IN PLAIN ENGLISH: PROGRAM OFFERS FREE
LANGUAGE LESSONS TO UH STAFF
ESL Classes Educating Campus Workers with Little or No English Skills
HOUSTON, June 20, 2005—At the end of the workday, 50 University
of Houston employees leave their posts to head to the classroom.
They are the first class of the school’s English-as-a-Second-Language
(ESL) program for staff.
“I want to improve my English,” Blanca Rivera, a custodian
at the Cullen College of Engineering said through the help of a
translator. “I want to communicate better with students, staff
and my family.”
The ESL program for staff was launched this year as a way to invest
in and retain employees. It offers beginning, intermediate and high
intermediate classes through UH’s Continuing Education. Students
attend a two-hour class twice a week. For free. The university is
financing the program with funds left over from the Staff Tuition
Scholarship Program, which provides funds that staff may apply for
to attend university classes.
“We realized that not all staff members are ready academically
to pursue a college education,” Monica Baisden training manager
in the Department of Human Resources said. She estimates that there
are approximately 250 staff members who speak little, if any, English.
Jerald Strickland, interim senior vice president for academic affairs
and provost, says the program benefits both staff and the university.
“A great university needs a great staff,” Strickland
said. “If the university can help employees to develop professionally
and retain them, then UH will benefit tremendously.”
For the last several years, the ESL training program has been offered
to clients in the energy and healthcare industries all around Houston.
Now, it’s finding students right under its own nose, so to
speak.
UH staff member Rivera considers the class an opportunity to communicate
better with her husband, Jorge, also a UH staff member, and their
two adult children, both of whom are bilingual. She says she was
hesitant at first, but once she met her instructor and saw that
many of her classmates were fellow staff members, she felt more
comfortable. And though learning a new language is difficult, she
is up for the challenge.
“My family is so happy that I’m taking these classes,”
Rivera said. “I’m so thankful to the university. It’s
a wonderful opportunity.”
For more information about UH Continuing Education, please visit
www.uh.edu/continuingeducation/
home/home.html
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research
and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers
and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate,
civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university
in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and
service with more than 35,000 students.
For more information about UH visit the universitys Newsroom at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.
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