Dickinson offers numerous opportunities for students to develop their French skills, learn more about Francophone cultures, and connect with other French speakers outside of class. From film nights with the French club to crêpe parties at the Romance Language House, we are sure you will find a way to get engage with the Francophone community on campus.
Romance Language House
The mission of the Romance Language House is to promote foreign language development within the campus community. By living in an environment in which all house members speak multiple languages (Italian, French and Spanish), residents are encouraged to speak and interact in their respective foreign languages. The goal of the Romance Language House is to educate others on foreign languages and diverse cultures through a shared living environment, as well as opening up that environment to the college community as a whole. Students share a living space with other students learning a romance language as well as overseas student assistants from France, Spain, Italy and Brazil. The Romance Language House often collaborates with the French Club and other groups to host various events.
The French Table/La Table Française
The French & Francophone Studies Department organizes a weekly French Table where Dickinson students, Overseas Student Assistants (OSAs) from Toulouse, France, and faculty gather to chat informally in French over a meal.
French Club
The French Club promotes the study of Francophone cultures and aims to create an atmosphere that encourages language learning and lifelong exploration. The French Club offers the Dickinson community various opportunities to learn more about the French language and the Francophone world that enrich campus life. All students, regardless of their French language skills, are welcome to join the French Club and attend French Club events. To become a member or learn more about the club, email french@dickinson.edu or contact members via EngageD.
The Multiligual Writing Center
The Multilingual Writing Center supports the mission of the foreign language departments to develop students’ critical thinking skills and fluency in writing. The MWC assists writers of all levels and abilities who are working on essays written in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian or Spanish. Trained tutors and Overseas Assistants will work one-on-one with writers on a variety of concerns, including developing ideas; understanding genres; organizing material; crafting sentences; analyzing and correcting patterns of error; and building vocabulary.
Peer Tutoring
Dickinson College offers a variety of supports for students who would benefit from working with peer tutors to better understand and apply what they are learning in class. In addition to regular on-demand tutoring offered through the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) Center and Multilingual Writing Center, students will be able to access ongoing peer coaching and tutoring through the new PACT (Peer Academic Coaching and Tutoring) Program.
Students in PACT will be paired with a peer tutor for sustained support in QR, world languages, writing, or general academic coaching. Faculty may refer a student to PACT via Navigate or students may self-identify through the “Raise Hand” function on Navigate. All students will initially meet with professional staff in the Quantitative Reasoning Center or Multilingual Writing Center who will help them identify any appropriate study resources for that course that they have not used yet, and collaborate with the student to set up a tutoring plan, which may include up to two hours of tutoring per week based on faculty and/or student input. Some tutoring may be offered in a group setting for up to four students in the same course.
Students who have a PACT plan are expected to attend all scheduled tutoring sessions with their assigned tutor or provide adequate notice (24 hours) if they need to cancel or reschedule. Professional staff will check in periodically with the student and tutor to ensure that the PACT plan is supporting the student’s learning in their class and, as needed adjust the tutoring plan accordingly, in conversation with the student, tutor and professor.
While all students can benefit from ongoing academic support, PACT is designed for students seeking course-specific support not met by existing resources in the QRC or MWC. PACT is designed to complement, not replace, support for content learning offered through departments.
PACT tutors are all hired on the recommendation of Dickinson faculty and trained by the Norman M. Eberly Multilingual Writing Center and Quantitative Reasoning Center, including specific training in peer academic coaching.
If you would like additional information or have questions about PACT, please feel free to contact Professor Dana Somers (somersd@dickinson.edu) or John Katunich (katunicj@dickinson.edu).