Choosing an ESL Program that puts your English to use. By Frances Boyd

 

You've decided to study English abroad. Where do you want to go? What will it cost? What about classroom-city connections: does the ESL program teach you how to explore the city or town where it is located –-not just as an ordinary tourist but as an interested resident? Do classroom language lessons help you overcome your reluctance to speak outside of school?

 

Quality ESL programs include exploration of city neighborhoods, institutions, and people directly in their language lessons. Typically, these study units begin and end in the classroom, with focused preparation and follow-up activities. In the middle, there is a fieldwork activity - observing, interviewing, tour-guiding-  that gets you out into the community to discover something about the larger environment as well as something about your language.

 

How can classroom-city connections help you with English?

Whether your goal is mainly academic, professional, or personal, the classroom is just one stop along the way. A quality program will include activities that require you to use English outside of class then return to class to discuss new information and observations.

 

One such activity is a walking tour where you are the tour guide. Students in New York, for example, often give their classmates a walking tour of Greenwich Village. On each stop of the tour, one student presents information about architecture and people while a classmate gives on-the-spot opinions. This spring, students questioned two photographers about the movie they were shooting. "Oh, no, it's not a movie," they answered, "It's Monica's apartment for the last episode of Friends." Back in class, this incident led to a discussion comparing the image of New York in the popular TV sitcom with the students' own image.

 

Another activity is on-the-street surveys. In Los Angeles, many students go to points of interest where they interview visitors and workers about local issues. In class, the material collected by students forms the basis of vocabulary study and discussion.

 

In activities that connect the classroom with the city - like walking tours and surveys-  you not only learn about local history and people, but you also become more confident and independent outside of school. Culturally, you discover that Americans respect curiosity, critical thinking, and personal opinion.

  

How can ESL programs support your learning outside of the classroom?

A quality language program creates opportunities for you to explore local institutions and the people involved with them. Well-crafted assignments support your "strategic competence" – the ability to make yourself understood even without the precise vocabulary and grammar - as well as help you overcome shyness and hesitation to speak.

 

Teachers often use their knowledge of the community and personal contacts to arrange memorable field assignments. In one program, teachers arrange for classes to assist in a kindergarten literacy program. In another, teachers match ESL with elementary school classes for mutual interviews. In one encounter, students were amazed to discover that the American children were all hugely interested in Pokemon. At first worried about being understood, the international students soon realized that the children had no interest in judging their language: they simply wanted to communicate.

 

You will find that teachers in university-based programs are more apt to have the freedom to create custom-tailored units of study. This is because, at colleges and universities, language programs are not bound to a prescribed curriculum for all students and teachers in all places. Also, such programs often support your out-of-classroom learning with other services. For example, the student identification card (ID) commonly offers discounts at local museums, exhibits, and other points of interest.

 

How can you find out about classroom-city connections in an ESL program?

To identify programs that build skills and cultural knowledge with classroom-city connections, look for references in Web sites and brochures to "field work," "experiential education," or "using the city as classroom." Try to determine whether teachers prepare and follow-up these out-of-classroom experiences with language-learning activities.

 

Here are some specific questions that you can ask:

• Do ESL teachers link classroom language study with city resources?
• Could you give me an example?
• What is distinctive about your campus and the city? 
• How are students guided to explore these aspects in the language courses?
• What levels of English classes do these fieldwork assignments?
• Do students get a student ID (identification card) with discounts?
• Which museums, exhibitions, and events are included?

Conclusion

Many programs boast about their cities and their curriculum, but how many bridge the gap with classroom-city activities that boost communication skills and confidence?  Classroom-city connections are an important criterion for judging an ESL program. When carefully integrated into classroom study, these experiences indicate that a program is in touch with its environment (history, cultural life, social issues) as well as with your needs as a student. Since you are going to travel to experience authentic language and culture, you want your language program to systematically encourage independence, ability and willingness to communicate, as well as a deep understanding of cultural variation. These are not only language lessons but life lessons.

 

Frances Boyd is Senior Lecturer in Language at the American Language Program at Columbia University