FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saint Mary's College Launches Programs to Lift Language Barriers
Media contact:
Gwen O’Brien
Director of Media Relations
Saint Mary's College
(574) 284-4579
May 5, 2011 (Notre Dame, Ind.)—What’s keeping you from your dreams? For some, it’s a language barrier. The Saint Mary's College Center for Women’s Intercultural Leadership (CWIL) is launching three new efforts to lift language barriers—whether it’s learning English to succeed in college or business, or learning how to teach the language overseas in response to the global call for English language teaching.
“In the spirit of the College’s sponsors, the Sisters of the Holy Cross, CWIL promotes human transformation and systemic change, from the local to the global context, by providing challenging, justice-based educational opportunities. How better to effect change than to lift the language barriers that separate different peoples?” said Elaine Meyer-Lee, director of CWIL. “With these three programs, Saint Mary's College hopes to make a difference in the lives of local residents as well as people in other countries.”
English Language School (ELS)
The ELS program, which begins in August, will prepare female international students for higher education in the United States. Establishing the school is part of the Saint Mary's College initiative to internationalize the campus, which includes attracting more international students to the college.
Students in the program have the opportunity to live in campus residence halls with Saint Mary’s College women and be fully immersed in the American culture while practicing language skills. The program offers small classes, which cater to the needs of students from the beginner to the advanced level of English proficiency. Non-credit courses will be offered in English reading, writing, vocabulary, speaking and listening. Qualified students will be given an opportunity to apply for conditional admission to Saint Mary’s College degree programs. Conditional admission will provide ELS students with an opportunity to improve language skills and easily progress toward pursuing their degree.
The ELS program will be offered year-round in 14-week sessions. A four-course session (vocabulary and reading; writing and grammar; listening and speaking; and intensive tutoring) costs $4,000. Additional fees, including housing, are $1,767. Immigration advising and cultural programming will also be provided to students in this program.
English as a New Language (ENL) for Professionals
The ENL for Professionals class is geared toward adults and professionals from the South Bend-area who have basic, intermediate or advanced level English skills. The small group course, led by an instructor in the College’s Department of Modern Languages, is designed to help participants improve their English communication capability to be successful in a workplace setting. Classes are personalized to address participants’ everyday English language needs based on their job-specific language and vocabulary. The instructor, who has many years of ENL teaching experience, helps participants improve their writing, oral communication, English vocabulary and presentation skills. Saint Mary’s College students play an important role in the ENL for Professionals class. They assist the instructor as individual tutors. They also provide the opportunity for class participants to practice their English skills with a native speaker.
The 15-week session meets two evenings a week. Each session costs $500 and is limited to 10 participants. For the summer, the session has been shortened to 10 weeks for $400. The College's first ENL course started in January. There are four participants enrolled in the current session, including a woman from Nicaragua who practiced law there and is seeking a professional job here. The class is open to both men and women, from any language background.
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Certification
The Saint Mary’s College Certificate in TESOL, offered for the first time from May 23-July 29, prepares individuals to teach English to non-native speakers in foreign countries. TESOL offers future teachers of English an opportunity to develop their knowledge of theories and methods of language teaching, as well as practical skills relevant to teaching English language. The TESOL Certificate will prepare students for possible employment opportunities as private tutors or instructors at specialized English language schools, primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, and businesses seeking to train their staff in English.
The TESOL Certification Program at Saint Mary’s is a 10-week program offered during the summer. It consists of four 3-credit courses offered in sequence with an additional requirement of an internship. The courses are offered sequentially as four two-week courses from the departments of Modern Languages and English. The program’s courses are Introduction to Linguistics, English and the World, New Language Acquisition, Teaching English as a New Language and the internship. The complete certificate program costs $3,500, or students may take individual courses for $1,155 each. The program is open to men and women, but housing is only available to female students. Housing is offered for $425 per course, or $1,750 for the 10-week program.
For more information on these programs, please contact the Saint Mary’s College Center for Women’s Intercultural Leadership at (574) 284-4051, cwil@saintmarys.edu, or www.saintmarys.edu/cwil.
About Saint Mary’s College: Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind., is a four-year, Catholic, women’s institution offering five bachelor’s degrees and more than 30 major areas of study. Saint Mary’s College has six nationally accredited academic programs: social work, art, music, teacher education, chemistry and nursing. Saint Mary’s College ranks among the top 100 “Best National Liberal Arts Colleges” in the U.S. News & World Report 2011 College Guide. Founded in 1844, Saint Mary’s is a pioneer in the education of women, and is sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.