English Language Center Director Frederica Suess meets with Maria Bravo of Argentina.
The new English Language Center at the University of Wyoming offers a full-time Intensive English-as-a-Second-Language Program, as well as short-term English study tours and professional development.
“The English Language Center opened a year ago as part of the UW Outreach School,” says Director Frederica Suess. “It helps meet the needs for international students learning English. It also serves as a recruiting tool to welcome international students here for an immersion program of English and academic skills preparation for college-level work. Incoming students can now do a semester or two of full-time English in order to get up to university-level requirements.”
Almost all major state universities have intensive English programs, Suess says, so the center fills a gap for UW. Several innovative elements set UW’s program apart. The full-time students will be fully integrated into campus, unlike many competitor programs.
“I want my students to feel like they belong on campus,” Suess says.
“Our program is a lot more learner-centered,” she adds. “They leave the program by achieving their TOEFL score, not by taking a set number of classes.
“We really want to be a finishing school for not only English acquisition but also for academic skills acquisition.”
The program is interested in getting students involved in active learning and service projects.
“We also have outreach in tutoring and short-time programs for community members, business people and UW students,” Suess says. For example, the president of a Brazilian university is coming to improve his professional English skills in a personalized two-week program.
“One area of future development is to become an outlet for the professional development of international teachers who teach English as a foreign language in their own countries,” Suess says, adding that interest in improving ESL/EFL infrastructures globally is on the rise.
To learn more, visit uwyo.edu/elc.
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