English division

A message from the English Division

Our faculty are sincerely looking forward to connecting with you, teaching you, and learning from you in our writing, literature and humanities courses.  We offer remote, online, and hybrid courses to meet your academic needs. Please check out this video to learn more about these different types of course offerings. We can’t wait to see you in our classes.

Our students excel and bring us so much pride!  What can you do with a GCC English Degree or Certificate?  Read on after this letter to get to know of our recent graduates to learn about their educational and career successes.

Sincerely,
The GCC English Division Faculty

 

What can you do with a GCC English Degree? Meet some of our recent graduates to learn about their educational and career successes!

Paolo Banaag
Academic and Career Counselor at Glendale Community College

Paolo Banaag

GCC alumnus Paolo Banaag earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles. After receiving his Master of Education degree from the University of Southern California in Educational Counseling, Paolo worked at various community colleges specializing in Career and First-year Experience, Nursing, and Transfer  student populations.

Erum Asif, teacher 
Valley Academy of the Arts and Sciences High School

Erum Asif

GCC alumna Erum Asif earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Gender studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She then obtained her Master of Arts degree in Secondary Education and Secondary Subject Teaching Credential from California State University, Northridge.

Pamela Avila,
editor for USA Today

Pamela Avila

GCC Alumna Pamela Avila earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Pamela is also a freelance writer and social media strategist. Pamela’s professional journey began in places like HelloGiggles/Time Inc., Los Angeles Magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and E! News/NBC Universal.

Lori Sinanian, Freelance Writer and contributor to The Wall 
Street Journal, Armenian Weekly, and Asbarez

Lori Sinanian

GCC alumna Lori Sinanian earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature at the University of California, Irvine. During her time at UCI, she served as the Project Coordinator for the Armenian National Committee of America, Western Region. She now works as a freelance writer and contributor to several national publications

Chelsea Olsen, Law Student at the University of San Francisco

Chelsea Olsen

GCC alumna Chelsea Olsen earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English at the University of California, Los Angeles and is now pursuing her law degree at the USF School of Law. She has served as the Managing Editor for UCLA’s Journal of Arts and as the Student Director for UCLA Poem.

Interested in learning more about how GCC helped these English majors succeed?

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Watch the recording of our GCC Language and Communication Career Pathway Alumnae Student Panel to go in-depth into Pamela, Chelsea, Erum, Paolo, and Lori’s journeys and their educational and career successes!

 

WRITING SKILLS PREPARATION & RESOURCES

How Do You GCC your Writing?
College Resources to Build Your Skills in English Courses

LEARNING CENTER FREE TUTORING: Improve your essays with low commitment, high impact 30-minute sessions.

LEARNING CENTER FREE WORKSHOP: Explore writing-related topics in interactive, engaging hour-long workshops.

STUDENT SUCESS CENTER WRITING CLASSES 
Go deep in these noncredit classes; come and go weekly as needed.

While tutoring and workshops offered through the Learning Center offer just-in-time support, the classes at the Student Success Center support students in their ongoing efforts to improve writing skills and/or reading comprehension.

The writing classes -- paragraph, essay, grammar, and reading comprehension classes -- are available throughout the fall, winter, spring, and summer semesters.

Classes are offered on a continual or as-needed basis and are FREE.

To request more info about Student Success Classes contact Ivet Ovsepyan (iovsepya@glendale.edu). Let our professors support your learning in a small group environment. Take our support classes and achieve!

GCC also offers noncredit course options for students who need a refresher/strengthener prior to enrollment in credit English courses. For more information visit the Support for College Success webpage.

Do you speak another language besides English?  Good for you!  Being multilingual is an asset! We offer English 101 courses that are good for students  whose primary language is not English.  These courses include strategies to improve your reading and writing in English.  Contact the English division chair for more information about these courses which are offered in fall and spring fully online.

The Credit ESL division also offers ESL 159 which can help you edit and proofread if English is not your first language and you want some additional support. Click here for more information about this course and other ESL courses that might help you in your college journey.

If you do not have a U.S. high school diploma, and you are an international student (F1 visa), or adult immigrant, or refugee, and you are still learning English, click on the link to take the GCC ESL Guided Placement Survey to select the best level for you. We also recommend that you then speak with a counselor to choose the best ESL course options.  

Besides our academic resources, GCC has Academic Counselors ready to assist you in suggesting coursework, planning your education, and helping to find the right academic goal for you. They can also point you to specific counseling resources that may be available for you.