The University of Mississippi Intensive English Program (IEP) held its first Community English as a Second Language (CESL) session of the semester on Monday evening.
About 30 Ole Miss students and community members from countries such as Brazil, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Columbia and Japan gathered on the bottom floor of the IEP building for the meeting.
Instead of operating like a class, the first session focused on assessing the students’ skill levels.
Ashton Dawes, the director of CESL, started off by handing everyone a placement test. She then pronounced similar-sounding words to determine students’ listening skill levels by seeing if students could differentiate between the words presented.
“We read a bunch of words to see if they could pick up on the vowel sound(s). That way, we can tell where their listening skills are,” CESL instructor Amber Bray said. “A lot of the time, that’s what students struggle with the most because they’ve studied reading and writing and test taking, but now that they’re here in America, learning how to hear and speak is the hardest.”
The rest of the placement test consisted of short, one-on-one interviews among the instructors and the students, a list of grammar comprehension questions, a verb tense and writing comprehension section and a short writing prompt.
Once the students were finished with the assessment, the instructors graded them to determine what class level each student should be assigned. Future classes will be divided into three levels, based on skill: beginner, intermediate and advanced.
“Beginner tends to focus more on useful phrases like quick skills about how to order food at a drive-through, how to make a phone call for reservations, English basics and other useful information,” Dawes said. “(For) intermediate, we understand (that students) know the basics, so we work really on broadening vocabulary.”
In the advanced class, students will learn grammar skills and how to format a paper, according to Dawes.
The sessions will be taught by different teachers on a rotating basis. One will teach the first half of class, and another will teach the second half of class. There are three teachers per level who work together to provide a syllabus specific to the needs of the students.
“The teachers work together to make sure that every week has a cohesive lesson that they can carry into (the) next week so that students can review information from the previous class,” Dawes said. “(So) even if there is a different instructor for the last class, the current instructor will know what was covered.”
Bray will be teaching a beginner-level class. She and the other instructors are waiting for the placement test results to determine the focus of each class.
“Tonight, when we did the questions, one of the cards asked what colors were on the card, and some people did not know the colors,” Bray said. “That tells us where we have to start. We will probably start pretty basic, with introductions, the alphabet and colors.”
Dawes said the courses are tailored to students’ needs.
“We work together to set up a curriculum and a syllabus so that the content of the syllabus can be adjusted according to what the students want to learn, because this is for them,” Dawes said.
CESL classes are led and organized by Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language (TESOL) students. The classes will be taught by second-year master’s students majoring in applied linguistics.
“It started originally with the idea of creating classes for the TESOL students to get practice teaching and working with students whose first language is not English,” Dawes said. “At first, anybody could come, and then it became available to only people (who are) a part of the Ole Miss community.”
Now the courses are open to everyone and ESL students at the elementary, middle and high school and their parents are being invited, Dawes said.
Last year, the program only had three students because it was only open to university students, but opening it up to the public again this year has increased participation more than the instructors had expected.
“We didn’t have enough of the test material(s) made for everyone,” CESL instructor David Higginbotham said. “We were not expecting this many people. It’s a very good number.”
Dawes hopes the CESL classes provide a stress-free atmosphere for people to come and learn at a level with which they are comfortable.
“We would love to extend a big welcome to anyone who wants help with their English if it is not their first language,” Dawes said. “We would love to have you. We don’t care what level of learner you are. We are open to everyone.”
These courses will take place over an eight-week period, and classes will be held on Mondays from 6-8 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 6-7 p.m. in Room 009 of the IEP building.
CESL classes are free and open to the public. For those with children, free childcare will also be provided during the class times.
