Diversity the norm in ESL classes

September 15, 2006

While many people assume that English as a Second Language (ESL) classes at Miami Hamilton are comprised almost entirely of Spanish-speaking students, surprisingly that’s not the case.

Over the past three years, students from 18 countries have taken ESL on the regional campus. “That’s kind of amazing,” said English instructor Dana Katz, who teaches ESL. “There’s a bit of a misconception about who’s in our community.”

“Many are Spanish-speaking students and many are not,” Katz added. “Regardless of their cultural backgrounds and native tongues, they’re here studying English to get ahead in the United States.”

ESL students hail from all over the globe

Since 2003, Katz has taught ESL to current and former students from the Philippines, South Korea, Venezuela, Ghana, Mauritania, Uganda, Russia, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Cameroon, India, Nepal, Kenya, Iran, Mexico, Haiti, Morocco and Peru.

Teaching ESL has turned Katz into a good mime artist.

“At first, they’re nervous. They don’t understand (spoken English), so I act out everything. It helps a lot,” Katz said.

Ability to write in English only prerequisite

Participating students have to write in English to register for the class. That’s the only prerequisite. Katz is in tune with different rhetorical styles and writing patterns from other cultures.

“They have to be able to write in English, but it doesn’t have to be good,” she said. “I’m sensitive to different writing styles, because they write differently in Morocco than they do in India than they do in the Philippines,” she explained.

ESL is a non-credit course.  Day and evening classes are available each semester. For more information, call (513) 785-3141, email www.ham.muohio.edu/learningassistance.