English & Foreign Languages Department
Welcome to the English Department!
The English Program is aimed at improving students’ abilities to read, think, and write critically. Objectives in courses range from teaching the fundamentals of language to an introduction to significant literature in Western culture.
We offer an A.A. degree and prepare students with professional, comprehensive, and rigorous training in writing for transfer to a university B.A. degree program with the writing, researching, and critical thinking skills necessary to succeed. The courses in the program are specifically designed to prepare students for study in English at a four-year university; with goals both educational and artistic, the English Program offers a multi-genre curriculum with foundation courses in critical thinking, writing, literature, fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry with additional options to take courses in African-American literature, Shakespeare, creative writing, journalism, and other specialized courses in literature and writing. Accentuated by active participation in student-centered classrooms, students learn strategies for participation in and facilitating workshops at the professional level.
In keeping with the mission of Southwest, the English Program courses expand students’ academic experiences that contribute to enrichment of life, affirmation of a diverse population, life-long learning, and enhanced critical thinking, and prepare them to enter a four-year university as English majors in pursuit of a B.A. degree.
Our campus has been increasingly responsive to numerous writing events and clubs hosted by the English Department; therefore, beyond the curriculum listed above, clubs and events on campus and in the local community designed to promote literacy through poetry, creative and academic writing, and journalism—such as poetry slams and guest author readings, and the Poetry Collective student club, the English Majors Club, the online school newspaper and Journalism club—have traditionally and consistently produced high student participation. Internships and jobs in journalism are available and needed locally, and our student clubs promote internships which would provide students with job experience and employers with interns as well as provide support for students majoring in English.
Classes We Offer
- English
- ESL (Credit and Noncredit Courses)
- Foreign Languages
- Journalism
- Learning Skills
- Reading
Faculty
Department Chair: Darren Cifarelli
Location: SSEC 123
Phone: 323-241-5250
English
Cifarelli, Department Chair English
Dr. S. Maselli
J. Adler
S.Dillon
S. Turner-Odom
Dr. J. Bohn
J.Drawbond
Foreign Language
Dr. A. Persaud, Vice Chair
ESL
Pitts
Reading
S. Burrus