Oct. 25, 2018- Collin College’s English as a Second Language (ESL) Department and Multicultural Student Organization will hold a multicultural festival from 10 a.m.- 1p.m., Thursday, Nov. 8 in the Plano Campus atrium, 2800 E. Spring Creek Pkwy.
Free and open to the public, the festival is a celebration of different cultures. Students from more than 25 countries will be dressed in costumes. The event will include music, dancing, food and cultural artifacts.
In addition, college ESL representatives will be available to discuss the college’s new, enhanced ESL program which will begin in January 2019. In the spring semester, the college will admit international students studying ESL and offer augmented course options to domestic students.
“The college’s new program provides a strong framework to accelerate and support students’ mastery of academic English based on the already successful ESL program at Collin College, and we are excited to have the opportunity to share the details of our new program at the multicultural festival,” said Nancy Megarity, ESL discipline lead.
The enhanced program features courses which are essential to mastering the English language: reading, writing, grammar, communication and extra skills courses such as test-taking skills. Three levels of each of these courses will be offered to accommodate a range of skill levels. In addition, each course is 50% laboratory practice, offering students the opportunity to engage in hands-on skills practice facilitated by one of the college’s highly-credentialed ESL instructors.
“Developing this new program was important so that Collin College could meet the requirements the federal government has for students entering the U.S. to study ESL exclusively,” said Craig Leverette, Dean of Academic Affairs at the Plano Campus. “We are excited that we can now serve this population while also providing enhanced course offerings to our resident student population.”
For more information about the multicultural festival, contact Jey Venkatesan at 972-578-5519. For more information about the ESL program, contact the Office of Academic Affairs at 972-881-5720.
Collin College serves more than 55,000 credit and continuing education students annually and offers more than 100 degrees and certificates. The only public college in the county, Collin College is a partner to business, government and industry, providing customized training and work force development. In addition, the college operates the Collin Higher Education Center, which serves 3,500 additional students each year in partnership with The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Woman’s University, Texas A&M Commerce, Texas Tech and the University of North Texas.