The Mission of City College of San Francisco is to provide
educational programs and services that promote successful learning
and student achievement to meet the needs of our diverse community.
To this end, the School of English and Foreign Languages provides
the following:

Courses toward transfer to baccalaureate institutions

Achievement of Associate Degrees in Arts

Certificates and career skills needed for workplace success

Basic Skills English courses

We strive to be an integral part of a teaching/learning community,
an inclusive community, and a diverse community.

English Department

The
English Department offers students pre-collegiate and
college-level (AA degree and transfer) courses and services in
essential basic skills, reading, composition, literature, critical
thinking, and Humanities.

We pride ourselves on fostering superior academic programs that
promote critical and creative thinking in a supportive environment. We
understand that the skills we teach are crucial to achieving overall
college and life success. As part of our mission, instructors address
cross-curricular issues and ideas in accessible, “inquiry-driven” and
theme-based courses.

In 2007, the state approved CCSF’s first AA degree in English. The
establishment of an English Major is a powerful tool in serving the
academic goals of students transferring to four-year institutions as
English Majors. In addition to offering an AA degree in English, we
have a series of regularly offered elective courses designed to
fulfill requirements at our major transfer destinations. Our
student-run CCSF Literature club flourishes, sponsoring a
well-attended faculty and student lecture series that has stimulated
student interest in these electives.

Along with very strong, traditional developmental English course
offerings, our intensive-accelerated English courses are designed to
increase our students’ chances for a successful transition into
transfer-level courses. They are taught in conjunction with key
student support services such as the English
Lab (Rosenberg Library, R-205), which offers reading/writing
groups, tutoring, focused workshops, and much more.

The Foreign Languages Department is one of the largest language
programs of its kind in the state and the country. Our classes focus
on reading, writing, grammar, and conversational skills with a strong
cultural component. We offer elementary online classes in French and
Italian. Course levels are offered in both intensive single
semester modes and two- semester sequences that provide students more
time to master each level. Classroom instruction is supplemented by
laboratory activities. All our courses are transferable to CSU and
most to UC, and fulfill IGETC requirements for transfer.

The demand for foreign language instruction is unusually high in the
College’s service area, and the CCSF Foreign Language programs are
among the largest and most developed among community colleges in
California. The full range of languages is offered at the Ocean
campus, with selected courses at the Downtown, Mission,
and Chinatown/North
Beach Centers, as well as the John
Adams campus. The College also has a Study
Abroad program working with the Foreign Languages Department.
Language clubs provide complementary services: for example, the
French Club sponsors numerous activities including museum visits,
theater outings, and film presentations.