanish 4221)
Afro-Caribbean Literature (Spanish 4226)
Special Studies in Spanish (Spanish 4999)

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