ELC Students Explore American Culture Outside The Experience of a Lifetime
the Classroom
Every semester, the English Language Center plans a variety of field trips, special events, and outdoor activities for
students. Attending these activities is a great way to experience American culture, explore Michigan, meet other
students, and speak English. Check the bulletin board in the ELC lobby for announcements on upcoming trips and
sign up. The photos from the activities are always posted on the English Language Center (ELC) Facebook page,
so make sure to like us!
With my group of Panama teachers at MSU, January-February 2016
I had also enjoyed so many outside events, including ice
skating, basketball and hockey games, open mics, Martin
Luther King Jr. Day, the Broad Museum, the planetarium,
shopping, tubing, Wharton Center shows, bowling, Detroit
and Chicago tours and more.
By Esteban Almengor
At the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade
At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit
In Chicago’s Millenium Park
At the Frankenmuth Snow Festival
My name is Esteban Almengor and I work as an
English teacher for an elementary school and an
after school program for a high school in Panamá. Since my country wants to make greater
improvements in the use of English as a second
language, they have started a program called Panama Bilingüe. This program seeks to train more
than 20,000 teachers in mastering the English
language, becoming familiar with a foreign culture
and acquiring new learning methodologies by being immersed in a native English speaking country.
As for me, I got the chance to study at Michigan
State University for the first two months of 2016.
Today, I feel so proud of having the opportunity
to share my experience at MSU and how I am using what I learned at the English Language Center
now that I am back in Panamá.
My two-month learning experience at MSU was
excellent from day one. I flew to Michigan with 24
more teachers from my country. By the time I got
to MSU, the English Language Center team had already organized everything for my stay. I was given
information about class and event schedules, trips,
school visits, MSU e-mail, ID, food, seminars, staff
and access to all the facilities. In addition to this, I
had several wonderful teachers. They cared about
both my progress in picking up the language and
about how to become a better teacher by instructing me on EFL methods, classroom management,
SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) and PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions
and Support). To make things better, I observed
how they applied these strategies in class when I
visited different elementary schools, high schools
and classes at the ELC. By the end of the course,
Now, back at my work in Panamá, I have started to apply new teaching ideas that I learned at the ELC. Among
these are the use of authentic materials such as children’s
books, songs, videos, and activities that help build basic
vocabulary. I also try to manage my classes and activate
students’ desire for learning using top-down and bottomup processing, scaffolding, meaningful learning, X-words,
and other rules and procedures. By applying all of these
ideas, my classes have become more dynamic, beneficial
and significant. I always try to incorporate helpful ways to
teach and assess students’ needs and abilities so they can
ease their way in learning.
All in all, I can say that the English Language Center made
my stay at MSU safe, friendly and rewarding – the experience of a lifetime! I am grateful for the opportunity I had to
study, live, practice the language and meet the culture in a
perfect environment for learning. From now on, I am proud
of being a Spartan. Go green! Go white!
Teaching my elementary school students English vocabulary
in Panamá