ESL Students

FC pushing to provide better services for ESL students

By Ira Gonzalez
Staff Writer

Georgia Highlands College is making an effort to provide services for ESL students.

ESL means English as a Second Language, and the term applies to all Floyd College students who learn English after they had been taught a first language.

This may mean people who are born in the United States, but who have parents who do not speak English at home. It can also mean students who come from other countries. FC is planning to find ways to identify ESL student more easily.

This semester Floyd created a class to help ESL students who struggle with English writing and communication problems that come from cultural differences. Unfortunately, the number of students who signed up for that class was too low, and the class was cancelled.

To identify students who might be interested in a future ESL class or need other support services, the college is designing a voluntary form where ESL students would give information about where they come from or what language besides English they speak. The college is also looking for people who have the knowledge to help ESL students with tutorials and orientation.

Dr. Virginia Carson, vice president for academic affairs, is aware of the ESL students' needs. "Georgia Highlands College is supportive of reading and writing classes that will better meet the needs of college students' English learning," she said. "Georgia Highlands College has no programs for ESL yet, but there will be."

Although FC is still trying to initiate ESL student programs, the college is very interested in increasing the ESL student population and in providing more support.

People like Dr. Tim Floyd, chair of the division of academic support; Carolyn Hamrick, director of FC programs at the North Metro campus; Amelia Billingsley, professor of developmental studies at the Cartersville campus, and A.J. Knight, assistant librarian at North Metro are already trying to give advice and support to students who have problems with the English language.

Even though FC does not have a record of how many ESL students are attending classes, there are over 50 in English classes this semester. The group includes Native American people who were raised with different dialects as well as people who have families from China, Africa, South America, Mexico, Germany, Poland and elsewhere. Some of these people are bilingual or even trilingual.