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news
Center assists
English starters and others
By Sarah Langford
On-line Forty-Niner
Most students would
agree that taking a full load of college classes and trying
to juggle a job, family and other extracurricular activities
can be a difficult and often stressful undertaking.
Now imagine trying
to learn English as a second language in addition to all of
the usual college stresses and you will see why nearly 1,000
visits were paid to the Learning Assistance Center last semester.
The LAC, located
in Room 12 in Library East, offers free English tutoring for
all students who speak English as a second language.
"We welcome
anybody who feels they need help with their studies,"
said Gen Ramirez, director of the LAC, "but particularly
those students who wish to strengthen their English in a comfortable,
low-pressure environment."
The lab is open
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday starting Sept.
10, and helps students improve course-related language skills,
including correctness and fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary,
idioms and slang.
The lab opens during
the third week to let students settle their schedules, Ramirez
said.
"Our goal
with the lab is to help ESL students achieve academic success
as they work to overcome the difficulty of conquering the
English language while taking a full load of classes,"
said Marshall Thomas, assistant coordinator of the LAC.
The LAC's newest
endeavor is to provide online tutoring through BeachBoard,
a Web site that offers course information and discussion groups.
"Using BeachBoard,
students will be able to e-mail questions to a tutor and promptly
receive the answers, as well as chat with tutors in certain
subject areas," said Gregg Carr, associate director of
the LAC.
The online program
is expected to be available within the next few weeks for
a flat semester fee.
In addition to
offering services to ESL students, the LAC provides many other
tutoring programs designed to assist students with their college
courses. Workshops on learning skills focus on strengthening
students' abilities in areas such as time management, effective
textbook reading, note taking and preparing research papers.
Supplemental Instruction
courses are offered by trained leaders who attend the lectures
with their students and then review the material, along with
presenting study strategies.
To learn more about
Supplemental Instruction courses or the tutoring available
through the LAC, call (562) 985-5350 or visit www.csulb.edu/~csulblac.
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