ELS Photo Essay

Dominican's English Language School Students: in Pictures








1 This sign is on the door to the main ELS office, but all around the English Language School, there are signs that say, "SPEAK ONLY ENGLISH!" When students are socializing in their native languages, they will consistently be reminded by both instructors and their peers to constantly practice English, rather than remain in their comfort zone.


2 Lee Fair, Head Training Supervisor of the English Language School department at Dominican University, chats with a colleague in the ELS office on a Tuesday afternoon. Dominican has the largest "and the best [ELS training] in the world," Fair says. "I have a busy schedule and a family to take care of here, but I feel like I've traveled the world by bringing these international students to me."


3 The English Language School gives every international student a calendar of important dates to remember, campus and city happenings, and information about academic affairs. It's helpful, including study session reminders, or extra tutoring workshops for final examinations. Slightly humorous: reminding grown adults to write letters home...and misspelling "forget" as "forest."


4 Four Asian international students study in an English Language School classroom at the Priory campus on a Tuesday afternoon, sounding out words and repeating after the instructor. "We're not simply teaching English," says Lee Fair, Training Supervisor of the ELS program. "We're teaching them communication, the nuances and semantics of language."


5 Halina Lagowska, a Dominican undergraduate student, shows photos of her family to Jia Liu, an ELS student, outside the Priory entrance. Polish-born Lagowska has been in the U.S. and speaking English for only four years, so she has a special empathy for Liu, who is from China and has recently begun learning English.


6 Career women: Fernanda Quintana and Julieta Sanchez ride a Chicago Transit Authority bus down Harlem Avenue from the Priory Campus. Quintana, 36, works in the Ecuadorian marketing industry and in order to advance her career, decided learning English would be the next step. Similarly, Sanchez, 38, is a human rights social worker for disadvantaged Colombians, and came to Dominican to learn English in order to enhance her international communication skills.


7 When it comes to fashion and style of dress, the people of South America dress quite similarly to North Americans. There are a handful of U.S. brand name stores in South America, but overall the style of dress and fashion is the same. Here, Maria Orozco and Fernanda Quintana stand in line with the reporter at Starbucks, waiting for their orders.


8 Maria Orozco, 20, and Carlos Velez, 31, discuss their reasons for learning English at a Starbucks cafe in downtown Oak Park. Orozco, a high school graduate, is studying English so she can be fluent before enrolling at La Gran Colombia University in Bogota, Colombia. Velez, who also works in marketing in Bogota, was passed up for an executive position with Red Bull International because he failed the English part of his interview.


9 The South American students say they keep up with American news, but in general do not like the way the U.S. reports. When discussing media coverage, they all mentioned the Elian Gonzalez case of 2000 as being terribly mishandled. Said Julieta Sanchez, "Your news here is very bias[ed]. Even with the election news, everyone has their opinion and side and it is not balanced."


10 Julieta Sanchez, Carlos Velez, Maria Fernanda Quintana, and Maria Alejanda Orozco--all ELS students from South America--hang out at the Harlem and Lake shopping center in Oak Park and discuss their cultural similarities in food tastes. Drinking aguardiente (a South American word for a hard liquor beverage) and eating chicarrones (fried pork skins) are their people's popular pasttimes. The students have been in America for less than three months, but already have a broad grasp of the English language and can communicate effectively with native English speakers.