UA News

The University of Arizona’s Center for English as a Second Language serves as gateway to the world, helping students from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe master the English language and gain the experience of a U.S. college education.

This summer, the center teamed up with the University of Arizona Foundation to bring 15 students from Taipei, Taiwan, to study in its monthlong Summer English Language Immersion Program. The students ranged in age from 15 to 47 and were selected from a pool of interested students at the Kang Ning Junior College of Management and Medical Care in Taiwan.

Scholarships for the summer immersion program are funded by an endowment that was created at the UA Foundation in 1995. The $2,500 scholarship includes tuition, accommodations and access to other university services. The endowment has also led to collaborative research between Kang Ning and the UA College of Nursing, Early Childhood Education (College of Education) and the School of Family and Consumer Sciences (College of Agriculture).

"The program not only helps the students' transition to an English-speaking university, but also exposes them to the diverse cultural experiences offered in the United States," said James H. Moore Jr., president of the UA Foundation.

The Kang Ning students were selected through a competitive process that includes an application, oral exam, letters of reference, a review of grades and personal interviews. Their experience as U.S. college students included more than just classes; the students also experienced on-campus life by living in a UA dormitory.

Catherin Lin, a professor at Kang Ning who worked with the UA Foundation and the Taiwanese college's board to coordinate and serve as guide for the student exchange, said the trip introduces the students to the educational and cultural environment of U.S. universities.

The official language of Taiwan is Mandarin Chinese but, according to Lin, English is a much sought-after skill for industry and business.

Several students were under 18 and were away from family for the first time.

Lin said, “It was the first time in their life these students ever lived in a dorm or traveled abroad or came to the United States. Everything was a new experience; an all-new experience. Living in the dorms, they were very lonely at first because in Taiwan, students tend to live with a big family and sleep with brothers or sisters or parents and live in the same room. Very few people have their own room.”

The students learned how to shop and how to cook their own meals. Lin added, “It was quite an experience and exciting to see them grow up from the time we landed at the airport through the four weeks we were here.”

Learning English at the UA’s English language immersion program benefits the students in many ways, such as preparing them for international studies but also by affording them the advantage of learning in a smaller class setting.

“In Taiwan we have big classes; 40 to 50 students in class; making it more difficult to learn English. (At the UA) there are less than 20 students in each class,” Lin said.

The UA has a tremendous international reputation for providing high quality, low cost English language education, said Al Stover of the Center for English as a Second Language, also known as CESL.

Summer is the busiest time of year. In addition to hosting the Chinese students in the Summer Immersion Program, 29 Fulbright scholars were enrolled in preacademic orientation to get them ready for graduate studies at a number of universities around the country.

"We are very good at preparing students for university not only in terms of English language but also in terms of how to deal with universities once you get in," Stover said.

In addition, the program offers part-time programs, a downtown program, a Nogales, Sonora program, a teacher training program and a teen program.

CESL is one of the country's earliest English language programs and is celebrating its 40^th anniversary, Stover said. “We began offering a year-round program in 1970 when there were not many places where you could go and take full-time intensive English. Now, the program has alumni all over the world in just about every country.”

Those interested in enrolling in CESL may visit http://www.cesl.arizona.edu/ for additional information.