The Cupertino Language Immersion Program Community Organization.
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Annie Lun, 20, set out five years ago from Hong Kong and settled in with rela- tives in a place she’s come to love and call home: Brooklyn, New York. Wasting no time, she enrolled at local public schools and in short order graduat- ed from John Dewey High. These days Lun smiles the smile of ambi- tion, as if knowing she will one day have the thing she really wants — a college degree that will lead to a job as an accountant. One big hurdle stands in the way: She still doesn’t have a strong command of English. Lun is thus like tens of thousands of immigrants in this town who are stymied in their desire to speak and read English profi- ciently. But Lun is different from most of them, and in a sense she is very privileged. Lun is enrolled in the CUNY Language Immersion Program, or CLIP, which admin- istrators boast is one of the best bargains in higher education, with students paying $180 — or even less, depending on financial circumstances — for a semester of immer- sion into the study of English. Students receive instruction for five hours a day, five days a week, with some of the most talent- ed and caring college instructors to be found this side of the bachelor’s degree. “This is one of the best educational values in the city,” said David Hellman, the profes- sional development coordinator for CLIP. Petite and easy with a smile, Lun said she appreciates New York and the oppor- tunities it has given her. “I love it because it is more free than Hong Kong and I can learn this language and have more friends…Here is better.” Approach is ‘content-based’ CLIP administrators say their program is deeply “content-based,” meaning it uses facts and ideas from disciplines ranging from history to literature to anthropology and the physical sciences. They believe a person learns English best when she or he is immersed in it, through books and dis- course, and when one is learning something useful with it. “It’s the philosophy of the whole pro- gram,” said Leslee Oppenheim, director of literacy programs for the University.“You learn your English language skills through a study of the content that you’re likely to be exposed to in college.” On the day she was interviewed, a few months ago, Lun and 21 other students were in a classroom at New York City College of Technology, following the instructions of Paul Argodale, a CLIP teacher. Argodale was using the study of dinosaurs as his teaching tool for the semester, and his students were reading Jurassic Park. At this moment, the students were taking turns at the blackboard, filling in blanks under various categories. For example, under “Actions,” they described things that happened in the part of the book they read the night before.“After the power went back on Muldoon was repair- ing the fences…” one of the students wrote. Then Argodale spoke to the class as a group, introducing them to new phrases as he commented on the book. “Have you ever heard of Murphy’s Law?” he asked. “If something can possibly go wrong, it will.” Then, he gave them their next writing assignment. “What would happen if they were so engineered they could talk? What would the dinosaurs say?” Almost automatically, the students hud- dled together in little study groups of three and four and began to clarify their ideas, sharing with each other — in English, please! — before doing the writing assignment. CLIP students invest a lot — in effort, if not in money — during their quest for English proficiency. They were admitted to the program after getting low scores on the CUNY reading and writing proficiency tests. Their goal is to learn enough English so they can enter more advanced ESL (English as a Second Language) classes or an introductory composition course. They can remain in the program for as long as a year. Valery Fortune, 29, is another of Argodale’s students. He came to New York from Haiti in May of 2001 and began working odd jobs. “I find difficulties,” he said. “After two-three years I decided to learn something better, because this coun- try offers many opportunities and I don’t want to miss them. But when you’re in a country and they speak a different language, it’s not easy.” Fortune works up to 40 hours a week at a security job. He spends another 25 hours in his CLIP class, and countless more hours studying and practicing English. “Sometimes I feel very tired,” he said. Fortune is optimistic he’ll soon be ready to pass the so-called ACT reading and writing tests and then go on to take cours- es toward his associate’s degree and then bachelor’s degree at City Tech. “Before I could have an idea but I could not know how to write it in English. But . . . Now I understand much better.” CLIP began operating 10 years ago in the Theresa Hotel, the Harlem building that Fidel Castro made famous in 1960, when he stayed there accompanied by live chickens. “I was a teacher in the program the very first night of operation at the Teresa,” Hellman, now a CLIP administrator, wrote in an email recently. “I liked to imagine that I was teach- ing in the Castro Suite!” The CLIP program expanded steadily, from 663 students at six colleges in 1996, to more than 3,000 a year at nine colleges today. There are currently CLIP programs at: • the Borough of Manhattan Community College • Bronx Community College • the College of Staten Island • Hostos Community College • Kingsborough Community College • LaGuardia Community College • The New York City College of Technology • Queensborough Community College • York College. The language immersion program technically falls under the broad umbrella of ESL, meaning it is for English Language Learners. But, at CUNY, ESL is very different from CLIP. While – like CLIP – it is for foreign language students who fail the ACT tests, it is actually more advanced. ESL classes are credit-bearing courses that meet several hours a week. CLIP, though non credit-bearing, is like a fulltime job, with stu- dents spending 25 hours a week in the classroom, in addition to homework. “The work that CLIP does cannot be undertaken in any oth- er program, because of the sheer number of contact hours involved, the level of intensity,” said Hamid Kherief, who directs the CLIP and ESL programs at York College. In addition to class lectures, discussions and writing assign- ments, CLIP students spend several hours a week in a computer lab, Kherief explained. “Besides word process- ing skills, they do a lot of research, because we want them to become autonomous learners, so that they will be able to com- pete in the world,” Kherief said. In one of their most ambitious writing pro- jects, students in the spring of 2004 pub- lished a 60-page book: MoMA at El Museo in CLIP: Writing in Response to Latin American and Caribbean Art. The students wrote the essays after viewing paintings that were owned by the Museum of Modern Art and exhibited at El Museo del Barrio. “It has made for some of the most exciting learning in the history of the pro- gram. And some of the most delightful writ- ing, too,” Hellman, the CLIP project coordi- nator, wrote in a pref- ace to the book. CLIP has a distin- guished group of instructors who have a special combination of education, talent and personality to work with English language learners. They hold at least a master’s degree in language instruction or a related area, and they have broad exposure to different cultures. Oppenheim, the program director, said, “In general, most ESL teachers have an affinity for other cultures.Traditionally they are people who have a great deal of empathy, a great deal of compassion.” One afternoon several months ago found Tasha Darbes teaching her CLIP class at Hostos Community College, help- ing the students understand the human side of the global economy. She is doing so because she believes the global economy is the key to understanding the global envi- ronment, which was the overall theme of her class for the semester. If a word had to be chosen to describe Darbes’ teaching method, perhaps it would be Socratic. “Is it better for you to export to Ecuador or to the United States?” Darbes asked her class. “The United States,” a student answered. “Why?” Darbes inquired. went to the ocean in my country… My father and I sat there to admire the view.We remained there quietly listen- ing to the waves and the whistling of the whales in the ocean. …We could listen to the different echoes from the ocean, which gave us a sense of peace inside our minds… 6 CUNY MATTERS — November 2005 In CUNY Language Immersion Program, Students L Valery Fortune, a French and C Kong, are CLIP students. They Last year, CLIP students wrote essays about paintings they had seen at El Museo del Barrio. Dozens of the essays were included in a 60-page book titled Writing in Response to Latin American and Caribbean Art. Below are excerpts from two essays on "Listening to the Living," by Roberto Sebastian Antonio Matta Echaurren in 1941. Nancy Bravo, York College This whirlwind evokes fury, confusion, and fear. It makes me think that our world is in constant chaos…The off-whites in the painting reflect the polluted gases in our atmosphere. This scary situation infuriates me and I can see… that this painting “Listening to Living” is a warning sign. Matta and other surrealist artists intended to shock us and make us reflect about the consequences of our actions against nature… … It is a shame that our language is so limited. Sometimes words are not enough to express what we perceive. Sandra Juarez, York College This artwork reminds me of when I first Listening to the Living Roberto Sebastian Antonio Matta Echaurren, 1941 Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art Students Produce Book of Essays on Paintings 52881_CMATTERS 11/21/05 11:11 AM Page 6
Transcript of In CUNY Language Immersion Program, StudentsL after viewing ... In CUNY Language Immersion Program,...
Annie Lun, 20, set out five years agofrom Hong Kong and settled in with rela-tives in a place she’s come to love and callhome: Brooklyn, New York.
Wasting no time, she enrolled at localpublic schools and in short order graduat-ed from John Dewey High.
These days Lun smiles the smile of ambi-tion, as if knowing she will one day have thething she really wants — a college degreethat will lead to a job as an accountant.
One big hurdle stands in the way: Shestill doesn’t have a strong command ofEnglish.
Lun is thus like tens of thousands ofimmigrants in this town who are stymied intheir desire to speak and read English profi-ciently. But Lun is different from most ofthem, and in a sense she is very privileged.
Lun is enrolled in the CUNY LanguageImmersion Program, or CLIP, which admin-istrators boast is one of the best bargains inhigher education, with students paying$180 — or even less, depending on financialcircumstances — for a semester of immer-sion into the study of English. Studentsreceive instruction for five hours a day, fivedays a week, with some of the most talent-ed and caring college instructors to befound this side of the bachelor’s degree.
“This is one of the best educational valuesin the city,” said David Hellman, the profes-sional development coordinator for CLIP.
Petite and easy with a smile, Lun saidshe appreciates New York and the oppor-tunities it has given her. “I love it becauseit is more free than Hong Kong and I canlearn this language and have morefriends…Here is better.”
Approach is ‘content-based’CLIP administrators say their program
is deeply “content-based,” meaning it usesfacts and ideas from disciplines rangingfrom history to literature to anthropologyand the physical sciences. They believe aperson learns English best when she or heis immersed in it, through books and dis-
course, and when one is learningsomething useful with it.
“It’s the philosophy of the whole pro-gram,” said Leslee Oppenheim, director ofliteracy programs for the University. “Youlearn your English language skills througha study of the content that you’re likely tobe exposed to in college.”
On the day she was interviewed, a fewmonths ago, Lun and 21 other studentswere in a classroom at New York CityCollege of Technology, following theinstructions of Paul Argodale, a CLIPteacher.
Argodale was using the study ofdinosaurs as his teaching tool for thesemester, and his students were readingJurassic Park. At this moment, the studentswere taking turns at the blackboard, fillingin blanks under various categories. Forexample, under “Actions,” they describedthings that happened in the part of thebook they read the night before. “After thepower went back on Muldoon was repair-ing the fences…” one of the students wrote.
Then Argodale spoke to the class as agroup, introducing them to new phrases ashe commented on the book. “Have youever heard of Murphy’s Law?” he asked. “Ifsomething can possibly go wrong, it will.”
Then, he gave them their next writingassignment. “What would happen if theywere so engineered they could talk? Whatwould the dinosaurs say?”
Almost automatically, the students hud-dled together in little study groups ofthree and four and began to clarify theirideas, sharing with each other — inEnglish, please! — before doing the writingassignment.
CLIP students invest a lot — in effort,if not in money — during their quest forEnglish proficiency. They were admitted tothe program after getting low scores on theCUNY reading and writing proficiencytests. Their goal is to learn enough Englishso they can enter more advanced ESL(English as a Second Language) classes oran introductory composition course. They
can remain in the program for as long as ayear.
Valery Fortune, 29, is another ofArgodale’s students. He came to New Yorkfrom Haiti in May of 2001 and beganworking odd jobs. “I find difficulties,” hesaid. “After two-three years I decided tolearn something better, because this coun-try offers many opportunities and I don’twant to miss them. But when you’re in acountry and they speak a differentlanguage, it’s not easy.”
Fortune works up to 40 hours a weekat a security job. He spends another 25hours in his CLIP class, and countless morehours studying and practicing English.“Sometimes I feel very tired,” he said.
Fortune is optimistic he’ll soon be readyto pass the so-called ACT reading andwriting tests and then go on to take cours-es toward his associate’s degree and thenbachelor’s degree at City Tech. “Before Icould have an idea but I could not knowhow to write it in English. But . . . Now Iunderstand much better.”
CLIP began operating 10 years ago in theTheresa Hotel, the Harlem building thatFidel Castro made famous in 1960, when hestayed there accompanied by live chickens.“I was a teacher in the program the very firstnight of operation at the Teresa,” Hellman,now a CLIP administrator, wrote in an emailrecently. “I liked to imagine that I was teach-ing in the Castro Suite!”
The CLIP program expanded steadily,from 663 students at six colleges in 1996,to more than 3,000 a year at nine collegestoday.
There are currently CLIP programs at:• the Borough of Manhattan Community
College• Bronx Community College• the College of Staten Island• Hostos Community College• Kingsborough Community College• LaGuardia Community College• The New York City College of
Technology• Queensborough Community College
• York College.The language
immersion programtechnically falls underthe broad umbrella ofESL, meaning it is forEnglish LanguageLearners.
But, at CUNY, ESLis very different fromCLIP. While – likeCLIP – it is for foreignlanguage students whofail the ACT tests,it is actually moreadvanced. ESL classesare credit-bearingcourses that meetseveral hours a week.
CLIP, though noncredit-bearing, is like afulltime job, with stu-dents spending 25hours a week in theclassroom, in additionto homework.
“The work thatCLIP does cannot beundertaken in any oth-er program, because ofthe sheer number of
contact hoursinvolved, the level ofintensity,” said HamidKherief, who directsthe CLIP and ESLprograms at YorkCollege.
In addition to classlectures, discussionsand writing assign-ments, CLIP studentsspend several hours aweek in a computerlab, Kherief explained.“Besides word process-ing skills, they do a lotof research, becausewe want them tobecome autonomouslearners, so that theywill be able to com-pete in the world,”Kherief said.
In one of their mostambitious writing pro-jects, students in thespring of 2004 pub-lished a 60-page book:MoMA at El Museo inCLIP: Writing inResponse to LatinAmerican andCaribbean Art. Thestudents wrote theessays after viewingpaintings that wereowned by theMuseum of ModernArt and exhibited atEl Museo del Barrio.
“It has made forsome of the mostexciting learning inthe history of the pro-gram. And some of themost delightful writ-ing, too,” Hellman, theCLIP project coordi-nator, wrote in a pref-ace to the book.
CLIP has a distin-guished group ofinstructors who have a special combinationof education, talent and personality towork with English language learners. Theyhold at least a master’s degree in languageinstruction or a related area, and they havebroad exposure to different cultures.Oppenheim, the program director, said, “Ingeneral, most ESL teachers have an affinityfor other cultures. Traditionally they arepeople who have a great deal of empathy,a great deal of compassion.”
One afternoon several months agofound Tasha Darbes teaching her CLIPclass at Hostos Community College, help-ing the students understand the humanside of the global economy. She is doing sobecause she believes the global economy isthe key to understanding the global envi-ronment, which was the overall theme ofher class for the semester.
If a word had to be chosen to describeDarbes’ teaching method, perhaps itwould be Socratic.
“Is it better for you to export toEcuador or to the United States?” Darbesasked her class.
“The United States,” a student answered.“Why?” Darbes inquired.
went to the ocean in my country… My father and I satthere to admire the view. We remained there quietly listen-ing to the waves and the whistling of the whales in theocean. …We could listen to the different echoes from theocean, which gave us a sense of peace inside our minds…
6 CUNY MATTERS — November 2005
In CUNY Language Immersion Program, Students L
Valery Fortune, a French and CKong, are CLIP students. They
Last year, CLIP students wrote essays aboutpaintings they had seen at El Museo delBarrio. Dozens of the essays were included ina 60-page book titled Writing in Response toLatin American and Caribbean Art. Beloware excerpts from two essays on "Listening tothe Living," by Roberto Sebastian AntonioMatta Echaurren in 1941.
Nancy Bravo, York CollegeThis whirlwind evokes fury, confusion, andfear. It makes me think that our world is inconstant chaos…The off-whites in thepainting reflect the polluted gases in ouratmosphere. This scary situation infuriatesme and I can see… that this painting“Listening to Living” is a warning sign.Matta and other surrealist artists intendedto shock us and make us reflect about theconsequences of our actions againstnature…
… It is a shame that our language is solimited. Sometimes words are not enoughto express what we perceive.
Sandra Juarez, York CollegeThis artwork reminds me of when I first
Listening to the LivingRoberto Sebastian Antonio Matta Echaurren, 1941Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art
Students Produce Book of Essays on Paintings
52881_CMATTERS 11/21/05 11:11 AM Page 6
Dramatic Advances in English Proficiency
“Because they pay in dollars,” anotherreplied.
Other questions and answers followed,some of them laced with bitter humor, suchas when students referred to corruptionthey said was rampant in their homelands.
After an hour or so, Darbes told theclass to “write a paragraph about the spe-cific situation in your country.” She exhort-ed them “to group together for a fewminutes” to collect their thoughts beforebeginning to their essays.
Tasha Darbes is a 1993 graduate ofBrown University where she majored incomparative literature. She speaks Russianand Spanish, and she holds a master’sdegree in anthropology and writing fromNew School University. Prior to workingwith CLIP, she taught in ContinuingEducation classes and at other English as aSecond Language programs. She lovesCLIP and its content-based approach.
“The best way for me to improve theirwriting is to improve their knowledge ofthe world,” Darbes says.
CLIP teachers are driven by the verydreams that motivate their students. Someof them seem all but ingenious as they try
to impart the psychic underpinnings ofsuccess.
Tiptoeing into a class — not far fromthe one where Tasha Darbes was teaching— a visitor heard the pleasantly hypnotiz-ing voice of CLIP instructor Rhoda Liss.Liss was reading from a book consideredby many to be a font of Zen-like wisdom:Paulo Coehlo’s The Alchemist.
Liss read from the text, then comment-ed a bit, then asked questions.
“Don’t forget that everything you do isonly one thing, and nothing else,” Lissintoned. “You have to prepare yourselfeach step. You need to be focused… Andabove all don’t forget to follow your per-sonal legend through to its conclusion.”
Liss is a graduate of Oberlin and holds amaster’s degree in ESL from Lehman. Aswith other CLIP instructors, she has inter-esting life experiences as well. Liss wasonce an opera singer. She lived in Hollandfor 12 years. And she just completed abook titled Effective Academic Writing,which will be published next year byOxford University Press.
With The Alchemist still in her hand,Liss asked the young men and women
about their own deeply held dreams. AnnyHernandez offered an answer right away,loudly and clearly. “To become a doctor,”said Hernandez, who emigrated from theDominican Republic about a year ago.
Liss believes her students have greatpotential. She said she knows from theirhomework that they are bursting withenergy, the kind that makes dreams cometrue. When Liss asked the class about thekey ingredients in dream making, a young
lady answered, “Be optimistic in what’scoming later.”
Optimism surely counts for a lot; but asLiss’ students know, it takes a lot of hardwork — and step-by-step planning — toreach one’s goal in life. Surely a reader ofThe Alchemist knows that. “You can’t leapup and get there,” Liss told her class ofvoyagers to the American dream. “Youhave to prepare yourself each step. Youneed to be focused.”
CUNY MATTERS — November 2005 7
Programs That Teach English to English Language Learners (ELL’s)CLIP — an intensive English language program for admitted freshman who need helpwith their academic reading, writing and oral communication skills. CLIP uses an“immersion” approach requiring students to work on language skills 25 hours a week.The program is low cost, and students can stay up to a year.
ESL (English as a Second Language) — traditional non-credit and credit classes forstrengthening the language skills of admitted freshmen. ESL classes generally meetfewer hours per week than CLIP and have a range of instructional emphases. ESLclasses are part of a student's program of study and regular tuition applies.
Bi-lingual — In the bi-lingual approach, students read, write and speak their nativelanguage as they learn English. Proponents say that if students learn to use their firstlanguage well, they will learn English more effectively. Hostos Community College isthe only bi-lingual public college in the region.
Learn English the Right Way, the Hard Way
nch and Creole-speaking immigrant from Haiti, and Annie Lun, a Cantonese speaker from Hong Kong,ents. They are in class 25 hours a week in a quest to use English well and, one day, earn a college degree.
New Yorkis an immigranttown, and itprobablyalways will be.
But statisti-cians havenoticed some-thing interest-ing aboutimmigrant stu-dents comingto CUNY inrecent years:Their Englishproficiency onaverage ismuch stronger.
“The (immi-grant studentsfrom foreignlanguagehouseholds)are coming to us with stronger English skills than in the past,” said David Crook, theUniversity Dean for Institutional Research and Assessment.
The apparent reason, say Crook and others, is that there are increasing numbers ofimmigrants who came to New York at a young age and went to schools here in theirpre-teen and teenage years.
Sociologists call them “the 1.5 (one-point-five) generation.”According to University surveys: in 1995, 81.1 percent of senior college freshmen
said English was their language of comfort; in 2004, following steady increases, thefigure was 92.5 percent.
Indeed, Crook and others say that CLIP and other ESL programs deserve much ofthe credit. They say that, across the country, there has been a stronger focus on theteaching of English to foreign language-speaking students, using tough approaches likethe immersion method of CLIP.
Hamid Khereif, director of the CLIP and ESL programs at York College, agreed thata key factor in the increasing English proficiency is emergence of the “1.5 generation.”
Crook said it was important to note that the number of immigrants coming toCUNY continues to rise. Even as comfort levels in English went from 81.1 percent to92.5 percent, the number of freshmen from foreign language-speaking householdswent from 53.8 percent to 59.1, Crook said.
“We’re still able to attract immigrants but they’ve become more comfortable withthe English language over time,” Crook said.
(Numbers show, for given years, the percentage of first-time senior col-lege freshmen who report their most comfortable language is English,or that they are equally comfortable in English and another language.)
City University of New York Office of Institutional Research and Assessment
Trends in the Percentage of First-Time Freshmen Enrolled at Senior CollegesWho Are More or Equally Comfortable with English than Another Language
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Trends in English Proficiency
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