The Ell classes at the Beaver Dam Campus are up and running in person this semester. It is so nice to have the students back on campus! The evening class is very popular and there currently are 13 students attending on a regular basis. We have a very diverse population this semester. We have students ranging in ages from 18 to 74. The students all have Spanish as their first language, but represent many countries and cultures. We have students from Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Guatemala. It is quite interesting to talk about dialect differences, beautiful locations and specialty food from each country.

The majority of the students work all day and come to class at night. They are exhausted, but really motivated to learn English in order to get promotions at work and make life easier here in the United States The students work at a variety of different business such as local farms, a foundry and cheese factories. The teacher, Jennifer Lang, tries to connect the curriculum to their work and daily lives as much as possible in order to keep the classes relevant, instantly applicable, and engaging.

What makes the classes successful is that it is a balanced mix of fun and hard work. The students build an instant community and there is a strong sense of teamwork and comradery. Jennifer gives strong encouragement to the students and reminds them that they are all on a different path and to not make comparisons. She shares many of her embarrassing language learning stories to help put the students at ease and to laugh at their own mistakes. She likes to share the story of how she tried to order two pounds of soap instead of ham. Soap is jabón and ham is jamón-easily confused. As for the two pounds, well, she needs a little help with the metric system.

If you are ever on the Beaver Dam Campus on Tuesday or Thursday nights, stop by and say !Hola! If you are interested in registering for classes, please reach out to Tony Rodriguez at 920-887-4496 or 262-306-5302 arodriquez@morainepark.edu (Beaver Dam and West Bend) or Becky Melo 920-924-6339 rmeloenriquez@morainepark.edu (Fond du Lac).