The 13 J.F. Oberlin University students participating in the UTC English as a Second Language Institute visited the Hunter Museum of American Art in mid-March. Photo by Angela Foster.
The blog post was written by a college student who had been in the U.S. for barely a month.
“Hello My name is Hoshika,” the post began.
“On March 5, I went to Hamilton Place by bus. When I first got on the bus I have been watching my smart phone during the ride because I didn’t want to get a lost. However, this time I enjoyed towns and residential areas. Then I arrived at the Hamilton place, I ate pretzel. It was cinnamon taste and delicious. I will eat it next time. After that, I enjoyed shopping. I bought clothes and Japanese snack. I usually eat the snack in Japan so I am glad to eat here. I was very happy today. Next time, I want to buy something that only available in the USA.”
This semester, Hoshika and 12 other Japanese undergraduates from J.F. Oberlin University—a private four-year institution in the Tokyo suburb of Machida—are among 26 international students participating in the English as a Second Language Institute at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The students take classes in Lupton Hall from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday, with an hour built in for lunch, and another three hours of intensive vocabulary lessons on Friday mornings.
They live on campus in UTC residence halls, mainly with domestic roommates, immersing themselves in the U.S., Chattanooga and college-life cultures.
Friday afternoons and weekends are reserved for trips around town, and they often travel together as a pack exploring Chattanooga.
Takeo Suzuki, executive director of the UTC Center for Global Education, said the partnership with J.F. Oberlin began after he joined UTC in 2015.
“Every year, they send around 10 students here to study English,” Suzuki said, “but this is the first group to come here since COVID-19.
“They come here to develop and improve their language skills: Reading, writing, speaking, listening, all of that good stuff. And then they go out and get involved in a lot of activities.”
The ESL students received a tour of the Challenger STEM Learning Center. Photo by Angela Foster.
In their first month-plus on campus, the students volunteered at the UTC Children’s Center at Brown Academy, toured the UTC Challenger STEM (Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics) Learning Center and walked to the Hunter Museum of American Art. They even visited the World of Coca-Cola Museum in Atlanta.
“We have them write short blog posts about things they did over the last week, and they have to include at least two photos,” said ESL Program Coordinator Yvonne Dunham Slobodenko, who came to UTC in 2014. “I enjoy reading the posts because it’s a little bit of a window into what they’re doing when I’m not around them.”
Although often accompanied by Sydney Monk and Airada Sriwong—a pair of ESL student workers—during their treks around Chattanooga, the J.F. Oberlin students have already shown an affinity for getting around town on their own, making multiple public transportation excursions to Hamilton Place Mall and Wal-Mart.
“You have to be really brave to not be able to speak the language well and just get on the bus,” Slobodenko said. “I’m proud of them.
“I think that represents how brave and adventurous they are, just getting out there and doing things.”
The J.F. Oberlin students are blended into classes with students from other countries based on English proficiency levels. They mix in with UTC students thanks to experiential learning, volunteer requirements and being part of the college experience.
“They all have International Buddies,” Slobodenko explained, “one of our programs where international students are matched up with an American student or somebody connected with campus.
“They also have been very involved with the Asian Student Association, a new student group on campus. They have done a nice job connecting with them, which becomes a great chance to practice their English, too, and really step out.”
Suzuki said he’s enjoyed watching them quickly integrate into campus life.
“My pure hope is that these students also bring different cultures and perspectives for UTC students to enjoy,” he said.
An opportunity for the J.F. Oberlin students to share something of themselves comes on Tuesday, April 12, when they are the stars of a Center for Global Education-sponsored Global Spotlight event at Lupton Hall. Programs like the Global Spotlight and International Tea Time allow international students to share their traditions with the UTC community.
“We strongly encourage them to go to all of these events to practice their English by listening and seeing,” Slobodenko said. “It also connects the students with other people on campus to share their experiences.”
After not hosting Japanese students for a couple of years and a small number of overall program participants due to the pandemic, Slobodenko is enthusiastic about the broad growth in the future for the ESL Institute.
“We’re so excited to have these Japanese students here right now,” she said. “This is a good bumper semester, and if we can sustain 20 to 25 students, that would be great.”
