English Language Center offering free classes for sixth consecutive year
Community members attend a free English class taught by Lee student Stephanie Edwards, center, in the Walker Memorial building.
Photo by Dr. Christopher Blake
For the sixth year in a row, Lee’s English Language Center is offering free English classes to the Cleveland community.
The classes are led by student instructors who are professionally trained in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and under the direction of Dr. Christopher Blake, an associate professor of TESOL and linguistics.
The students help community members learn to speak English in five levels of classes ranging from beginner to advanced. Small class sizes facilitate individualized experiences for students, allowing instructors to provide personalized instruction and guidance, according to a media release.
Blake has directed the program since its inception and said watching the program and its students grow has been the most rewarding part of the job.
“I came here in 2011, and every year we’ve added and added,” Blake said. “We’ve grown from zero or one level to five levels of English from true beginner, no English, all the way up to advanced.”
The program reached its highest attendance ever during the fall semester of 2016, with over 100 students from 17 different countries. Some students who enrolled last semester with no English speaking ability were able to have simple conversations by the end of the semester, according to Blake.
Senior TESOL and theology student Dalton McBeath said this is his first semester teaching in the English Language Center and that he has seen firsthand how the program has changed lives.
"We have this lady named Svetlana from Russia, and she was a lawyer there. She came here when the program started and couldn't speak any English,” McBeath said. “Now she's progressed into my advanced class and uses her legal background to engage with the English language."
Blake said that the English Language Center has become a home to non-English speakers and to the student-instructors who teach the courses.
“I really feel humbled that I have been given an opportunity like this, to be the person who helps students connect with their calling and who helps adults in the community find their home with language,” Blake said. “To [help them] find a place that is safe where they can learn language is absolutely amazing to me.”
Joshua Barrett, a senior TESOL and theology student, believes the classes will help give confidence to the students they serve.
“The goal is always for our students to leave feeling valuable, honored and capable,” Barrett said. “By coming alongside this vision, I have learned the importance of remembering our shared humanity, especially with those who are ‘alien’ and ‘foreign’ to us.”
The classes are held in the Walker Memorial Building on Thursday nights from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Free childcare is offered for any children ages 6-12 who attend with their parents.
For more information or to register for the classes, contact Blake at cblake@leeuniversity.edu or call (423) 614-8223.
