Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington is offering English courses for speakers of other languages for the first time this fall.
The courses will improve English skills such as reading, writing and speaking. Annie Gray, chair of the English department and former ESOL instructor, said the courses are intended to increase student employability and sense of belonging.
“I’d like to develop a community of learners,” Gray said. “So that students feel supported in the classroom and are anxious to take the next step and to consider their possibilities after this class.”
The number of people without English proficiency in Indiana is growing. According to the U.S. Census, the number of people aged 5 and up in Indiana who speak English less than very well grew to 41 percent in 2021, up from 33 percent in 1990.
At the K-12 level, Indiana’s Department of Education reported 77,000 students as English Learners, or students with limited proficiency in academic English in 2022.
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Gray said Ivy Tech wants to offer ESOL courses after a local business and industry partner asked for help training employees who speak English as a second language.
Gray said courses on Bloomington’s campus will cover reading, speaking, listening, grammar and writing for 8 weeks as a stepping stone to college education. Beginner classes, ESOL 081, will start Aug. 21 and Oct. 23. A higher-level course, ESOL 082, is available Oct. 23 for students who complete the first level or place into it after taking a free placement test.
The courses will be offered once per week in the evening. All classes are taught in English and students will need basic skills, Gray said.
The courses are intended to be flexible, to accommodate for working students or students with families, Gray said.
“This may be a bit more manageable for them than, say, an immersion program would be. They can budget their time a little better,” Gray said.
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Ivy Tech’s Indianapolis and Evansville campuses already offer ESOL courses, and Gray said colleagues at those campuses have been key sources of information for developing Bloomington’s programs. Bloomington’s ESOL instructor, Adjunct Faculty Mimoza Rista-Dema, worked with the Indianapolis campus before this fall.
“Language acquisition is key to creating a sense of belonging,” Gray said. “This particular set of ESOL offers would help students get onto the college campus and imagine their opportunities and maybe help them eventually realize those opportunities.”
People interested in ESOL courses can find the information about beginning and intermediate courses in Ivy Tech’s course catalog or may email Annie Gray at agray@ivytech.edu.
Aubrey is our higher education reporter and a Report For America corps member. Contact her at aubmwrig@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @aubreymwright. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
