03 March 2011 by Manoara “Bobbie” Begum and Jannatul Ferdous (STEM)
ESOL - English Speakers of Other Lan-guages is a program at UC that helps new Americans learn how to communicate in America. Many ESOL students speak more than one language but one of them just isn‟t English!
A big part of ESOL is learning how to under-stand and properly use American expressions. For example, a recent assignment asked ESOL students to learn persuasive tech-niques. This is particularly challenging be-cause the terms don‟t really describe the ac-tivity but have come to mean or represent that activity.
For example, what does it mean to get people on a bandwagon? Well, as a persuasive tech-nique it means to make people think that “everyone‟s doing it.” Sometimes facing terms like that leave an English Language Learner wondering just where the band or the wagon is! Practicing in ESOL with the help of Ms. DaSilva, students have the opportunity to learn the nuance of these terms and be-come better English speakers.
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