Romance and Classical Studies

Part-time studies leading to the M.A.T.
Do you need to earn a graduate degree in French to obtain licensure? To move up on the pay scale? To further your own personal goals? If so, Bowling Green State University may be just what you’re looking for.

Our regular French MA program, which enrolls students for a year in France followed by a year on campus, is well known and highly reputed. But working teachers do not have the option of full-time study during the school year, or of spending an entire academic year in France. Therefore, in response to demand from area teachers for alternative master’s degree options, the Department of Romance and Classical Studies at BGSU is now offering its program on a “teacher friendly” schedule.

You can now earn your master’s degree in 3 years through part-time study during the school year combined with summer study in France.

Where in France? In the city of Tours, capital of one of the most beautiful and culturally rich of French regions. Located on the banks of the Loire—au pays des châteaux—Tours is about an hour from Paris by train.

The Basics
Here is how the program works:
 You’ll take one graduate course per semester, over six semesters (selecting 2 semesters in which to take 2 courses or extending the course of study by two semesters). All courses will be offered in the evening, beginning at 4:30 or later. You’ll study in France full time during the month of July, for two summers. The eight courses taken on campus will be worth three semester hours each. The two summer sessions in France will each be worth six semester hours. So in three years or less, you will have earned the semester hours required for the M.A.T. And you will have had the opportunity to get back to France to refresh your language skills!

Let’s say you start the program in the fall semester of 2012. Your calendar will look like this:

• Fall 2012: 1 -2  courses on campus (3 - 6 hrs)
• Spring 2013: 1 course on campus (3 hrs)
• Summer 2013: July session in France (6 hrs)
• Fall 2013: 1 course on campus (3 hrs)
• Spring 2014: 1 - 2 course on campus (3 - 6 hrs)
• Summer 2014: July session in France (6 hrs)
• Fall 2014: 1 course on campus (3 hrs)
• Spring 2015: 1 course on campus (3 hrs)

In this case you will have completed the M.A.T. degree in two years and nine months. You may also, if you prefer, start in the spring or summer. In these cases, the basic formula is still the same: six semesters on campus and two July sessions in France.

If you can’t spend two July sessions in Tours, you can do only the first one (nine semester hours), and take the remaining courses (nine courses for 27 semester hours) on campus. In this case, your master’s studies will, of course, take longer to complete.

The Summer Sessions in France

During the July sessions in Tours, you’ll have a choice between two housing options:

• an individual room in a 4-bedroom suite in a student residence hall (the Technopôle) with kitchen facilities (available to candidates under the age of 29);
• a host family.

You’ll be taking your courses at the Institut d’Etudes françaises de Touraine where we’ve been sending students for over 30 years. One of the following two intensive courses will be taken during each of the two July sessions:

• Refresher Course for Advanced Students: Students take the Institut placement test and are placed in the appropriate level (six credit hours).
• Training Course for Teachers of French as a Foreign Language, which includes modules on methodology, practical classroom skills, and language development (six credit hours).

The On-Campus Courses
These will be a mix of education and French courses. More information on program course requirements is provided on the M.A.T. page. 

The Costs*
Graduate tuition and fees, per semester hour, as of the spring 2011 semester, are $487 for Ohio residents. The cost of a 3-hour course is therefore $1,461, and tuition and fees for a July session in France will total $2,922 ($1,461 x 2). In many cases your school district will pay a significant part of this amount.

For the July sessions abroad, in addition to tuition and fees, you will be responsible for the following:

• transportation to and from France;
• incidental expenses;
• room and board during the month.

Room and board costs will depend on the option chosen. If you live in the Technopôle residence hall, you’ll pay approximately $400 for the room and $300 for food. The host family option costs approximately $1,200, and includes food, several cultural excursions, transportation from Paris to Tours and within Tours (a bus pass if your family lives outside the center city).

* All costs are subject to change. For current figures please contact Nora Solomon, Coordinator, Education Abroad, Center for International Programs (CIP), norabs@bgsu.edu, 216 University Hall, (419)372-8053.

Admission Requirements
Applicants should have a bachelor’s degree, a major in French, a minimum GPA of 3.0. Applicants with a minor in French will be considered if they have spent sufficient time in a French-speaking country. In addition: “applicants to the M.A.T. degree program must have had at least one year’s teaching experience and must hold a valid teaching certificate from the state in which they are teaching” (Graduate Catalog).

For application materials or more information:
Graduate Coordinator
Department of Romance and Classical Studies
Bowling Green State University
203 Shatzel Hall
Bowling Green, OH 43403 
ma-french@bgsu.edu