by: Erin Morrison
Parkland College and the University of Illinois both have a high number of international students. For many of these students, English is their second—or maybe even third or fourth— language. Because of this, Parkland has its own ESL (English as a second language) programs and resources, and there are many more ESL programs available in the surrounding community.
According to Christina Havenland, Associate Professor and Program Director for Pre-College ESL at Parkland, there are three main programs for ESL students available at Parkland. There is the adult education ESL program, pre-college ESL program, and composition classes for non-native speakers.
Paula Prather is the Adult Education Program Manager. In an interview, Prather explained that adult education offers free ESL classes to adults who are permanent residents with green cards. Potential students must be 18 or older or be able to provide documentation proving they are out of high school.
Students take an assessment test before they start classes that place them in one of six levels ranging from beginner to advanced. They can take classes in listening and speaking, reading and writing or classes that focus on specific careers and employability skills.
For the classes that focus on employability skills, Prather said that there are three main “bridges” students can study: business and IT, manufacturing and health care. Adult ESL classes run from August to December, January to May, and there are some classes in summer; these classes fill up fast. There are also morning and evening classes taught both in Rantoul and at Parkland.
Joseph Omo-Osagie and Katie Schacht are counselors at Parkland who help students get involved in pre-college ESL classes. They explained that there are three different areas for pre-college ESL: reading and vocabulary, listening, speaking and pronunciation and grammar and writing, each with five different levels where students can take a CAMLA assessment determine their English proficiency.
Each level is one semester long, but students can submit a writing sample at the end of a level to possibly skip a level or to finish the whole program. At the beginning, students can only take ESL classes, but once they get to the third or fourth kevel, students may start to take math and science classes.
If students come to parkland as non-native English speakers but are already fluent, they may take English composition classes. Havenland said these classes are equivalent to ENG 099, 101 and 102 but are designed for non-native speakers.
Outside of taking ESL classes, it is still helpful for students to practice their English and become more confident using the language. There is the iConnect Mentor English Conversation Club which meets in D126 every Friday from 1–2 p.m. Jessica Jackson, an academic coach and advisor in the Center for Academic Success (CAS) said that CAS will also have tutorials for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language.)
One of the many English conversation groups on the UIUC campus is international coffee hour at the ETC Coffeehouse at the Wesley Foundation every Friday from 4–6 p.m. Students attend for more than practicing English. One student who goes by the name John told the Prospectus that a lot of international students get lonely, and that the meetings provide a social opportunity. Another student named Eagle said it is a very welcoming place where you can talk to people and have coffee and food. Another student said he likes to go to ETC to communicate and understand American culture. Amelia, whose first language is English, said that she is a Spanish major and wanted to come to learn more about other languages.
For more information about ESL resources, feel free to contact Parkland’s Counseling and Advising at 217/351-2219, email them at counselingservices@parkland.edu or stop by the office in U267.
