Many students have difficulty learning a foreign language in college, but imagine going to a university where all the classes are taught in a foreign language.
Here at the University, there are several international students who come to the United States to get an undergraduate or graduate degree but speak little to no English. This is where the Bowling Green Language Institute steps in to help, with the English as a Second Language Program (ESL).
"BGLI is not affiliated with the University," said John Buckingham, a 2009 graduate and ESL instructor, "but it has contracts with students to teach them English and send them to the University. They are students of BGLI because their language skills are not good enough to go to the University so we teach them English."
The program has been in place at the University since the 1980s.
"We're here to serve the growing international student population," said Kate Spike, director of ESL at the University. "More and more [international] students were being recruited to Bowling Green and they needed help with academic skills to be successful."
International students are evaluated when they first arrive and students who need additional support are placed in ESL classes. The classes are divided into levels 0 to 900 with 900 as "efficient in English." International students must complete the 900 level course before they can be enrolled in any university.
"The United States is able to provide a good, quality education," said Majed Aldalbahi, who first heard about the program from a friend. Aldalbahi is from Saudi Arabia and is just starting his final course with BGLI. He can begin taking classes with the University towards a masters degree in economics in the summer.
"It's global," Aldalbahi said. "English is like the mother-tongue of the world. You use English for anything in your life. You can get more education in English because most scientists speak in English and all the research and books are written in English."
The international students are not the only ones who are not on the same language level. Buckingham graduated with a degree in Spanish, but most of his students are Saudi-Arabian and he speaks no Arabic.
"The program is immersion based," Spike said. "All students, whether they are Saudi-Arabian, Chinese, Japanese or Dutch, are in the same classroom. They are all here working on degrees so they already have proficient skills."
Buckingham also says knowing other languages does not make a difference when teaching because being completely immersed in English helps students learn faster.
"When I first started I thought it was going to be easy because I already know English," Buckingham said, "but it's difficult to communicate, especially in the lower levels. You can try to reword stuff or do it a different way. You can always get your meaning across."
Spike said each of the instructors speaks a second language and many have their master's degrees in teaching English as a second language.
The curriculum is also entirely in English and is written by faculty at the University.
"The curriculum is an ongoing project," said Spike. "The faculty has been fairly constant over the years so they can collaborate with the English Department, the departments that the international students are in and the graduate students to create exercises and field activities for students."
Each session of classes lasts for a month, followed by a four-day break.
"The non-stop learning helps improve skills very quickly," said Aldalbahi. "It's better for teachers to not know Arabic for beginners so they won't speak Arabic at all."
Aldalbahi also described the progression of levels. Students begin learning about grammar, writing, speaking and taking lecture notes. Once students reach the 800 level, they begin learning about culture, business and slang. One of the requirements to pass the program is to write a research paper.
Aldalbahi also said the small class sizes, usually seven to ten students, help in learning quickly.
"The environment is the main factor," he said. "If you don't have a good environment, good teachers, good materials, or if you are not interested, you won't learn very fast. Smaller classes make it easier to cover everything, and I take the prize for asking the most questions."
Spike said there are about 800 to 900 international students at the University and during the last calendar year, there were about 450 students in the program, which includes undergraduate and graduate students.
Here at the University, there are several international students who come to the United States to get an undergraduate or graduate degree but speak little to no English. This is where the Bowling Green Language Institute steps in to help, with the English as a Second Language Program (ESL).
"BGLI is not affiliated with the University," said John Buckingham, a 2009 graduate and ESL instructor, "but it has contracts with students to teach them English and send them to the University. They are students of BGLI because their language skills are not good enough to go to the University so we teach them English."
The program has been in place at the University since the 1980s.
"We're here to serve the growing international student population," said Kate Spike, director of ESL at the University. "More and more [international] students were being recruited to Bowling Green and they needed help with academic skills to be successful."
International students are evaluated when they first arrive and students who need additional support are placed in ESL classes. The classes are divided into levels 0 to 900 with 900 as "efficient in English." International students must complete the 900 level course before they can be enrolled in any university.
"The United States is able to provide a good, quality education," said Majed Aldalbahi, who first heard about the program from a friend. Aldalbahi is from Saudi Arabia and is just starting his final course with BGLI. He can begin taking classes with the University towards a masters degree in economics in the summer.
"It's global," Aldalbahi said. "English is like the mother-tongue of the world. You use English for anything in your life. You can get more education in English because most scientists speak in English and all the research and books are written in English."
The international students are not the only ones who are not on the same language level. Buckingham graduated with a degree in Spanish, but most of his students are Saudi-Arabian and he speaks no Arabic.
"The program is immersion based," Spike said. "All students, whether they are Saudi-Arabian, Chinese, Japanese or Dutch, are in the same classroom. They are all here working on degrees so they already have proficient skills."
Buckingham also says knowing other languages does not make a difference when teaching because being completely immersed in English helps students learn faster.
"When I first started I thought it was going to be easy because I already know English," Buckingham said, "but it's difficult to communicate, especially in the lower levels. You can try to reword stuff or do it a different way. You can always get your meaning across."
Spike said each of the instructors speaks a second language and many have their master's degrees in teaching English as a second language.
The curriculum is also entirely in English and is written by faculty at the University.
"The curriculum is an ongoing project," said Spike. "The faculty has been fairly constant over the years so they can collaborate with the English Department, the departments that the international students are in and the graduate students to create exercises and field activities for students."
Each session of classes lasts for a month, followed by a four-day break.
"The non-stop learning helps improve skills very quickly," said Aldalbahi. "It's better for teachers to not know Arabic for beginners so they won't speak Arabic at all."
Aldalbahi also described the progression of levels. Students begin learning about grammar, writing, speaking and taking lecture notes. Once students reach the 800 level, they begin learning about culture, business and slang. One of the requirements to pass the program is to write a research paper.
Aldalbahi also said the small class sizes, usually seven to ten students, help in learning quickly.
"The environment is the main factor," he said. "If you don't have a good environment, good teachers, good materials, or if you are not interested, you won't learn very fast. Smaller classes make it easier to cover everything, and I take the prize for asking the most questions."
Spike said there are about 800 to 900 international students at the University and during the last calendar year, there were about 450 students in the program, which includes undergraduate and graduate students.
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