Global Language Network

At GLN we focus on building students’ confidence to communicate in the target language effectively and appropriately. We create a relaxed, comfortable and enjoyable environment where students learn, share and connect with each other. Our classes are full immersion, which means that they take place mostly in the target language.

GLN classes are open to any adult in the DC area. You do not have to be affiliated with The George Washington University to be a GLN student.

Our classes do not have a set tuition. Instead all GLN students must place a refundable deposit. The deposit for GWU affiliates is $ 100 and for non GWU affiliates $150. Students must miss no more than one-quarter of all class meetings (or three classes total, whichever is fewer) during the semester in order to be eligible for a refund. If a class meets once a week for a period of 12 weeks, a student must attend nine classes in order to receive the refund.

Students must also pay a non-refundable $25 processing fee to cover financial, administrative and classroom space rental costs.

All GLN teachers are volunteer native-speakers, eager to teach their language and share their culture with the DC community. We carefully select and train teachers to prepare them to teach a class.

We do not require students to purchase any materials. We develop all materials, and our teachers supplement those materials with their own.

We offer classes three times a year: fall, spring, and summer. The Fall semester typically runs for 12 weeks from mid-September to early December. The Spring semester typically runs for 12 weeks from end of January to early May. The Summer semester typically runs for eight weeks from early June to early August.

Our fall and spring sessions are typically 12 weeks long and our summer session is usually about eight weeks long. Our sessions usually take place during the following times

Fall: September- December

Spring: January-May

Summer:  June- August

Each language class meets for 24 hours throughout the semester. Because our summer session is only eight weeks long, classes meet either once a week for three hours or twice a week for an hour and a half. Our fall and spring sessions are 12 weeks long; classes typically meet once a week for two hours for a total of 24 hours.

All classes meet at The George Washington University. Classes are scheduled on weeknights between 5 and 9 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

GLN has offered a total of 60 languages since 2005. Due to space limitations we are unable to offer classes in all 60 languages every semester so we rotate our class offerings. Each semester we are able to offer an average of 40 language classes in about 25 different languages. View all languages we have offered since 2005.

Yes! Please send an email to registerGW@thegln.org and tell us what language and level you are interested in. We make note of these requests and try our best to offer the classes if at least five more people show a similar interest.

Yes you can! You may take up to three classes in a given semester so long as those classes have available spots. However, please note that you may not take more than one of our high-demand classes (such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Russian, etc.) as these classes have long waitlists.

Only officially registered students are allowed to attend classes. Please do not bring any guests as they will be politely asked to leave. If there’s a specific reason why you’d like to bring someone else to your class for just one class, please let us know and we may authorize it.

Unfortunately, we do not offer private tutoring at this time.

Unfortunately, we currently offer classes in the DC area only. We certainly plan to expand to other cities in the future. While we believe that online learning has  certain benefits, as an organization, we prefer to focus on in-person exchange and instruction and do not offer online classes.

We cap our classes at 20 and we do not start classes with less than 5 registered students. On average, our classes have 5 – 15 students.

For the most part we are able to offer continuation classes during subsequent semesters. However, there is no guarantee that we will be able to offer multiple levels of each language in a given semester.

Unfortunately, our classes do not focus on developing students’ reading and writing skills. Our high level classes are designed for people who would like to practice conversation and build their vocabulary.

Registration is easy and takes place online. You have to follow several quick steps:

1.      Create a GLN student account (top right corner of our website)

2.      Submit a class request for a class of your choice during the registration window

3.      Await acceptance into the class

4.      Place a deposit online to secure your spot (should you be selected to participate)

First, students submit class requests for up to three classes of their choice in a specific time window (usually three days). Classes with over 40 requests are then closed for registration while classes with less remain open until 1) they get 40 requests 2) registration ends (two days before the start of the semester).

For classes with over 40 requests we draw a lottery and select students at random: 20 students are registered for the class and 20 students are waitlisted. Everyone else is is informed that there are no more available spots.

Then the 20 registered students have several days to place a deposit in order to secure their spot in the class. Students who voluntarily drop a class or who miss the deposit deadline open up spots for people on the waitlist who are then promoted to the main roster.

Registration takes place two weeks before the start of a given semester.

We email all students who submitted requests typically within a few days after they place their request. If it has been more than a week, please check your Spam folder as well as your student account. If you are still not sure about the status of your class request, please email us at RegisterGW@TheGLN.org

We have a three-day period during which we accept requests for all classes. After that period closes, we only accept registrations for classes with less than 40 requests. We close all classes the day before the semester starts and do not accept any more requests beyond that point.

If the class is no longer available on the drop-down menu, that means we have received over 40 requests and the class is full. Unfortunately, we cannot accept any more requests.

No, you don’t have to place a deposit. We will notify you in case you are promoted to the main roster and will then require you to place a deposit in order to secure your spot.

If chosen for a class, you will be asked to place a deposit. Log in to your student account and click the tab marked “place a deposit for an immersion class”. We accept credit/debit card payments and all payments are processed through PayPal (no PayPal account required).

Unfortunately, we do not allow interested students to preregister or join a class early. All class selection occurs right after the first three days of registration (in the form of a class lottery).

Priority registration students are: all teachers and certain donors, volunteers, and students. Read more about priority registration.

Please read carefully course descriptions and gage your ability accordingly. Should you require further assistance, please call us and share your language background and goals. We will advise as to what class will be the best fit for you. Please note that our classes focus on building communicative competence, not on reading and writing.

Enrollment depends upon the number of students who submit applications. Novice level classes in languages such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese and Arabic usually attract 200 or more applicants for only 20 class spots. Less people apply for less commonly taught languages (such as Albanian or Romanian) so you have a much greater chance of getting into these classes.

If you really wish to take a class and bypass the lottery, you may consider supporting GLN. We award our loyal supports with priority registration
.

We offer priority registration to volunteers who dedicate 25 or more hours to GLN as well as donors who donate $150 or more in a given calendar year.

Due to high demand we cannot offer all interested people spots in classes of their choice. We sincerely apologize and we hope you can join us in the future. Keep trying!

We are a young organization with a limited budget and we rely heavily on individual donations. As a token of appreciation for your support, we award people who donate $150 or more to GLN by giving them priority registration for one class in a semester of their choice. That means that if you donate, you will indeed get a guaranteed spot so long as the class is currently offered. Please read more about Priority Registration to ensure you can use it in the semester of your choice.

After we select 20 people to be registered for a given class, we select another 20 to remain on a waitlist. Waitlisted individuals still have a chance to make into the class given that a certain number of ‘registered’ students drop the class or miss the deposit deadline.

We inform all waitlisted individuals about their class status on a regular basis and we will notify them whether they have been selected or not.

Unfortunately, we do not allow students to join a class after the first meeting. We do this because we want to ensure class consistency as adding new people on a weekly basis will disrupt everyone’s learning experience. .

Unfortunately, we cannot allow new students to join a class after it has already met once. We might make an exception only for less common languages with low enrollment.

In order to find out more about a class, either contact us and we will be happy to provide you with all the information you need, or register for the class, place your deposit and attend the first class meeting. Even if you don’t like it, you may still drop (before the second class meeting) and receive a full refund of your class deposit. .

Our unique immersion style classes do not use textbooks. Teachers create their own handouts and worksheets. All you need is a pen and paper to take notes.

Only students who do not place a deposit by the deadline are dropped from our classes. If you are registered for a class, and have diligently placed your deposit, then you have a reserved spot in the class for the semester and you may attend as few or as many classes as you see fit, or as your schedule permits.

Typically, our teachers share their contact information with all students during the first class meeting. If you do not know your teacher’s email, please let us know and we will be happy to put you in touch.

Unfortunately, we cannot make exceptions and let people drop after the second meeting.  All students are expected to attend the first class and make their decisions accordingly.

Students have one class meeting to decide if they would like to stay in a class or not. In order to receive a full refund, a student must log into his or her user account, and drop the class before the second class meeting. If a student wants to drop after the second meeting a reimbursement will not be issued.

We are sorry to hear that! We do everything possible to ensure that each student has a positive experience with GLN. Should you have any issues with your class, please let us know as soon as possible and we will address your issues with due diligence.

Our teachers are always flexible and do their best to ensure a positive experience for everyone. However, they are also instructed to follow the GLN approach. Sometimes students make requests which we cannot accommodate, but more often than not we take our students’ suggestions and modify the classes accordingly. Should you have any issues or suggestions with your class, please let us know and we will do our best to resolve any problems.

Please read the course descriptions carefully before signing up for one of our classes. Please also note that our classes focus on speaking rather than writing and reading. If you cannot speak a language, but can read and write it well, you should not be in an advanced course.

We normally do not switch students into alternate levels. If there is an issue with the level of your current class, please email us as soon as possible to let us know. If there is room in the class you want to transfer to, we might be able to move you. However, please note that most of our classes fill up quickly and this is not always possible.

If a GLN teacher must cancel a class, you will receive an email and a text message from us. Classes that are cancelled by GLN will not count against a student’s attendance record. Everyone will be considered present.

Sometimes our teachers have to cancel a class and we are not able to find a substitute teacher. We do our best to offer make-up classes at the end of the semester at a convenient time for teacher and students. However, those classes are optional and will not count against students’ attendance record.

When you log in to your student account, you will see a link which will display your attendance records. If you believe there’s a mistake, please contact us as soon as possible!

Unfortunately, our deposit policy is strict and we do not accept “excused absences”. We allow people to miss three classes for whatever reasons they need to miss those classes. Students are also free to miss more than three classes, but with the understanding that they will not be eligible to receive their deposit back.

Our deposit policy is strict and we do not excuse absences. However, in cases of serious health issues, we consider our student’s circumstances on a case-by-case basis and may excuse his or her absences.

We email students in case of cancellation. (We also text students if the cancellation is short notice.) Please be diligent about checking your email and logging into your student account for the latest updates on your class.

We do our best to schedule classes to meet in the same location every week. However, please note that we depend on The George Washington University for space and occasionally must change locations. In addition, sometimes our teachers choose to have class elsewhere (in an ethnic restaurant, for instance). Be sure to check your emails and your student account for any notifications about a location change.

We encourage our teachers to take their students on road trips: ethnic restaurants, cultural shows and festivals, etc because such class outings only enrich the learning experience. We do realize, however, that sometimes the alternate locations might not work for all students. Should a class be scheduled to meet at a location that’s farther than two miles from our Foggy Bottom campus, we will excuse all students’ attendance.

Please note that students are responsible to read our emails and check their student accounts for any class notifications. If we have to change the class location, we will notify all students. Please check your email and your student account to ensure that it has not been canceled or moved to a different location.

The George Washington University has a ‘lost and found’ office. If you forgot something in your classroom, most likely it was picked up the cleaning staff and dropped off at that office. Please let us know if this has been the case, and we will put you in touch with the ‘lost and found’ and help you recover your item.

All students who complete a given GLN class with good attendance (ie, who have missed no more than three classes) are invited to take the continuation class should such a class be offered in the following semester. Please note, however, that if you complete a Spanish class, that does not guarantee you a spot in a French class.

Yes, you can! Prior teaching experience is not a requirement. Any interested native speaker can apply to be a teacher so long as they follow the proper procedures.

Becoming a GLN teacher is an easy process. First, you have to send us your resume and express interest. Then you must attend a general teacher info session and shadow a class to better understand how GLN works. Finally, you have to attend a teacher workshop where you will learn how to teach your language using the GLN methodology.

If you successfully complete those steps, you will be considered to teach a GLN class.  Please note that final acceptance is contingent upon demonstrated enthusiasm and dedication, professional attitude, adherence to GLN requirements and code of conduct.

The only requirements are that you are a native speaker of the language you’d like to teach and that you are passionate and enthusiastic about sharing your language and culture with others.

We typically accept only native speakers, but if you demonstrate considerable experience with the language and like-native fluency, we may invite you to teach with us.

Please note that non-native speakers can also serve as teaching assistants. Please email us to find out more.

All GLN teachers are volunteers and do not receive any payment or stipend for their involvement. However, each teacher receives priority registration for GLN classes as well as numerous other benefits.

Teaching with GLN is a rewarding experience. You will meet other globally-minded people from diverse backgrounds. You will gain valuable new skills (such as leadership, teamwork, management, etc.). You will also be able to take any GLN class without having to worry about deposits and fees. Most importantly, you will have the opportunity to share what is close to your heart – your language and culture!

GLN teachers teach a language class 2 hours a week for a total of 12 weeks. In addition, GLN teachers are expected to prepare well for their classes and may spend anywhere from 2- 10 hours a week in creating lesson plans and class activities, based on their availability and dedication. Typically, a GLN teacher commits to about 40-50 volunteer hours over a 4-month period.

GLN classes meet after 5pm on weekdays and at various times on weekends. GLN teachers have the flexibility to choose the time of their class within those parameters.

Teachers may choose the level of the class they wish to teach. We determine the final schedule based on need and demand as well as based on teachers’ preferences.

Don’t worry! We believe that you are fully capable of teaching even if you do not have prior experience. In fact, most of our teachers do not have prior teaching experience and yet, they do a magnificent job. We provide extensive training and most importantly, we provide individual support throughout the semester. We will never leave you on your own! Finally, our teachers form a close-knit community and help each other. We will ask other, more experienced teachers to help you.

Please also note that you don’t have to start teaching your own class right away. You can easily start as a teaching assistant. Please contact us for more information.

First, we provide teachers with a comprehensive training. Then we give teachers a syllabus they should follow.

Before classes start, we provide teachers with ‘teacher binders’ which have useful images and class activities as well as with lesson plan guidelines.

Finally, GLN teachers are able to use materials prepared by other GLN teachers for the same language.

All GLN teachers are volunteers. They are a diverse group of native speakers who are passionate about sharing their language and culture.

GLN teachers are not certified by an accredited organization. What makes them certified is the fact that they are native speakers of the language they wish to teach.

All GLN teachers undergo the GLN training where they learn the basics about foreign language acquisition and how to teach using GLN’s approach.

In our experience there are enough people interested in learning any language! We pride in offering less common languages, otherwise unavailable and we are excited to welcome any native speakers to join our teacher community.

For less common languages we do extensive advertising to raise interest and so far we have been able to offer classes in any language!

We don’t issue official certificates; however, we are happy to provide teachers with written documentation that confirms that they have successfully completed a semester of teaching with GLN.

Definitely! Many teachers have requested recommendation letters or letters of reference and we are happy to provide our teachers with splendid reviews.

Our student body is very diverse. We have undergraduate and graduate students as well as working professionals from all kinds of academic, ethnic and occupational backgrounds. You may very well encounter a freshman in college as well as a Senior Executive or a government employee in our classes.

GLN does not have a physical office space. However, our student affiliate (GLN-GW) has a small office on The George Washington University campus (Marvin Center 421, 800 21^st str NW) which contains our language library and other materials and resources for teachers.

That’s great! We are constantly looking for more teachers. Tell anyone who’s interested to contact us at Teaching@TheGLN.org and we’ll walk them through all the necessary steps.

We understand that different people have different personalities and teaching styles. This is what makes our program so rich! Every GLN teacher is encouraged to be creative. However, all teachers must follow the GLN learning approach – this is the only requirement. If teachers don’t follow our approach, we will lose our unique identity.

GLN provides all teachers with a set class syllabus as well as various language resources and materials. Teachers are responsible for creating their own lesson plans which they can easily do by following our examples and guidelines.

Certainly! If you believe you have the time, you may certainly request to teach more than one class. However, do keep in mind that it might be better for yourself and for the students to focus all your time and energy on one class instead of trying to balance two classes at the same time. There will always be opportunities for you to teach in subsequent semesters.

GLN teachers may take one class of their choice in the semester they are teaching. Typically, we don’t allow teachers to take more than one class because teaching itself is a significant commitment and balancing learning and teaching is often difficult. That said, if a given teacher really wants to learn two languages at the same time while teaching their own class, we may grant that request on a case-by-case basis.