from VCCA Journal, Volume 3, Number 2, Fall/Winter 1988, 15-18
© Copyright 1988 VCCA Journal
The Cross-Cultural and Foreign Language Resource Center at Central Virginia Community College is an activity rather than a physical entity that attempts to maximize facilities of the Division of Learning Resources: a language lab, a learning laboratory, and a TV studio. Closely related to the Center, the foreign language and cross-cultural program was developed primarily to assist the public and the college constituency to become more familiar with other languages and diverse cultures.
While demand for languages from the traditional liberal arts student is not increasing significantly, the need for special or short-term instruction in a variety of languages is growing. Local businesses and industries need language instruction for their representatives who deal with foreign clients, as demonstrated by on-site courses created for employees. Moreover, the international business interests of many of the area corporations promise a continuing demand for language and cross-cultural education.
Although the program focuses on individualized, self-paced language instruction and understanding of culture through language skills, it also uses minicourses, workshops, seminars, and short presentations to meet the needs of specific groups. The use of satellite TV is also planned. Most of these activities are offered in cooperation with the Division of Continuing Education.
The self-paced program includes introductory courses in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish-- languages of importance for trade and sociopolitical communication. "Cultural Packages" complement and support the language instruction. The cultural information includes brief historical background, cultural institutions (education), political and legal structures, art, music, customs, and food. For minicourses, workshops, and seminars, instruction and presentations are given through interdisciplinary cooperation.
Organization
CVCC's foreign language and cross-cultural program was made possible through a consultancy grant (1977) and a pilot grant (1979) awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Cross-Cultural Center facilitator, an associate professor of foreign languages from the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, directs the program and also serves as classroom instructor. He is assisted by the Learning Lab Supervisor and by an instructional assistant and an audiovisual technician from the Division of Learning Resources.
Educational Impact
The foreign language and cross-cultural program has been very favorably received throughout the college and the community. A key element in the program's development has been the assistance of the three senior colleges in the Central Virginia area. Acting as consultants, faculty from Lynchburg College, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, and Sweet Briar College worked closely with the facilitator on the cultural booklets for the European, Middle Eastern and Asian countries selected for the study.
The program's growing popularity is confirmed in a number of ways: (1) community residents using the audiovisual materials; (2) high school teachers visiting the Center to become familiar with new instructional materials; (3) increasing requests for information from institutions and individuals, within the state and elsewhere; and (4) invitations to the facilitator to participate as consultant and presenter in local, regional, national and international conferences and workshops.
In addition, foreign languages have been taught at area plants. Danish and Spanish have been taught at G.E. The one-year Danish Language and Culture course enrolled 30 students; the two-year Spanish Language and Culture course enrolled 27; and a summer Spanish Conversation and Culture course enrolled 22, mostly engineers, technicians, and administrators. Employees of Meredith/Burda Inc., a German-American company, have attended evening classes in German on campus. Also, French has been taught to employees of Babcock and Wilcox Company.
The senior colleges cited above cooperated with CVCC to implement the Piedmont Export Expansion Program (PEEP), an intensive and comprehensive effort which emphasized international economics and the need to understand foreign languages and cultures to facilitate international trade. The project, supported through the Funds for Excellence program of the State Council of Higher Education of Virginia, highlighted one-on-one dialogues between Latin American diplomats and the members of the public and private sectors in the Central Virginia area.
The PEEP experience convincingly illustrates that effective partnerships can be established among the various segments of a community to work toward a common goal in order to enhance economic well-being. The development of projects at the regional level is more manageable because these programs can effectively meet the diverse individual and commercial needs of the localities. In the PEEP project, common interests came together from business, public, and educational sectors. The Cross-Cultural and Foreign Language Resource Center at CVCC played a vital role both in the conception as well as in the implementation of the program.
Community colleges in Virginia, by virtue of their location, are positioned to generate outreach programs aimed at satisfying the immediate educational needs of their service regions. They can "feel the pulse" of their localities and make responses suitable for specific needs.
With proper planning and funding, community colleges should become resources to initiate programs in a variety of areas of international and cross-cultural education and business development. In cooperation with four-year colleges and universities, the two-year institutions could take the initial steps to heighten awareness of the services and assistance that higher education can provide to the field of international studies throughout the Commonwealth. This task should be relatively simple since many of the VCCS institutions have already established meaningful partnerships with the public and corporate sectors in their communities.
In addition to PEEP, other examples of international education at CVCC may be found: Professor Ted Garman, Business Division, exploring the feasibility of an irrigation project in the Dominican Republic; Ms. Nora Wujcik, also from the Business Division, injecting relevant world economic events in her regular classes; a Hispanic Culture and Civilization course currently being offered under the Honors Program at the College.
Interdisciplinary Courses
In the early l970's, Central Virginia Community College initiated a program based on the premise that the conscientious study of the Spanish language should include the study of the culture of our Southern neighbors. A proposal was submitted to the VCCS for the approval of an introductory Hispanic culture and civilization course. It was approved and included in the State Curriculum Guide. A pilot course was offered during 1972-73 at CVCC.
Spanish 234-235-236 (now SPAN 233-234) was designed to increase students' oral proficiency and comprehension and, at the same time, to enhance their knowledge and appreciation of the culture, customs and literature of Spain and the Latin American nations. The introductory course was designed with an emphasis on Latin American life and civilization and serves primarily as an elective. This modest effort has proven to be quite effective.
An interesting off-shoot of Hispanic Culture and Civilization is that it constituted the basis for an introductory course produced for General Electric Company employees scheduled to travel on business to Latin America. Moreover, this condensed version was transformed into a segmented radio broadcast focusing on Latin America and transmitted via WVWR-FM to the Central Virginia area.
Outreach and Articulation
Through its Cross-Cultural Resource Center facilities, Central Virginia Community College maintains collaborative programs with the Polytechnic at Wolverhampton, Wales, and the Center for Bilingual Multicultural Studies in Cuernavaca, Mexico. The Center in Cuernavaca offers intensive Spanish language courses designed to develop conversational fluency in the shortest possible time. The Center is located in a quiet residential district in Cuernavaca (50 miles south of Mexico City) and is staffed by experienced Spanish-speaking instructors born and educated in Mexico. As part of the total immersion language program, students are housed with middle-class Mexican families. New classes begin every Monday, year round, 52 weeks a year. Ideal summer courses may last from two to six weeks.
The programs at Polytechnic-Wolverhampton are primarily summer courses covering many disciplines and are taken for credit or non-credit. The range of courses includes: Architecture and Society in England 1600-1850; Music of Non-European Origin in the West Midlands; Casting in Bronze, Aluminum and Resin; Printmaking, etc. Accommodations in single study/bedrooms are available.
Regionally, the Cross-Cultural Resource Center coordinates the activities of the Piedmont Foreign Language Educators' Alliance (PFLEA) that includes foreign language educators, both on secondary school and college level. The purposes of PFLEA are as follows.
The Regional Alliance is led by elected officers and includes foreign-language teachers from area high schools and colleges (both private and public), administrators from the public school systems and institutions of higher learning, and businessmen involved in international trade.
High school teachers in the Alliance are eligible to apply for fellowship funds to study abroad under the sponsorship of the Rockefeller Foundation. So far, two PFLEA members have received the coveted $4,500 Rockefeller Foundation fellowship. The first award went to a Spanish teacher who traveled to Spain where he spent eight weeks in the summer of 1986, and the second went to a French teacher who spent eight weeks in Angers, France, visiting the residences of the former kings and queens of France. Rockefeller Foundation Fellows, upon returning from their sojourn abroad, share the products of their research work with the members of the Alliance.
As these various activities and programs demonstrate, CVCC is committed to many facets of international education and has been a leader in bringing the community college in Virginia into the global village.
Eduardo A. Peniche is an Associate Professor of Foreign Languages and the Facilitator of the CCFLRC at Central Virginia Community College. He is an international trade consultant in the College service region and coordinates the activities of the Piedmont Foreign Language Educators Alliance (PFI.EA). This past summer he was selected to the Commonwealth of Virginia Seminar on East Asia, held at the College of William and Mary, August 1-13, 1988.