As Pacifica Graduate Institute’s Director of Alumni Relations, Dianne Travis-Teague facilitates collaborations between the Office of the Chancellor and the Alumni Association to extend and nurture the Pacifica experience in the world. News & Notes collects her posts to Pacifica’s growing family of alums.
Acquiring English as a Second Language
Adquiriendo el ingles como segunda lengua
| originally posted on 6 June 2012
Spanish translation by Alex Miranda, Chief Administrative Officer of Pacifica Graduate Institute
Photos | Nikole Hollenitsch
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What’s “normal” and what’s not? | ¿Que es “normal” y que no es?
As our world shrinks, educational opportunities become increasingly international, employees who are fluent bilingual speakers are potentially a tremendously valuable resource. Most Americans are currently monolingual speakers of English, and are finding more and more that it would be highly advantageous to their professional lives if they spoke a second language. Armed with this inspiration, Abi Katz (M.A. Counseling Psychology, 1984) embarked on a personal journey to offer ESL (English as a Second Language) classes to our phenomenal housekeeping team! It’s been a journey of love and learning. Today marked three months of study, and the team celebrated with a special luncheon of Mexican fare. Abi says, “Teaching ESL, as an alum of Pacifica, was a culmination of two of my most important dreams.”
Dado que nuestro mundo se ha encogido, las oportunidades para la educacion se han internacionalizado. Empleados quienes son bilingues son un recurso valioso. La mayoria de los Americanos are monolingues, y estan encontrando que el hablar otra lengua es valioso. Inspirada, Abi Katz (M.A. Counseling Psychology, 1984) embarco en un viaje personal para ofrecer classes a unos de nuestros mas valiosos empleados, las senoras de “housekeeping.” Este ha sido una experiencia de aprendizaje y amor. Hoy se marco el tercer mes de estudios, y se celebro con un almuerzo de comida mejicana. Abi dijo “el ensenar ingles como una licenciada de Pacifica ha sido la culminacion de uno de sus suenos mas preciados.”