November 3, 2005
English lessons on the job: Program helps non-native speakers
What if you had to work all day in a language not your own? How would you feel if, despite education in your native tongue, you couldn’t fully grasp the nuances of the language around you each work day?
Such is the case for a number of UW employees who are not native speakers of English, from maintenance crews to research fellows. But a classroom program called English in the Workplace is helping to change this, and is making its participants’ professional and personal lives a little bit easier along the way.
English in the Workplace is a voluntary program that is offered at no charge to employees and is designed and administered by the English Language Programs Department. The program offers personal instruction on work time for employees raised speaking languages other than English. Program classes offer instruction in pronunciation, basic literacy skills and even business writing and grammar.
The spark for the program, its organizers say, came from Karen Long, director of financial services and a supervisor of several non-native-speaking employees. Through her own studies, Long became aware of a similar tutoring program at University of California, Berkeley, and became committed to seeing such opportunities provided to UW employees as well.
Long called Alison Stevens, director of program development for the Educational Outreach’s International Outreach Programs, and pitched the idea, which bloomed quickly, finding other supporters along the way.
“A pilot program in 2001 showed a clear need for this type of professional development opportunity, and as different units came on board, the program received sufficient support from those units to provide instruction at no cost” to the employees, Stevens said. Funding came in part through the support of V’Ella Warren, vice president of financial management and treasurer of the UW Board of Regents, and Jeraldine McCray, associate vice president for the Facilities Services Department, she said.
In 2004, the program was awarded $80,000 in operating money from the Provost’s Fund for Innovation and Redesign. The funding keeps the good work going from quarter to quarter.
Funding and organizational histories aside, the work of the program takes place in classrooms like that of Jennifer Haywood, who teaches Pronunciation for Everyday English. Of the nine students in each of her two sections of this class, as many native languages are represented: her students speak Spanish, Urdu, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Tigrinia, Amharic, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese and Japanese.
In a small Denny Hall classroom in her Monday morning section, Haywood moved from student to student, helping them as they study and recording phrases they had brought in to learn. She gave gentle encouragement and advice privately to each as they listened to English phrases on headphones and then recorded sentences on their own. “Make sure you practice out loud,” she told one woman. “Say the words.” She encouraged another not to be shaken by the presence of a visitor in the class. “Nobody else is paying attention, nobody is listening to you. Just talk.”
The students were working on phrases at that point, Haywood said, but later in the quarter, “when we do more talking, you can really see a difference.” The literacy levels vary greatly too, she said. Virtually all of her students can communicate basics in English, but pronunciation can remain a problem, especially in more elaborate phrases. She said in her evening section she teaches several researchers whose education levels are very high — it’s just English they need help with.
Haywood, whose English in the Workplace classes represent about one-third of her overall teaching load, said she enjoys the work. “It’s great … in spite of the fact that it’s a little more work, I love it because the students are so appreciative and so motivated. They are people who really want to improve themselves and improve their language and ability to communicate with people. They really work hard and really appreciate what you do. I get great feedback from them.”
Olivia Szabo, who teaches business writing for the program, has students whose level of English understanding is fairly high. In a recent 5 p.m. section, the class ably discussed personal pronouns and differences between the active and passive voice, and when each is most appropriate. “Some of the students struggle with basic grammar points too, but in general we can talk about much more complex topics than in other classes,” she said. And like Haywood, Szabo said she truly enjoys the classroom experience. “I love it,” she said. “It’s such a different program than the others I have been working with — it’s really joyful. These people want to be in the classroom.”
Tracking surveys show the classes are helping, too. A progress report to the Provost’s Fund for Innovation and Redesign states that listening, speaking and comprehension are all improved among participants in the program. Alison Stevens of Educational Outreach said class surveys show “the vast majority of participants and their supervisors have noticed improvement in several areas,” and perhaps just as important, she added, is that their confidence levels improve. “People feel they can speak up in a meeting.”
V’Ella Warren, a strong early supporter, lauded the program — and the work of Long and Stevens in particular — in a letter recommending the program for a campus Diversity Award. “My own observation is that employees complete the course with greater confidence, improved communication skills and an increased willingness to participate in the decision-making processes in our organization.”
Stevens, clearly proud of the program, said much credit for its good work also goes to “the incredibly hard-working teachers and coordinators who have made it real and dynamic and excellent.” These include Brenda Burnett, Julie Scales, Rozanna Carosella, Nancy Ackles, William Morrill, Kyle Hogan, Donna Schaeffer, Cindy Chang and Dirk Hommer, as well as Haywood and Szabo.
She also praised the work of those in Financial Management, Training and Development, Housing & Food Services and the Diversity Council for their support of the program.
Perhaps the highest praise, however, comes from former participants of the program themselves. Lynn Duong, an accountant in the payroll office, also wrote a letter recommending the program.
“I have learned how to write more effective e-mails, pronounce difficult words and construct an essay, and my grammar has improved. I recently wrote an article for our division Diversity Newsletter. The class has had an impact on my work and I have received many compliments from my boss and co-workers.”
