สวัสดี : “S̄wạs̄dī” means “hello” in Thailand!

Meet our English student Suchanat Buckman, known by many as “Kate”.  She is from Roi Et, Thailand and has been living in Wisconsin for a little over 2 years.  In Thailand, Kate worked in jewelry design and designed both her and her husband’s wedding bands.  She is a very talented seamstress as well.  During the pandemic, she has been designing, creating, and selling beautiful fabric masks.  What an entrepreneur!  

Kate recently started a job working at Goodwill Industries pricing clothing.  Her coworkers and managers love her friendly and positive attitude.  In April, she was awarded with Employee of The Month.  Way to go Kate!

Kate  is an ELL student here at Moraine Park.  She has been taking classes here since May of 2019.  Kate also participated in computer classes in our Student Success Center (SSC) with Shannon Huberty.  Using the skills and language learned from these classes, we were able to help Kate apply and interview for her job.  

If you are interested in classes, please reach out to Tony Rodriguez at 920-887-4496 or 262-306-5302 arodriquez@morainepark.edu (West Bend and Beaver Dam) or Becky Melo 920-924-6339 rmeloenriquez@morainepark.edu (Fond du Lac).

Moraine Park Technical College, in partnership with the Specialty Cheese Co., worked to develop a training to benefit employees. Harley Lemkuil, Training Specialist at Specialty Cheese identified a need for English Language Learning (ELL) classes and began seeking out options in 2019. 

“At Specialty Cheese, we treat language skills like any other skill that an employee may possess,” Lemkuil said. “We know that language can be a barrier to personal growth- and lack of personal growth affects company growth. We want our employees to succeed and helping them to build English speaking skills is one way to do that.” 

Lemkuil worked directly with supervisors to identify employees whose English skills were at a point where they could communicate at work but in a limited fashion. Employees could participate if they wished, but the training was not mandated. Once participants were identified, they assessed everyone by asking a series of questions and ensuring that participants were comfortable through the process. Lemkuil then took the data he gathered from employees and worked with Moraine Park’s Economic and Workforce Development (EWD) department to develop an ELL training plan.  

“Moraine Park helped provide good insight into the different learning styles and were very flexible with the training during the Pandemic,” Lemkuil said. “We initially planned for the training to be in-person, but the COVID-19 pandemic halted that possibility. Moraine Park was able to seamlessly transition the learning material to be done over zoom meetings.” 

As with many industries, the transition to an online platform offered some valuable learning opportunities for the organization as well.  

“The online format made it more difficult than usual to keep the employees engaged with grammar material,” he said. “Jennifer Elliot, the Moraine Park ELL instructor, made some innovative changes such as finding a printed publication that included the employees, to heighten engagement. Through that, we learned that the more personal the material, the more likely the students are to engage and practice their grammar skills.” 

The goal of providing this round of training was to help employees who wanted to grow their language skills. For this reason, Lemkuil relied on anecdotal feedback from the employee participants to access effectiveness, rather than testing each participant. However, he is hoping that future ELL programming will include a more subjective analysis of the program.  

Lemkuil is looking at program growth the same way he approached the start of this training- slow, thoughtful, and taking into consideration the needs of employees.  

“It’s very important to not only have the commitment of your employees but to also create an environment where the employees are free to practice their skills,” Lemkuil said. “This is a crucial step in getting the learning process. If an employee uses new grammar topics and is made to feel embarrassed by native English speakers, that employee isn’t going to want to practice their skills ever again.” 

By creating an atmosphere that fosters growth and inclusivity, Lemkuil is opening the doors of possibility for his employees.  

“In the coming years, Specialty Cheese would like to provide this opportunity to all employees who are interested in learning English,” he said. “The goal is to provide a more convenient class location which helps improve attendance to the program. It’s an ambitious goal, but we are confident that this continued training will be a benefit all around.” 

For more information, visit morainepark.edu/training. 

MPTC Electricity Instructor, Gus Boyle-Gustavus, was looking to push her electricity students to think and communicate creatively on the construction site, specifically when working with diverse customers and/or colleagues. Instead of simply reading or discussing this topic in the classroom, she wanted the students to be active in utilizing their intercultural communication skills.

Collaboration took place between Gus and ELL Program Specialist, Tony Rodriguez, to plan an activity where our MPTC ELL students would only utilize their native language to provide a set of directions to the electricity students. Electricity students needed to problem-solve, communicate creatively, and work with their ELL student partner, to understand the directions provided to them in another language in order to complete their assigned task.

There were a mix of emotions as electricity students worked through the language barrier to complete their task. Many enjoyed the experience and cited that they felt frustrated at times that they could not understand. Several students mentioned this experience inspired them to want to take a Spanish course at some point in the future to help them on the construction site. Many students stated that this experience helped them truly understand the barriers that non-native English speakers face, and that they wanted to continue to develop their knowledge and communication skills in the future.

“Tying in an emotional impact to this type of activity will make it an experience we can learn a great deal from and not forget,” commented one electricity student.

For more information, visit morainepark.edu.

This past weekend in West Bend, Moraine Park participated in Fiesta Latina hosted by Casa Guadalupe Education Center.  Fiesta Latina is an event to experience the Hispanic culture through music, food, and activities.  I was able to represent Diversity Relations at Fiesta Latina and enjoyed conversing with many community members, as well as other vendors offering information about community services.  I also had the opportunity to meet and talk with US Senator Tammy Baldwin.

There were many fun kids’ activities such as face painting, games, balloon animals, piñatas, and our own Cosmetology students doing mini manicures.  Many other great activities as well such Latin Zumba, salsa line dancing, and jalapeño eating contest.  Maximus even made an appearance! Special shout out to the Cosmetology students, they did a wonderful job!

I along with everyone else were able to taste authentic Hispanic food, which by the way was delicious!  From tacos and tamales to horchata and jarritos, everything that I was able to taste was phenomenal.  Casa Tequila and the Norbert cooked the delicious food. 

We were also able to listen to mariachi music, see a live performance from Ballet Folklórico Sones Mexicanos, as well as listen to live music from Grupo Masivo Show band and Gigantes de la Música band.

Experiencing these cultural events is essential to bridging our communities and preparing for a diverse and globally connected world.

There are 7.442 billion people in this world, 6,500 languages, and 4,200 different religions. Our world is full of diversity, yet most will experience very little of it in their lifetime.

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Do you enjoy meeting new people? Do you like practicing intercultural communication skills? Do you wish to expand your knowledge about different viewpoints on family, food, education, success, gender roles, and even religion in a safe, respectful environment?

You may be thinking, “WOW, that sounds interesting!” Our students at Moraine Park Technical College are doing just that!

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Eat a grape and make a wish! Have a competition of nativities. Wear yellow pants to ensure good finances in the coming year! These are just a few of the cultural traditions Moraine Park’s English Language students shared during our end of the semester holiday-themed classes. We kicked off the holiday conversation with a trip to Regner Park’s “Enchantment in the Park” lights display where the students learned about the United States’ holiday traditions including Christmas lights, Santa Claus, carolers and hot cocoa.
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This week, students in our English Language Learner (ELL) class enjoyed coupling language learning with team-building skills through “The Marshmallow Challenge.”  Modified from an activity discussed in Mark Wujec’s TED talk, the students were tasked with working together in teams to build the tallest structure in a limited amount of time, from a limited set of materials.

They did a wonderful job creating some very unique free-standing structures!
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