Elementary German I and II will be taught on campus at OCCC in the spring semester.

Previously, OCCC students who enrolled in a German course would have to drive to Rose State College for the class, said Professor Ginnett Rollins, director of the Modern Languages program.

Now that OCCC plans to hold the courses on campus, it has students who plan to take German very happy to save on gas, she said.

“Offering a full German major would be my dream,” Rollins said. OCCC is much larger than Rose State.

“It only makes sense to have German here because there are more students who are probably interested in learning German,” she said.

Laura Collins is the German professor who will be teaching the courses.

“She is the main German professor at the University of Central Oklahoma,” Rollins said.

She described Collins as “dynamic and wonderful at teaching.”

In Europe, German is considered a very important language with respect to business and industry.

OCCC offers a wide array of modern languages including associate degrees in Spanish and French, as well as Introduction to Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese, according to the World Languages and Cultures Center page online.

For European travelers OCCC offers Italian for Travelers.

Although Elementary German is being taught on campus, the intermediate classes will remain at Rose State for now, Rollins said.

As of Dec. 4, German I had 13 students enrolled  and German II had 10 students enrolled for the spring semester.

Students learning other languages will find resources on campus to help them.

The World Languages and Cultures Center offers Rosetta Stone in 11 different languages: Arabic, Chinese, English as a Second Language, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.  The center offers satellite television in eight languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish.

The center also has more than 150 foreign films.

Drop-in tutoring is available in Spanish and French for those needing a little more help, according to the World Languages and Cultures Center page online. They also can help with ESL grammar tutorials and TOEFL Preparation.

Lab hours for the center are 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday; and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday.

The center is closed Saturday and Sunday.

Contact the World Languages and Cultures Center at 405-682-7560.

For more information about world languages, contact Rollins at 405-682-1611, ext. 7704, or by email grollins@occc.edu.

To enroll online in classes at occc, go to the college wesite at www.occc.edu.