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ILI

The International Language Institute of Massachusetts (ILI) promotes intercultural understanding and diverse communities by providing high-quality language instruction and teacher training.

You are here: Home / News / May in the Intensive English Program

May 25, 2021

May in the Intensive English Program

May in the Intensive English Program

This month the Intensive English Program (IEP) is enjoying one of the benefits of learning online: togetherness. Even though we are not in the same state, or even in some cases on the same continent, we have come together as a team to help each other learn and grow. In addition to several students living local to ILI, we have students joining us from New York City, Missouri, and Ukraine. Although we miss taking classes in person, we are loving the friendships we have formed and strengthened in our online classes.  

At the beginning of May, Janelle’s class voted on a big challenge: to read a book together in English. After perusing different options on OpenLibrary.org, the students voted to read the book The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis. Several students voted based on their desire to learn more about U.S.IEP students on zoom learning about the New Deal history and culture. The Mighty Miss Malone takes place during the Great Depression and chronicles the life of a precocious 12 year old girl named Deza. A rich source of vocabulary and grammar, the book has also been a springboard for discussions and research about topics related to the United States in the 1930s. To mark the final week of the May program, each student will give a presentation related to the Great Depression era. Among other topics, we will be hearing about FDR and the New Deal, The Dust Bowl and even the movies of Shirley Temple! 

The IEP is also well into the second month of a new class called Debate and Discussion. Every Thursday, all IEP students in both classes focus on their academic speaking and listening skills by practicing debate phrases and discussing controversial topics. This month, the focus of the debate class is on worldwide movements aimed at tearing down statues. As a final project, students will each give a presentation about a famous person. After the presentation, the audience will weigh the pros and cons of the person’s accomplishments and decide whether or not a statue of them would be an appropriate way to commemorate their legacy.

Janelle Rivers, Lead IEP Instructor and Operations Manager

Article by ILI Staff / News

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“Music is the universal language of mankind.” “Music is the universal language of mankind.”
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

ILI English and French instructor, Josh Owsley is also a musician! He will be playing bass with @landownerband tonight at @thedrakeamherst . 🎶Hope to see you there!

📸Photo by @vagabundodeltiempo 

#ili #internationallanguageinstitute #massachusetts #northampton #landowner #livemusic #teacherfeature #thedrakeamherst  #community
Congratulations 🎉 to our graduates  Jeffrey ( Congratulations 🎉 to our graduates  Jeffrey (Peru), Azhar (Kazakhstan), Ruveyda (Turkey), Andrei (Russia) and Yasemin (Turkey). Every month we have an international potluck to celebrate our graduates. You might have seen Azhar’s cakes before, but the cake that she made, as you will say, is truly over the top! We are sad to say goodbye to the students, but excited about the next steps that they will be taking in their lives.

Cake by @_azhar_bakery 

#ili #internationallanguageinstitute #massachusetts #northampton #studentlife #azharbakery #potluck #education #internationalstudents #ialc #ialclanguages
“We must risk everything for the raw recipe of o “We must risk everything for the raw recipe of our passion” 

We had such an engaging afternoon at @parlorroommusic with ILI Board Member + former president of @gccgreenfield Bob Pura. Bob led a reading and discussion of his new book The Community’s College: The Pursuit of Democracy, Economic Development, and Success, which he co-wrote with Dr. Tara L. Parker. Audience members also got the chance to learn more about the process behind the creation of the book. 

Thank you for joining us! 📚

#ili #internationallanguageinstitute #massachusetts #bobpura #authorevent #reading #discussion #communitycollege #thecommunityscollege #northampton
Today Bob Pura and Tara Parker read from and lead Today Bob Pura and Tara Parker read from and lead a discussion of their book The Community’s College: The Pursuit of Democracy, Economic Development, and Success! 📚 Join us at @parlorroommusic at 2pm. 

In their book, The Community’s College: The Pursuit of Democracy, Economic Development, and Success, co-authors Dr. Robert L. Pura and Dr. Tara L. Parker explore the extraordinary impact of this country’s community colleges on people, communities, and our democratic traditions.

As the book’s foreword by Lynn Pasquerella, President of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, states: "[T]he analysis offered by Dr. Pura and Dr. Parker unveils how community colleges—distinctively American institutions—are more essential than ever to fulfilling our nation's historic mission of educating for democracy."

Pura, a member of the ILI board of directors, retired in 2018 as president of Greenfield Community College after 17+ years in that position. Parker is the recently appointed Dean of the College of Education and Human Development at UMass Boston.
 
#thecommunityscollege #authorevent #ili #bobpura #taraparker #theparlorroom #northampton #community
TOMORROW - Saturday, January 28th don't miss an Au TOMORROW - Saturday, January 28th don't miss an Author Reading & Discussion with Bob Pura + Tara Parker at @parlorroommusic at 2pm!

Bob Pura, former Greenfield Community College president (18 years) and now an ILI board member, was on the Bill Newman radio show yesterday discussing his new book. 

So many of our students have found success at @gccgreenfield . Here's a photo of all of ILI's students who were at GCC during Bob's last year...including former board member, Aimee Salmon. Aimee is at Mt. Holyoke and graduating this semester, Florice is at Tulane, Bene is at Smith, Orphee is at Western New England University, Flora just graduated from Western New England and is an electrical engineer in Connecticut and Lastone graduated from UMASS and works in Boston.

➡️Listen to the radio show here: https://whmp.com/podcasts/the-communitys-college/

#whmp #ili #thecommunityscollege #bobpura #taraparker #communitycollege #authorevent #northampton #internationallanguageinstitute #massachusetts
This past fall, ILI applied to #MassachusettsDepar This past fall, ILI applied to #MassachusettsDepartmentofElementaryandSecondaryEducation’s (DESE) competitive grant program to help fund our free English classes for immigrants and refugees. The hard work paid off. When DESE announced the recipients, ILI was on the list! ✨

“We were thrilled to get the good news,” said Macey Faiella, director of ILI’s English programs. “The pandemic shed new light on the disparities that face immigrants and refugees, and we reassessed our program to include greatly expanded offerings. DESE responded positively—all to the benefit of the students.” Starting this fall ILI will teach four levels of online and in-person evening classes and a new intensive in-person morning course. 

For 34 years, ILI has partnered with the state to provide free English classes in western Massachusetts. This award extends the partnership for an additional five years. It funds about two-thirds of the overall program. ILI is responsible for the remaining costs.

#ili #internationallanguageinstitute #massachusetts #dese #education #grant #nonprofit #freeenglishprogram #mass #community
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