An Influx of Domestic English Language Studies Students?

An Influx of Domestic English Language Studies Students?

Wouldn’t it be great if we had the same substantive increase in the numbers of domestic ESL students as we have had in international? This idea may not be so far-fetched as it sounds according to representatives of the Coquitlam and Burnaby School Districts that I met with last week. Apparently there are hundreds of international and domestic ESL students in these two large districts who will either not complete high school or graduate with English and Socials marks too low for college or university entrance. Many of these students plan to attend college and/or university and need language upgrading to continue their studies. So they are ideally suited to English language study at Douglas.

I met with ESL heads in both Coquitlam and Burnaby last week to begin opening up clear pathways for these students to Douglas College ESL. The first step is to make sure ESL teachers and counselors have complete and up-to-date information about our programs. The challenge these teachers and counselors face when advising students to come our way is that, despite our snappy motto, “You can go anywhere from here,” foreign-born parents and their high school-aged children often have difficulty seeing the connection between Douglas College and UBC Medical/Engineering/Business/Law School, from whence they want to graduate ASAP.

Extending the reach of our programs to more domestic students is possible if we work on communication with high school students and their parents and add appropriate course options. We need to hold meetings in the high schools in which we explain academic prep. ESL, university transfer courses and the pathway to the desired university qualifications. The most powerful approach will be to bring our former students who are now studying in university. If you are in touch with any of these people, please let me know. I am also interested in hearing from instructors who would like to be involved in these information sessions in high schools.

Another essential part of the pathway from high school ESL to our department is the perception of academic and career advancement. Since high school ESL students have usually taken ESL for many years and see it as a barrier to their academic progress, they are more likely to continue their language learning in adjunct course opportunities like Early Business. In these settings they can make progress on their desired field of study while continuing to upgrade their language skills. Catherine Humphries, Program Consultant for English Language Learners in the Burnaby School District, assures us that program and course offerings that make learners and their parents feel like they are making progress toward their (non-linguistic) academic goals will be very attractive to high school ESL students.

Accountable Time Opportunities

1. Telephone interviews - Are you good at doing assessment interviews? There is an opportunity to spend 2-3 hours on the afternoons of February 1 and 2 interviewing students in Asia by phone.

2. Community ESL Options Update – We need someone to scour the internet for ESL programs in the communities surrounding our campuses. We use this list to refer students who are too late to find seats in our programs. It is also information that we all should know.

New Grading System for EASL 0460 – Q&A

Q: Can we assume that the grades and corresponding percentages for EASL 0460 will be the same as for any other graded courses?
DC Policies - Grading: http://www.douglas.bc.ca/about/policies/edu/grading.html
A: Yes

Q: The pre-requisite for ENGL and CMNS courses is EASL 0460 with a grade of "C-" or better, so if an EASL 0460 student gets 55% to 59%, the student meets the pre-requisite for ENGL/CMNS, right?
A: Right.

Q: How can we best explain to students about the difference between needing 70% to achieve MAS for progression in all other ESL courses, but only needing 55% to 59% for EASL 0460 to progress to ENGL & CMNS? I assume that the marking in EASL 0460 will be different than in the past, but I'm not sure how to explain it.
A: First, explain EASL 0460 grading in terms of what a student has to learn. The reading and writing skills that a student has to learn to pass EASL 0460 and get into ENGL and CMNS courses remains exactly the same. In the Mastery System, the minimum requirement was recorded as 70%. Now EASL 0460 uses the same grade system as ENGL and CMNS, which records the minimum pass as 55%. So yes, the grading in EASL 0460 will use different numbers than it did before.

Q: Will the grade for EASL 0460 be calculated into a student's GPA?
A: Yes. All letter grades a student earns are calculated into the Douglas College GPA. Transfer GPA is calculated by the receiving institution and does not include non-transferrable courses.

The Lost Forty

What would the ESL faculty members have to say about students with EASL 0360 EXP and 0450 MAS taking selected UT courses?
My answer in the January 15 meeting was, “I think they would be concerned about high failure rates because of these students’ low reading and writing levels.” However, I just checked the poll of your opinions and I see that the sixteen of you who voted were unanimously in favor of allowing these students to take the selected low-reading/writing-intensive U/T courses.

So what are we going to do about it? Tom and I will be meeting with deans in UT faculties and working to identify appropriate courses.