Graduate Language Certificate

In addition to the M Ed in World Language Instruction, we are please to offer a Graduate Certificate in Spanish, French or German.

This program is ideal for:

• Language teachers who are seeking 18 graduate-level credits in the language they teach

• Language teachers interested in additional graduate credit

• Any professionals seeking an opportunity to further develop their language skills.

To earn the graduate certificate, students must complete a minimum of 16 credits, with the option to add additional elective credits. In total, there are 22 credits of coursework students may choose from. All graduate-level courses in this program are taught in the target language. Language teachers will benefit from an integrated, customizable component within each course, providing the opportunity to immediately apply new methods, strategies, and activities in their own classrooms. Courses are offered online during the summer, fall, and spring terms. One course option is held at Concordia Language Villages located in Bemidji, MN.

Students must complete each course with at least a grade of C, and an overall GPA of 2.5 to earn the certificate.

Courses may also be taken as individual graduate electives and not as part of the graduate certificate.

Visit the Elective Language Course List for all language courses currently offered. Graduate courses are listed following the undergraduate courses.

Certificate Details

Credit Cost | $560
Technology & Support Fee | $35 per Credit
(Technology (ITS), library, and support from campus offices)
Total per Credit Cost | $595

No deposit is required for the graduate language certificate.

Course Prefix Designations:
Courses are cross-listed as AMLA/WLC, and students will choose to register for either AMLA or WLC. 

• AMLA (Advanced Methodologies of Language Acquisition) is the prefix assigned to all courses in the Master of Education in World Language Instruction Program. Students enrolled concurrently in the masters program may choose to add any of the listed AMLA graduate elective language courses.

• WLC (World Languages & Cultures) is the assigned prefix for all courses in the Department of World Languages and Cultures. Sections of the same course are offered in French, Spanish and German. 

Course Transfers:
Students may transfer one course (3 or 4 credits) that is a reasonable equivalent to one of the courses being offered in the certificate program. If the student has taken a similar course that is only three credits, the participant will still need to complete 16 credits for the certificate.  To make the determination of course equivalence, the student may be asked to provide details from the course such as the syllabus and/or coursework in order for the program director to determine if the course meets the transfer criteria .

Program Course List

22 available credits | 16 minimum credits for program completion

The following courses comprise the Graduate Language Certificate and are offered in French, German and Spanish:

AMLA/WLC-611: Technology, Media, and Human Relations in the [LANGUAGE]-Speaking World | 2 Credits
This course is designed to engage students in listening, reading, writing, and speaking around the topics of technology, media, and human relations in target cultures around the world. Particular attention will be paid to students in K-16 educational contexts, such as the influence of social media on students, students’ abilities to engage in current events through technology and social media, and the way in which technology and media affects human relationships and communication in target language countries. Students will read, listen to, and view a variety of authentic texts, and they will also engage in text analysis and discussion on these topics. 

AMLA/WLC-613: Products, Practices, and Perspectives of 21^st Century [CULTURE] Diaspora | 2 Credits
This course will ask students to examine the relationships between products, practices, and perspectives found in 21^st century diaspora within particular countries. Depending on the language being studied and the countries most influenced by the diaspora, students may examine Hispanic diaspora, African diaspora, Arab diaspora, etc. Diaspora comes from the Greek word “to scatter about” and refers to a group of people with the same or similar heritage or ethnicity who have moved to new places throughout the world. Students will examine cultural topics through different lenses in order to understand that the relationship between products and perspectives or practices and perspectives can vary within one particular culture. Human experiences such as emigration and immigration also greatly influence perspectives. Students will read, listen to, and view a variety of authentic texts, and they will also engage in an ongoing portfolio project and discussion on these topics. 

AMLA-624: Immersive Language & Teaching Experience [Face-to-Face – Summer] 2-4 Variable Credits
(Part of the M Ed in World Language Instruction Program) Students will have an intensive experience in the Concordia Language Villages where they will increase knowledge of the target language and culture(s) by using the language to participate and collaborate in Village activities, and by engaging in reflective practice (TESOL teachers will be placed in the English Language Villages). This course is repeatable up to three times.

AMLA/WLC-626: Advanced Pedagogical [LANGUAGE] Grammar | 4 Credits
Students will examine some of the problematic aspects of advanced target language grammar, focusing on such concepts as indicative times (past tenses), subjunctive tenses (values and uses in simple and complex structures), the values and uses of particular prepositions, and a variety of other concepts. The course will also pay special attention to concepts that are particularly confusing for non-native speakers of the language. However, the course also allows for individual exploration of advanced concepts in order to increase students’ own knowledge of the language. In order to examine grammar within authentic, meaningful contexts, students will read and view a variety of texts such as short stories, news, and social media, paying close attention to the values and uses of the concepts being studied. 

AMLA/WLC-628: Young Adult Literature in [LANGUAGE] | 2-4 Variable Credits
Students will read and discuss several young adult novels written in the target language. Although there are a number of competing definitions of this genre, this course will mostly focus on literature that is written and published in the target language expressly for young adults between the ages of 14-20 (or older). Students will focus on the way in which aspects of culture are represented and reflected in the various examples of young adult literature we will read in this course. Often young adult literature pushes boundaries, and students will also examine critical questions and topics that arise in the literature within the context of the target culture(s) in which the novel takes place.

AMLA/WLC-630: Film in [LANGUAGE] | 4 Credits
Students will view, discuss, and write about various target language films that they could integrate into their own classrooms in order to teach historical, political, and cultural content through film. Students will read about and research the themes present in the films in order to gain a stronger understanding of the content, themselves, allowing them to develop course materials for their own classrooms. The films will lead to an exploration of different genres of film, various historical and political events, and diverse views of society, human relationships, and other aspects of the target culture.

AMLA/WLC-632: Critical Topics and Social Justice in the [LANGUAGE]-Speaking World
| 2 Credits
Students will explore current critical and social justice topics in the target cultures. As these are dynamic topics that are ever changing, the topics of the course will change to reflect current issues in need of examination in various target language countries and within the diaspora. Some examples might be the exploitation of natural resources and environmental justice, gender and sexuality movements, or women’s rights and access to reproductive healthcare. Students will read, view, discuss, and write about the topics this class will examine, considering action that they and/or their own students could take to address similar topics in their own communities and beyond.

Contact Information

Dr. Cassandra Glynn
Professor | Education Department
Program Director
M Ed | World Language Instruction
M Ed | Teaching & Learning
Graduate Language Certificate
P | 218.299.3857
E | cglynn@cord.edu | mastered@cord.edu