CHABOT COLLEGE
25555 HESP ERI AN B L VD
HAYWARD, CA 94545
DID YOU
KNOW?
OF CHABOT
STUDENTS WHO
TAKE ESL
COURSES. . .


66% indicate Transfer,
AA degree, or earning a
certificate as their educational goal;
In 2011-2012, they
earned 8% of degrees
and 16% of certificates
even though they were
only 7% of the total
Chabot population;
AND. . .

ESL students who pass
ESL 110C or 110D pass
college English and college math courses, become transfer-directed,
become transfer-ready,
and earn certificates
and/or degrees at a rate
higher than that of all
other Chabot students!*
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
Where are
they now?
2
ESL Student 3
Spotlight
Project
Excel
3
*data provided by the Chabot College
Office of Institutional Research
Chabot College ESL
V O L U M E
1 ,
I S S U E
1
New ESL Course!
Writing Workshop for NonNative Speakers
In Spring 2013, ESL will offer a new course:
ESL 149O, Writing Workshop for NonNative Speakers. In this 1/2 unit lab course,
students who speak English as a second
language will receive individual coaching on
their writing assignments for any course
they are currently enrolled in, including
other English or ESL courses, courses in
their major, or GE courses. They can receive
help with all stages of the writing process:
pre-writing, organization, drafting, and
proofreading. This will be a 12-week latestart course that will begin on Feb. 22nd
and meet every Friday from 10:00 a.m.—
12:05 p.m. There will be an orientation on
Friday, Feb. 1st at 10:00 a.m. in Room 307
where students can receive more information and register for the course. Students
who cannot attend the orientation meeting
may register online or at the Office of
Admissions and Records starting on
Wednesday, Feb. 13th. If you have nonnative English speaking students in your
classes that you believe would benefit from
additional help with their writing, please
consider recommending them for this
course. For more information please contact
Kent Uchiyama by email at
kuchiyama@chabotcollege.edu.
In addition to the Writing Workshop
course, ESL offers other support courses
that may be appropriate for your students.
In ESL 114 (Editing for the Advanced ESL
Writer), students practice editing papers to
correct common ESL errors and learn strategies for editing and revising their own papers. ESL 128 (Faculty-Student Tutorial) is
a self-paced course where students receive
individual instruction in all language skills,
and complete their work in the Language
Center (Room 2351).
F A L L
2 0 1 2
The Language Center &
ESL Conversation Groups
The Language Center (also sometimes
known as PATH) is currently located in
Building 2300, Room 2351. Here ESL students can receive free drop-in tutoring, practice all language skills using numerous computer software programs, utilize the textbooks, videos, and other resources located on
the ESL resource shelves, and have a quiet
area to work and study. In addition to the
trained ESL tutors available to help students,
many ESL instructors also hold one or more
office hours in the Language Center. There
are supplementary ESL courses held in the
Language Center, including ESL 128
(Faculty-Student Tutorial), and ESL 127, a
self-paced pronunciation lab course. For students who simply wish to have practice conversing in English, free ESL Conversation
Groups are held multiple times a week each
semester in the Conversation Room in 2351
and are facilitated by the ESL tutors. ESL 127
and 128 students also get credit for attending.
The Language Center continues to be a wonderful resource for ESL students. Walk in on
any given day and you will see a bustling,
thriving, and fun language learning environment!
ESL Instructor Linnea Wahamaki works with ESL 128
student Tam Ho.
PAGE
2
Where Are They Now?
Adriana Sanchez-Pillot and Shareshtha Burman are two former ESL students who graduated from
Chabot in 2012. We caught up with them to learn more about their experience at Chabot, and to find
out where they are now. To watch Adriana & Shareshtha discuss their experiences in more detail,
please see this video (http://vimeo.com/53632311), part of an on-going project with Acceleration in
Context. Many thanks to Sean McFarland, Karina Contreras , and Skye Ontiveros for their work in
creating this video.
Q: Why did you choose to come to Chabot?
Adriana Sanchez-Pillot and
Shareshtha Burman, 2012
Chabot graduates and former
ESL students.
“How
important the
ESL program
is for students
like me can be
learned just
Shareshtha: The reason I chose to come to
Chabot was to continue my studies after finishing school in India. I settled down in Hayward, and my aunt told me to get admission in
Chabot, and so I did.
Adriana:
I enrolled in an ESL class at Chabot as soon as
I came to live to the U.S., in August of 2009.
My mother thought that starting at a community college and transferring to a 4 year university was the best and most affordable path
I could take. Chabot College was close to my
then Hayward residence, and I commuted and
later biked to school for the next 3 years.
Looking back, I am very grateful to my mother
for sending me there. I have gone through lifechanging experiences and grown so much as a
person. The ESL program, along with other
academic and extracurricular opportunities at
Chabot, have given me the preparation and
strength for a 4-year school and for the rest of
my life.
Q: What do you feel you accomplished at
Chabot (personally, academically, etc.)?
by having a
Shareshtha: My perspective has changed. I’ve
grown up as a student and as a being. I
learned a lot from being tutor; not judging
others, trying to understand others’ problems,
and thinking from their perspective. I gradually became comfortable talking in English. I’m
grateful to have been a student of my ESL
teachers who always supported me. They inspired me and always made me feel that I am
capable of doing anything.
conversation
with us.”
-Shareshtha
Burman
Adriana:
As an ESL and English student, my English
kept improving every semester. Gaining confidence as an English speaker was one of the
biggest challenges and accomplishments I
worked on at Chabot. Every class I took at
Chabot was a valuable experience, and the
CHABOT
COLLEGE
ESL
professors I had have been a great inspiration and help in discovering the many
things in this world I'd never seen. In these
classes I could expand and push my limits
in analyzing my gender, cultural, social,
and political identities, in conceiving the
possibilities of the future, and in learning
lessons of the past. I had the opportunity to
explore my drive in implementing different
ideas and to participate in incredible projects.
Q: What are you doing now?
Shareshtha:
I'm studying at UC Davis now and majoring in Plant Biotechnology.
Adriana:
I am an anthropology junior transfer stu-
dent at UC Berkeley. I have been focusing
on my classes and my new lifestyle, outside
my family's house.
Q: What is your dream for the future?
Shareshtha:
My dream is to continue studying, and get
a job after graduating from UC. I also want
to start my internship next quarter. For
now, this is my goal. I don’t actually make
long-term plans. I try to finish things one
by one. When I graduate, I’ll have a new
plan to follow for sure.
Adriana:
My dream for the future is to be able to
contribute to the world in achieving a positive, humane, and profound change in the
way we live and relate to each other locally
and globally. I hope I can do this through
projects and community organizing, and
my studies and research from the field can
help me out in learning different ways to
organize as a family, as a society, and as an
economy to find healthy alternatives to our
actual economic and social problems.
PAGE
3
ESL Student Spotlight:
“Voting as an American”
By Lisa Ikeda
Last week Consuelo Hyer, one of my students from the Project Excel Study
Groups, came to me with a special request: to help her with the November 6
election choices. This was her second, not
her first time to vote, but as she had been
pressured to vote a certain way by a family member the first time, she really
“I’m proud to
vote as an
American!”
-Consuelo
Hyer
wanted to think independently
this time. “ I don't understand the
propositions,” she admitted. After
discussing the electoral process in
my classes and study groups, I was
more than happy to help. We sat
together in the ESL Office with a
Voter's Guide and I explained the
propositions while trying not to
show any bias toward any of them.
Nevertheless, Consuelo wholeheartedly decided to support Prop
30. I also showed her, as indicated
on the guide, where she would vote
and how late the polls would stay
open. When we finished, she enthusiastically declared, “ I am
proud to vote as an American!”
ESL Instructor Lisa Ikeda with her student
Consuelo Hyer
ESL Student
Project Excel
As a federally funded TRIO program, the Project Excel program at
Chabot offers eligible students indepth academic support. The program aims to ensure student success
at Chabot and beyond by providing
individualized academic, financial
and personal counseling, as well as
career exploration and cultural enrichment activities.
Visit the Excel Information desk on the 2nd
floor of Building 700
CHABOT
COLLEGE
There are currently over 140 ESL
students enrolled in Project Excel.
In order to join the Project Excel
program, students must complete an
ESL
application to determine eligibility. For
more information, please call (510) 7237675.
ESL students meet with ESL Instructor Lisa Ikeda and
their Project Excel Study Group in the Language Center
For more information about ESL courses at Chabot College, please visit our
website at http://www.chabotcollege.edu/LanguageArts/ESL/.