Instructor Brentar
10/30/2012
Did You See Yourself in ESL Program?
When the new semester begins, a number of international student are going to begin their ESL program. The English as Second Language program is a class opened for non-English speaker who is studying in an English speaking country. This program aims to improve students English so that they can adapt to school life easily. Like other school, the ESL program in Cleveland State University contains reading and writing, listening and speaking, grammar, vocabulary and conversation classes. Students can choose the topic they like to learn when they are in conversation class. The ESL program at CSU provides a good environment for students to study English. However, the current program just focuses on the usage of English but not the new life students are adapting to. Therefore, the way that ESL teaches students in ESL classes at Cleveland State University needs to be diversifying so that students can learn for life.
People may argue that the student in ESL is a type of person whose skill of using English needs to be improved. The ESL students need to write a large number of essays and read a lot of books. What international student need in English speaking country is a high level of English. Therefore, when they graduate from the current ESL program, they can read and write more easily than before. If their English is as good as the native speaker, they can adapt in their life easily. Actually, people are misunderstanding the real meaning of the ESL program.
The English as Second Language Program actually does not just simply teach student English. The more important function is to help student find out their identity investment. The identity investment can be defined as how an individual award the relationship with the society of the word, and the understanding of the possibility of the future. As James Cohen said in his article titled “Imaginary Community of the Mainstream Classroom:
Cited: Cohen, James. "Imaginary Community Of The Mainstream Classroom: Adolescent Immigrants ' Perspectives." Urban Review 44.2 (2012): 265-280. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Oct. 2012. Larrotta, Clarena. "Journaling In An Adult ESL Literacy Program." New Directions For Adult & Continuing Education 121 (2009): 35-44. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Oct. 2012. Schafer, Curt. "Education Majors: Changing Careers." Education Week 31.36 (2012): 31. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 Oct. 2012.