Posted 3:47 p.m. Thursday, July 14, 2011
Kazumi Hara came to UW-La Crosse with two English words: thank you and sorry. The Japanese international student could convey she was polite, but not much more than that.
[caption id="attachment_4346" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Kazumi Hara is an English as a Second Language student. Now that she has polished her English skills, she'll start graduate school classes this fall."]
[/caption]Kazumi Hara came to UW-La Crosse with two English phrases: thank you and sorry. The Japanese international student could convey she was polite, but not much more than that.
“When people said things I could just smile, but I couldn’t answer,” she explains.
Today, after about a year and a half of English classes at UW-L, Hara has found a voice. She orders in restaurants, she talks to UW-L friends, she even presents to groups on campus about topics she has researched — all in English.
“I think I’m growing — little by little,” she modestly notes.
Hara is a student in UW-L’s English as a Second Language Institute. The institute, located on the third floor of Graff Main Hall and soon to be located in the new Centennial Hall academic building, offers an eight-week summer program as well as two 15-week sessions in the spring and fall for UW-L’s degree-seeking international students. The ESL institute aims to prepare these students for regular university courses.
On July 11, ESL students gave research presentations for the campus community as a capstone project for their summer session courses. Students in Carrie Melin’s English class also practiced English through organizing the day’s activities.
“We wanted to have a larger audience and give students a chance to use English,” she says.
The institute’s classes are meant not only to help students learn English, but prepare them for the academic rigor they’ll encounter at UW-L. So far Hara has found UW-L teachers are more concerned about plagiarism than they were in Japan and classes entail a lot of homework. But, it’s worth it, she says, because she feels more prepared to begin her master of public health in community health education this fall.
“This is helping me get ready to do academic courses,” she explains. “I was so worried about how to write an academic research paper. Now I know how to cite, quote something and how to get information.”
Hara presented research comparing breast cancer screening in the United States to screening in Japan. She noted as breast cancer rates have declined in the United States, they’ve been on the rise in Japan. She proposed Japan follow the example of the U.S. in promoting breast cancer screening.
Other students presented on topics such as the legal drinking age, cosmetic surgery, social networking and gay marriage rights.
“I hope that the skills that they’ve gained during this project will help them while studying in their degree programs,” says Michelle Tyvoll, director of the ESL Institute.
[/caption]Kazumi Hara came to UW-La Crosse with two English phrases: thank you and sorry. The Japanese international student could convey she was polite, but not much more than that.
“When people said things I could just smile, but I couldn’t answer,” she explains.
Today, after about a year and a half of English classes at UW-L, Hara has found a voice. She orders in restaurants, she talks to UW-L friends, she even presents to groups on campus about topics she has researched — all in English.
“I think I’m growing — little by little,” she modestly notes.
Hara is a student in UW-L’s English as a Second Language Institute. The institute, located on the third floor of Graff Main Hall and soon to be located in the new Centennial Hall academic building, offers an eight-week summer program as well as two 15-week sessions in the spring and fall for UW-L’s degree-seeking international students. The ESL institute aims to prepare these students for regular university courses.
On July 11, ESL students gave research presentations for the campus community as a capstone project for their summer session courses. Students in Carrie Melin’s English class also practiced English through organizing the day’s activities.
“We wanted to have a larger audience and give students a chance to use English,” she says.
The institute’s classes are meant not only to help students learn English, but prepare them for the academic rigor they’ll encounter at UW-L. So far Hara has found UW-L teachers are more concerned about plagiarism than they were in Japan and classes entail a lot of homework. But, it’s worth it, she says, because she feels more prepared to begin her master of public health in community health education this fall.
“This is helping me get ready to do academic courses,” she explains. “I was so worried about how to write an academic research paper. Now I know how to cite, quote something and how to get information.”
Hara presented research comparing breast cancer screening in the United States to screening in Japan. She noted as breast cancer rates have declined in the United States, they’ve been on the rise in Japan. She proposed Japan follow the example of the U.S. in promoting breast cancer screening.
Other students presented on topics such as the legal drinking age, cosmetic surgery, social networking and gay marriage rights.
“I hope that the skills that they’ve gained during this project will help them while studying in their degree programs,” says Michelle Tyvoll, director of the ESL Institute.