FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Gita Brown, 401-456-8465, gbrown@ric.edu; Laura Hart, 401-456-8977, lhart@ric.edu
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rhode Island College is offering a new Certificate of Continuing Study in Intensive English Immersion and U.S.A. Experiential Learning beginning January 2015. This program is sponsored by Rhode Island College’s Office of Professional Studies and Continuing Education, the Office of Graduate Studies and the ESL (English as a Second Language) Intensive Program, in partnership with the Providence-based Rhode Island Family Literacy Initiative, which offers ESL services to Rhode Island adults.
The course curriculum consists of intensive ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) workshops along with excursions to libraries, museums, school settings and other public venues that build American cultural competency.
Workshops will be held during the day at the Rhode Island Family Literacy Initiative and in the evening at Rhode Island College. Upon completion of the program, students will have earned 3.0 Continuing Education Units and will be awarded a certificate of completion.
The registration deadline for winter session (Jan. 5-30) is Friday, Dec. 5, 2014. The registration deadline for summer session (July 13-Aug. 1) is Friday, June 12, 2015. Applicants must register online at www.ric.edu/cess.
“Teaching English to speakers of other languages is on the rise, not only within this country but internationally,” said RIC Dean of Graduate Studies Leslie Schuster. “This certificate program offers international educators the opportunity to develop their language and teaching skills while learning more about American culture. They can then take this new knowledge back to their own classrooms.”
The program is designed for:
• International K-12 teachers, pre-service teaching candidates and faculty in higher education who teach English as a second language (ESL),
• International students who would like to develop their English language skills in order to pursue graduate study in the United States, and
• International students who need to meet the ESL requirement of their home country.
To recruit prospective candidates, RIC’s Office of Professional Studies and Continuing Education (PSCE) is working with a network of English as a Foreign Language educators in Brazil and Argentina.
“Prospects are primarily teachers of English who need and want an American-based immersion program to increase their language proficiency, their knowledge of American culture and our ESL teaching practices,” said Dante DelGiudice, director of PSCE.
Karisa Tashjian, director of the Rhode Island Family Literacy Initiative (RIFLI) said, “It excites me that the idea for this certificate program came from one of our FIFLI students, Nilson Ferreira of Brazil, who is also a current M.Ed. degree student at RIC.”
Since participants enrolled in the new program will primarily be ESL teachers, RIFLI has designed their workshops with an active-learning approach. Participants will work on honing their English proficiency and also be given the opportunity to teach an ESL class using their own lesson plans.
“We see it as a benefit to our colleagues abroad and to our students and staff at RIFLI,” said Tashjian. “We also love our continued partnership with Rhode Island College.”
The Rhode Island College Office of Professional Studies and Continuing Education extends the educational offerings and resources of the college to provide administrative assistance to affiliated agencies and organizations both on and off campus. The office assists in establishing courses and workshops and identifies college resources that support continuing education activities. Rhode Island College has a long history of providing such assistance to business and industry and to public and private schools and agencies. RIC’s continuing education programs serve nondegree adult students, lifelong learners and working professionals seeking retraining or professional development.
