World Languages

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Program Spotlight

Studying language teaches students to broaden their horizons and interpret the world through alternative perspectives. Language deeply affects the way we think about ourselves and how we communicate and interact with others, helping to build connection and understanding as part of a basic liberal education.

Skyline College’s World Languages Program offers classes in a variety of languages that serve our constantly changing Bay Area community and our students, including Spanish, American Sign Language, Arabic, Chinese, and Filipino.

Skyline College’s World Languages Program offers classes in a variety of languages that serve our constantly changing Bay Area community and our students. Language classes offer a unique opportunity for students to challenge themselves to expand their worlds and enrich their lives. Students can choose courses to study the following languages:

  • Spanish (degree programs available)
  • American Sign Language (ASL)
  • Arabic
  • Chinese
  • Filipino

Career Outlook

Studying Communications provides a foundation of interpersonal, writing and critical thinking skills essential in almost any career from the sciences or finance to marketing or public relations.

Being able to speak and understand a foreign language makes job candidates more desirable for careers in almost any field, demonstrating a broad education attractive to prospective employers.

A degree in language creates gateways into a variety of career trajectories including translation services, marketing, communications, advertising, public relations, foreign service, and government, all of which directly or indirectly benefit from the global perspectives personified by foreign language speakers.

Salary ranges for jobs within these trajectories vary greatly. Public Relations Specialists in California make an average of $90,150 per year according to the U.S. Department of Labor. interpreters and translators in California make an average of $66,910 per year.

Program Type Total Units
Spanish AA 60 Units
Spanish for Transfer AA-T 60 Units

The following Learning Communities are associated with World Languages courses:

  • ASTEP
    Umoja-ASTEP is a learning community and transfer support program that focuses on the African American community college experience through the nurturing of knowledge, intellect, academic exploration, cultural, and spiritual identities, gifts, values and practices.
  • Kababayan
    The Kababayan Learning Community is a transfer and support group with the goal of increasing proficiency in English skills for success in college, work, and life. It is open to all students and focuses on education in relation to the Filipino and Filipino American cultural experience.
  • Puente
    The Puente Program is a two-semester program which links students, a counselor, an English instructor, community mentors and UC and other colleges in an effort to increase the number of students who transfer from two-year colleges to four-year colleges. Through the reading of Chicano/Latino literature and writings, counseling assistance, and connections to professional mentors, students receive the instruction and support they need to achieve academic success and transfer.
  • Effective Communication: Identify and describe language structure and functions exhibiting strong ability in the main components of the linguistic system of the four basic skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening comprehension
  • Effective Communication: Summarize, translate and interpret the main grammatical structures in language to offer various explanations and understandings of why and how people communicate
  • Critical Thinking: Critically consider, analyze, and research special issues in sociolinguistics, bilingualism and multiculturalism.
  • Citizenship: Apply cultural and grammatical theories, principles, and concepts to address real life problems and situations in the foreign language acquisition and cognition field.
  • Citizenship: Bring back into the community and apply the skills, abilities, and knowledge acquired in the SKYFLA program for the improvement of others and themselves, and to further the objectives of translation, interpretation and communication in different foreign languages in society.
Office Information
Location: Building 8
Email: ruizk@smccd.edu
Phone: (650) 738-4202
Summer 2024 Courses  |  Fall 2024 Courses

Type Status Title Days Time Instructor
Online Class OPEN for Waitlist ASL 100 - 55849 - American Sign Language I
ASL 100 American Sign Language I

A beginning course designed to introduce students to the visual-gestural richness of American Sign Language as it is used within the Deaf culture. Introduces students to ASL?s basic structure and vocabulary while developing students? expressive skills and understanding of fingerspelling and basic conversational strategies. Provides an introduction to the Deaf community and culture. This course is equivalent to the first year of the High School language other than English requirement.

Units: 5
Degree Credit
Grade Option (Letter Grade or Pass/No Pass)
  • Lecture hours/semester: 80-90
  • Homework hours/semester: 160-180
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
AA/AS Degree Requirements: Area 9C2
Transfer Credit: CSU (CSU GE Area C2), UC
TBA Meng, Q
Evening Class  Hybrid Class OPEN ASL 100 - 56125 - American Sign Language I
ASL 100 American Sign Language I

A beginning course designed to introduce students to the visual-gestural richness of American Sign Language as it is used within the Deaf culture. Introduces students to ASL?s basic structure and vocabulary while developing students? expressive skills and understanding of fingerspelling and basic conversational strategies. Provides an introduction to the Deaf community and culture. This course is equivalent to the first year of the High School language other than English requirement.

Units: 5
Degree Credit
Grade Option (Letter Grade or Pass/No Pass)
  • Lecture hours/semester: 80-90
  • Homework hours/semester: 160-180
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
AA/AS Degree Requirements: Area 9C2
Transfer Credit: CSU (CSU GE Area C2), UC
M W 6:00pm-9:00pm Wong, W
Evening Class  Hybrid Class OPEN ASL 100 - 56125 - American Sign Language I
ASL 100 American Sign Language I

A beginning course designed to introduce students to the visual-gestural richness of American Sign Language as it is used within the Deaf culture. Introduces students to ASL?s basic structure and vocabulary while developing students? expressive skills and understanding of fingerspelling and basic conversational strategies. Provides an introduction to the Deaf community and culture. This course is equivalent to the first year of the High School language other than English requirement.

Units: 5
Degree Credit
Grade Option (Letter Grade or Pass/No Pass)
  • Lecture hours/semester: 80-90
  • Homework hours/semester: 160-180
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
AA/AS Degree Requirements: Area 9C2
Transfer Credit: CSU (CSU GE Area C2), UC
TBA Wong, W
Online Class OPEN ASL 110 - 56152 - American Sign Language II
ASL 110 American Sign Language II

A continuation of ASL 100, designed to enhance proficiency in ASL usage. Develops conversational skills with an increased emphasis on visual receptive and visual expressive skills required for learning advanced vocabulary, grammar, non-manual behaviors, and fingerspelling. Creates awareness of Deaf culture through the study of the history of ASL, the cultural dynamics of the Deaf community, and the cultural customs of communication. This course is equivalent to the second year of the high school Language Other Than English requirement.

Units: 5
Degree Credit
Grade Option (Letter Grade or Pass/No Pass)
  • Lecture hours/semester: 80-90
  • Homework hours/semester: 160-180
Prerequisites: ASL 100 or ASL 112 or equivalent.
Corequisites: None
AA/AS Degree Requirements: Area 9C2
Transfer Credit: CSU (CSU GE Area C2), UC (IGETC Area 6A)
TBA Rawson, D
Online Class CLOSED SPAN 110 - 55859 - Elementary Spanish

SPAN 110 ELEMENTARY SPANISH (5)
Hours/semester: 80-90 lecture. Recommended: Eligibility for ENGL 846 or ESOL 400, or equivalent.
Spanish structures and active vocabulary based on oral and written pattern drills. Conversation based on short dialogues containing only structures already practiced. Transfer credit: UC; CSU (C2).

TBA Castro, L
Online Class OPEN SPAN 120 - 56097 - Advanced Elementary Spanish
SPAN 120 ADVANCED ELEMENTARY SPANISH (5)
Hours/semester: 80-90 lecture. Prerequisite: SPAN 110 or SPAN 112, or equivalent college-level course.
Students practice and develop further communicative competence in written and spoken Spanish for use in a variety of social contexts and settings. Readings are used as the basis of classroom discussions. Cultural aspects of the Spanish-speaking world are emphasized. The course is conducted primarily in Spanish. Transfer credit: UC; CSU (C2).

TBA Castro, L

The college course catalog contains lists of all classes that we may offer in the current academic year.

Primary Contact

Kennya Ruiz
Kennya Ruiz (Division Assistant)
Language Arts-Language Arts Division
ruizk@smccd.edu More details »

World Languages Faculty

Luciana Castro
Luciana Castro (Professor)
Language Arts-Spanish
castrol@smccd.edu More details »
Gerardo Di Pietro
Gerardo Di Pietro (Instructor)
Language Arts-American Sign Language
dipietrog@smccd.edu More details »
Juan Gazulla
Juan Gazulla (Instructor)
Language Arts-Spanish
gazullaj@smccd.edu More details »
Qing (Tracy) Meng
Qing (Tracy) Meng (Adjunct Instructor)
Language Arts-American Sign Language
mengq@smccd.edu More details »
William Wong
William Wong (Instructor)
Language Arts-American Sign Language
wongw@smccd.edu More details »

Dean

Chris Gibson
Chris Gibson (Dean, Language Arts Division)
Language Arts-Language Arts Division
gibsonc@smccd.edu More details »