Where does yours SO study ESL?

[bora bora 1]

I was just curious where your SO studies ESL, how often, what is the focus of the class, are the other students from his/her same country?

I teach part time at Berlitz Language Center (known all over the world) and their methodology is to teach mostly conversation - grammar the students will pick up by repetition.

My husband studies there because he gets a big discount (otherwise his classes would be expen$ive). I may be biased, but I think it's a good course and the students really learn. He studies twice a week for 2 hours each. Most of the students are Brazilian.

[Mononoke28 135]

My husband started going to the Colorado School of English at night and not only was it expensive $100/month for 2 classes each week (1½ hr each) but it was horrible. The teachers only taught there part time as a hobby it seemed and he learned zero. He hated it.

So then I started calling all these other places and found the Emily Griffith Opportunity School which is a technical college here in Denver and 2 months of classes M-F for 2 hours a day cost us $200. He's learned sooooooo much and I can't even begin to tell you the difference between this school and the other one. He's taking 1 hour of grammar and 1 hour of conversational English and is doing great. He also has the choice of taking more classes during the day but he wants to work part time in the mornings and study in the afternoon. They told him he could move to level 3 already but he wants to finish level 2 this quarter.

They also have students from all over, Jordan, Iran, Africa, Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia, Vietnam, Japan, all over. It's a very, very good school and very affordable.

Diana

Edited April 11, 2008 by Mononoke28

[BabyBlueSusie 1]

my fiance starts his classes on monday at the brooklyn public library. they have two sessions each year (fall & spring) of FREE part time classes. he will be in the most beginning class that they offer, because he hardly knows any english. he will have classes monday 6-8 pm and saturday 11 am-3 pm. from what i have read about the classes, they focus on real life scenarios and conversational english. we will see how it goes. the classes are extremely diverse (i saw the wide range of students at registration)...there were people there from russia, belarus, china, pakistan, el salvador, guatemala, ukraine, african countries (i didnt ask exactly where they were from) among others.

[payxibka 10,047]

ESL classes sponsored by our school community education department meet 3 times a week for two hours each time. These classes are FREE... The only bad part is my wife I think speaks more Russian there than English because she said it has been too easy and because of this, she and another fellow Russian native speaker sit in the back of the classroom and chit chat.

[Minya's wife 25]

The community college system here offers ESL 1-3 classes throughout the year, FREE of charge. My husband's been attending since he's arrived. He's completed ESL 1 and is now working his way through ESL2. Classes are twice a week, but since they offer two different classes (different teachers) you do have the option of attending all 4 classes, which is what my husband is doing - M-F 8-12. They have students from 'round the world and I think its helped my husband a lot. He wants to continue to attend through level 3 and then we'll see if he needs anything further.

-P

[Minya's wife 25]

ESL classes sponsored by our school community education department meet 3 times a week for two hours each time. These classes are FREE... The only bad part is my wife I think speaks more Russian there than English because she said it has been too easy and because of this, she and another fellow Russian native speaker sit in the back of the classroom and chit chat.

My husband said that was the case w/ the Spanish speaking students...and one of the teachers, who was a native spanish speaker herself. He said when these students didn't understand the teacher wold explain to them in Spanish, which of course defeated the purpose of the class....but his other teacher was quite good so I guess it balanced out.

-P

[GabachaYucateca 0]

Homeboy studies for free in classes funded by the state. Before he started working nights, he was also studying in another program 2o hours a week, also free.

As an ESL teacher myself, I'm not hugely thrilled by what he's doing...a lot of reading an writing and not learning life skills (how to talk to a bank teller, ask for directions, etc) as I taught in my classes. I did tell the director of the programs my feelings about what they're doing and what I'd like to see because I work with her in other capacities. I also refer my clients to their ESL and GED classes despite my not being thrilled with the quality of the classes. The free programs are usually taught by retired public school teachers and they tend to have an old school mentality.

His class is about 90% Cape Verdean with a couple of Latinos (all from different countries) thrown in, which reflects the make up of our neighborhood.

[bora bora 1]

Berlitz is pricey (without the discount), but it's worth it since the teachers at the school are highly qualified and the it's mostly conversation. However, because there is so much "talking", there is little to none writing - so I have to work on that with my husband at home.

There are free ESL classes offered in our area - provided by the public library and the school board that I work for. However, because they're free we'd had problems with poorly trained teachers, English that doesn't seem to advance much, no books, etc.

For us it's been worth to pay for class.

[pnrmbr975 1]

As soon as my wife arrived, I told her to try out ESL classes in an adult school in our area, not so much for grammar lessons but for conversational English and meeting immigrants. Although I would rate my wife's English as very good both in writing and speaking, I noticed she wasn't confident talking to Americans or English speakers here.

She was given diagnostic tests to see how she would fair with the other students and to test her English communication skills. The teacher doubted if she had ESL classes before because they thought she was way too advanced, and my wife got perfect scores in all the tests. They were interested with my wife and had to give her a different curriculum, which was nice. And we only had to pay $40 for registration, and is refundable if the student decides to end the lessons. My wife told me she had to end the classes because she felt it's not helping her anymore (building self-esteem and her conversational English). So she did. I am not sure if Filipinos really need the ESL as much as any other immigrant but it did help her build confidence to speak her mind.

[bora bora 1]

As soon as my wife arrived, I told her to try out ESL classes in an adult school in our area, not so much for grammar lessons but for conversational English and meeting immigrants. Although I would rate my wife's English as very good both in writing and speaking, I noticed she wasn't confident talking to Americans or English speakers here.

She was given diagnostic tests to see how she would fair with the other students and to test her English communication skills. The teacher doubted if she had ESL classes before because they thought she was way too advanced, and my wife got perfect scores in all the tests. They were interested with my wife and had to give her a different curriculum, which was nice. And we only had to pay $40 for registration, and is refundable if the student decides to end the lessons. My wife told me she had to end the classes because she felt it's not helping her anymore (building self-esteem and her conversational English). So she did. I am not sure if Filipinos really need the ESL as much as any other immigrant but it did help her build confidence to speak her mind.

True.

And as you said, it's a good way for our SOs to meet others and learn about our culture from someone besides ourselves. I've read in the Latin American/Caribbean forum that a lot of Jamaicans attend ESL classes.

[SWA2 1]

I was just curious where your SO studies ESL, how often, what is the focus of the class, are the other students from his/her same country?

I teach part time at Berlitz Language Center (known all over the world) and their methodology is to teach mostly conversation - grammar the students will pick up by repetition.

My husband studies there because he gets a big discount (otherwise his classes would be expen$ive). I may be biased, but I think it's a good course and the students really learn. He studies twice a week for 2 hours each. Most of the students are Brazilian.

My wife attends classes at our local school district's Adult Based Education Center about a mile from our house. The ESL classes are free and from 9:00 to 11:30 A.M. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. There are six different levels of classes depending on your knowledge of English. A school bus takes her to and from class. There are also computer based language classes in the afternoon. We live close enough that my wife can attend these classes when the weather is nice as she can walk. There are also free classes and Friday and Saturday, but not language based. They are usually more civics related and teach the students about our government and neighborhood. My wife particularly enjoys the Saturday classes. (She's attending as I write this). They last from 9:00 A.M. until 2:30 P.M. Everyone brings something to eat from their native country for a pot luck dinner. They have toured local libraries, hospitals, government centers, the State Capitol, Museum's, Fire and Police departments, and parks. The last few weeks they have been learning about how to find a job. My wife has made many friends, not only from her own country, but Poland, Morocco, Italy, Vietnam, Philippines, Kazakhstan, Somalia, Mexico, Iran, Cambodia, Romania, and Guatemala. They really have a great time together.

Edited April 12, 2008 by SWA2

[sereia 0]

my husband did attend ESL at our local community college. his class had a wide range of people from different countries. unfortunately none were native arabic or french speakers like him.