World Language - French

Certificate

GCC’s French certificate program allows you to complete the language requirement for a bachelor’s degree and is an excellent foundation for further language study.

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Program Contact

Norma Quesada
(413) 775-1282
quesada@gcc.mass.edu

Program Overview
Degree Requirements
Learning Outcomes
Faculty
Career Outlook

I love being part of a learning community at GCC.

— Zachary Colby, Biology '25

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Through GCC’s French certificate program, you’ll develop the knowledge and skills in language and culture to attain functional proficiency in spoken and written French. To complete the certificate, you’ll take English composition courses and two courses each in beginning and intermediate French. From the beginning, instructors will conduct at least 90% of class time in French, creating a nearly immersive experience.

credits

Certificate

Certificates are typically completed in one (1) year and designed for immediate workforce entry

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What's Next?

The courses you take will fulfill the customary university four-semester language requirement. The certificate can also be the foundation for a French major or minor, and the skills you build will be an asset in any career path. When you complete the certificate program, consider undertaking formal proficiency testing (Oral Proficiency Interview, OPI or OPI-C) to certify your level of proficiency on the ACTFL scale.

Appreciate diverse cultural and individual perspectives
- Compare students’ own and other cultures, thus understanding both better.
- Demonstrate basic sociolinguistic competence.
- Use language appropriate to social and cultural context.
Solve problems collaboratively
- Negotiate meaning and understanding collaboratively to solve communication problems and address conflict and misunderstandings.
- Use target language in class, avoiding the use of English.
Communicate in various modes and media
- Communicate through interpersonal, presentational and interpretive modes:
  - Interpersonal: listening and speaking; reading and writing (one-way communication)
  - Presentational: writing or speaking (two-way communication)
  - Interpretive: listening, reading or viewing (wo-way communication)
Locate, evaluate and use various sources of information
- Locate, evaluate and use various sources of information appropriately, including authentic documents (texts created by and for native speakers).
Think creatively and critically
- Make connections in language; create with language to express one’s own thoughts and opinions.
- Use both literal and figurative communication and a range of language from the everyday to the formal appropriate to the context, including gestural language.
- Discover consequences of language use for social and cultural contexts.
Apply, integrate, and synthesize learning
- Build and expand the repertoire of communication strategies – various modes and media.
- Make appropriate use of imaginative, concrete and/or abstract language for social and cultural contexts.
- Apply nuance, refinement, sensitivity and awareness at increasing levels of language sophistication.
- Explore and apply a range of effective language learning strategies.