We want our students to graduate with workable English language skills and part of the challenge is that they come from a wide variety of previous experience–many have never spoken a word of English before coming here. I was happy the English program had the opportunity to work last year with Craig Machado (sponsored by a short-term Fulbright grant), who has extensive training in designing English as a Second Language (ESL) programs. He admired what we do, but also gave us good, structured ideas to improve our ESL program. The focus of the ESL department has changed to concentrate more on academic language needs including reading and writing skills. Plus there is a renewed push to integrate English language usage into other classes and disciplines so the students have more opportunities to practice. This effort coming as Zamorano moves to provide students with fewer required class hours and more opportunity for elective study will, I think, mean we can demand more of them in the classes they do take, and they can commit more hours to language study.
Being the basketball coach at Zamorano has been particularly rewarding for me. There wasn’t even a basketball team when I arrived. Now the club consists of 15 guys and 10 girls and they show up for practice 3 hours a week. Last year we went to Tegucigalpa several times to compete against teams from other schools which I think really sparks a team spirit and a healthy sense of competition in the students. Sometimes they’ll organize impromptu practice games on the weekends and I’ll join in and see them working hard to improve their game. I admire them, because Zamorano students work hard at everything they take on.
Jonesville, Michigan
B.S. in Education, Central Michigan University (U.S.A.)
Started at Zamorano: January 2004
Assistant Professor of English, Department of General Curricula (DGN)
Subjects include: English as a Second Language (ELS), Basketball coach
(Annual Report 2008)
