Teachers College: Language as Ambassador

[Francis Hult]

Teachers College Columbia Press Room

 

Language as Ambassador

 

Even for New York City, the group of people lining up outside a first-floor Horace Mann classroom in January was unusually diverse. There was the wife of a Japanese public policy student; two au pairs, from Germany and Brazil; a young woman from Guadalajara; and an Ecuadoran man working as a baker at Fairway Supermarket. 

They had two things in common. One was the hope for better employment: The Japanese woman was looking to improve her chances of getting another banking job when she returned to her country; the au pairs were hoping to use English "at university"; the Mexican woman was looking for better work back home. The other was their desire to learn English: The class they were registering for was the Community English Program, taught by students in TC's program in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). As Luis Yascaribay, the baker at Fairway, put it, "It's very good for us to learn English. For a good future."

 

Full story:

http://www.tc.columbia.edu/news/article.htm?id=7045

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