INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE /JUNE 5, 1990

 

 

College English learners provide kids
with glimpse of other cultures

 

 

 

firms that her group of young
scholars were thrilled to meet a
scholar whose native language
was not their own. “Everybody
was very impressed,” says Pratt.
“My kids learned from it, and we
definitely would like to do it
again.” @

 

 

 

Grade two students at Mountainview School in Coquitlam are having fun
learning origami (Japanese paper folding) from Akiko - a Douglas College

student from Japan.

 

I: the age of television, children
get images of other cultures on
a T.V. screen.

But with a little help from
English as a Second Language
(ESL) students at Douglas College,
some local elementary school stu-
dents are getting human glimpses
of life in far-away lands.

A group of community and in-
ternational students from Douglas
College spent time recently shar-
ing their cultural heritage with
younger students in Coquitlam,
Maple Ridge, Delta, and White
Rock.

Scholars in upper-level ESL
courses at Douglas College come
from countries all over the world,
including Greece, Malaysia, Japan,
Hongkong, Poland, India, Taiwan,
China. Others come from Quebec.
When making presentations to
elementary schools, the students
discuss topics like native dress, his-
tory, music, and family life in their
homelands.

As Language & Cultural Assis-
tant Claudette Laberge notes, both
groups of students benefit from
the experience. “We arranged the
visits because we wanted to pro-
vide links between our students,
the community and native English
speakers,” says Laberge.

“When the ESL students are in
College classrooms, they’re often
inhibited. The elementary school
children allow them to open up
and share themselves. The atten-
tion and affection the children
show them puts them at ease.”

Laberge says the school-age
children derive a greater under-
standing of the variety of cultures
that exist throughout the world.
“A lot of children are studying dif-
ferent cultures in social studies
classes. These visits help them un-
derstand that people from foreign
countries are just like us.”

Sheila Pratt, a grade one
teacher at Blue Mountain Elemen-
tary School in Maple Ridge, con-

ESL students
taking
Psychology

The English as a Second
Language (ESL) program of-
fered a new option this past
semester — a language course
for Psychology 100 students.
Twenty ESL students took
Psychology 100 and the ESL (ad-
junct) course simultaneously.
The adjunct course, now formal-
ly approved as ESL 490, was es-
sentially a support course for
these students, all of whom were
enrolled in Psych 100 as their
first university transfer course.
The group was divided among
Con Rea’s three Psychology 100
sections, and students com-
pleted all Psych 100 coursework
in the normal way.

“The adjunct model is based
on the notion that language in-
struction should be purposeful,
in this case, geared to students’
content-learning needs,” says
Jan Selman, an ESL faculty
member. “Its aim is to help ESL
students make a smooth transi-
tion to regular coursework.”

continued on page 10

 

 

 

 

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