International Year program (1-Quarter) - Bachelor of Arts in Design

at Study Group - Western Washington University USA

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Japanese with Teaching Endorsement Option
The department provides instruction in history and culture, as well as literary theory, with an end to enabling the student to gain access to the intellectual life in the culture. The department imparts skills to future world language teachers so that they may similarly enable high school students to begin the acquisition of world languages.

The department provides students the skills to learn firsthand about major world societies. The department believes that the best way to understand a culture directly is through its language. The modern languages offered in the department are spoken natively by nearly two billion people. The multifaceted programs of the department provide an opening to the world through language, literature, culture and civilization. It is a meeting place for true diversity.

The BA in Japanese leads to a BA degree without teacher certification. In order to receive a recommendation for state of Washington certification students must complete the “teacher certification” program which is offered by the Department of Secondary Education.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Chemistry/Mathematics — Secondary
The program of study for the chemistry/mathematics majors provides many benefits to students, such as close student-faculty contact and relatively small classes. The students have direct access to modern laboratory equipment and instrumentation, and there are opportunities for research work under the direction of a faculty advisor.

As a practical matter, Mathematics is a science of pattern and order. Its domain is not molecules or cells, but numbers, chance, form, algorithms, and change. As a science of abstract objects, Mathematics relies on logic rather than on observation as its standard of truth, yet employs observation, simulation, and even experimentation as means of discovering truth.” From: Everybody Counts: A Report to the Nation on the Future of Mathematics Education (c) 1989 National Academy of Sciences.

Teaching mathematics and chemistry is a challenge, a responsibility, and an opportunity. Learning to teach mathematics and chemistry occurs through a variety of means: the study of a wide variety of mathematics and chemistry, pedagogical preparation within a mathematical and science context, formal clinical preparation in education, an extended internship, and continual experiences as a student, learner, and problem solver in mathematics and chemistry.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Special Education — P-12 plus Elementary Education (Dual Endorsement)
Special Educators need to have extensive knowledge in four areas: they need to know about students and how they learn; they need to know about effective instruction; they need to know about the content of the lessons they will teach; and, they need to know about the context (social, legal, and political) in which they will work. Therefore, training to become a Special Educator will include work in each of these areas. The program includes coursework and extensive supervised practicum experiences in the public schools. The program is rigorous and the expectations are high. However, the rewards are also high. This program will prepare you to be an excellent teacher in whatever position you eventually choose. Our dual endorsement graduates are actively recruited by school districts to teach in both elementary classrooms and special education settings.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Art History
Art History examines the histories of art in cultural context, visual communication in the world today, and the impact of visual technology in the future. In studying Art History, you will learn to interpret and analyze art and visual culture.

Western Art History students learn to interpret and analyze art and visual culture, examining the histories of art in cultural context, visual communication in the world today, and the impact of visual technology in the future.

As art historians in-training, students explore why culturally significant objects came to exist, what purpose they served, and how they continue to captivate us. By studying human expression through an engagement with culturally significant objects, images, and ideas, artists and historians document the changing world.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Sociology — Elementary
Sociologists examine topics encompassing a vast array of human behavior: crime and punishment, the formation and dissolution of families, bureaucracy in organizations, conflicts between classes, and global inequalities. Sociology is distinctive in its focus on the way individuals’ lives are embedded within multiple social contexts that facilitate and constrain the range of possible actions. These contexts include generation, occupation, gender, religion, sexual orientation, family, health, nation, race and ethnicity, and many others.

This major satisfies the academic major requirement for teacher certification with an endorsement in elementary education and must be accompanied by the professional preparation program in elementary education. 

Sociology students develop an aptitude for critical thinking, improve their writing ability, and gain competence with statistical computing that will enhance their future career options. Sociology students also have the opportunity to participate in faculty-led study abroad programs.

A specialization in Sociology-Elementary major provides an excellent base of knowledge for individuals interested in becoming elementary level educators.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Statistics
Statistics provides the reasoning and methods for producing and understanding data. One advantage of working in statistics is that you can combine your interest with almost any other field in science, technology, or business. Many graduates will choose to pursue graduate programs in statistics, biostatistics, computational biology, finance, or the social sciences.

Western's B.S. degree in Statistics is organized around a core course of study in probability and statistics that provides students with a background in the fundamentals of statistical thought and the application of the most common types of statistical analyses. In addition, our elective classes offer our students the opportunity to have at their disposal a diverse toolkit of analysis techniques and modeling choices that can be used to make sense of information coming from a breadth of different data types.

The Kinesiology Program provides concentrated study of human movement from developmental, mechanical, motor control, psychosocial, psychological, pathological, and physiological perspectives. This program is appropriate for students who plan to work in the fitness/exercise industry and can serve as a preparatory program for graduate or post-baccalaureate study in the areas of aging, auxology, biomechanics, exercise physiology, health/fitness, motor control/learning, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing, or similar allied health programs, and sport psychology. Supporting courses from biology, chemistry, computer science, psychology, health education, and physics may be included to provide more in-depth analysis of principles associated with human structure and function.

A BS degree in Kinesiology — Sport Psychology specialization provides students with the behavioral knowledge and educational techniques to enhance performance in recreational, exercise, and athletic settings. The major provides a concentrated study of human movement from mechanical, physiological, and pathological perspectives.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

History/Social Studies
The History/Social Studies major is designed to prepare students to teach history and social studies in secondary schools. In their history courses, History/Social Studies majors learn how to locate and access a wide range of sources, to analyze historical evidence, including textual and visual sources, to evaluate historical interpretations, and to develop and support their own interpretations. The quantity of writing and discussion required in history courses also helps students to develop effective communication skills. The required courses in economics, geography, and political science are intended to prepare students to teach these subjects in middle and high schools.

The study of Chinese Language and Culture focuses on communicative skills and cultural awareness, which are essential for success in career pursuits such as business, education, public service, and technology related to China, Chinese people, and Chinese language.

Western's Chinese Language and Culture program provides students with the opportunity to become competent communicators in Chinese language and culture, shared by 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fourth of the world’s population.

The Chinese Language and Culture major leads to a BA degree without teacher certification. In order to receive a recommendation for state of Washington certification, students must complete the teacher certification program which is offered by the Department of Secondary Education. A passing score on the World Languages WEST-E test, and proficiency in the designated world language assessed by ACTFL oral and written tests at the Advanced-Low level, are required by the state.

The International Year program is specially designed to prepare international students with the solid foundation needed to succeed in an undergraduate degree at Western Washington University.

You will learn in a supportive environment to develop your academic and English language skills, while adjusting to living and learning in the USA. After successfully completing the program with the required grades, you can continue your undergraduate degree with the confidence to engage and succeed.

Music History and Literature
Western's general Music program provides a liberal arts education with music as the major subject. It allows for individual preferences in intensifying studies in certain aspects of music and broadening the scope of academic pursuits. This program is designed for the student who may wish to complete minors or an additional major in another field in addition to completing a major in Music. Students in the Music program frequently complete studies in such fields as Theatre, Business, Mathematics, or one of the languages. The program consists of a basic core of study in Music Theory and History along with private instruction and ensemble performance.

Aimed at student with a particular interest in musicological research, the History & Literature track offers opportunities for students to pursue in-depth study in a variety of topics related to the history of musical composition. Core studies in music theory, aural skills, keyboarding, and music history are also required.