Our last day in Birmingham started with a trip to South and City College. This is one of 8 campuses around Birmingham. Here we sat down and discussed the system of this college and how the education system is run in the United States.
One of the biggest differences with this school and the American Education system is, this school is fully dedicated to ESOL. (English as a Second Language or Foreign Language) In the United States many schools have ELL (English language Learners) but the amount of students who need ELL are lower in my area. This lower number leads to a different set up. Rather than a whole school there is either one or two teachers who are dedicated to that subject only. They pull students from the class to assist them with their language skills. In the one class we were discussing our system and how different they are. The class was surprised there was limited access to ESOL in the areas around us. This concept should be implemented in the United States. The college here is designed to help transition to University or the Workforce. Something that America has very little of and it’s more up to the individual to figure out what they need when continuing their education.
At this school specifically they have adults who are in search of learning English. This is something very foreign to me. I really believe we should adopt this in America so we can have more resources for immigrants in our area. This school was full of different levels of English learners. Even within one class they had multiple levels. We sat in with students who were advanced and very beginners. Their system had multiple levels to decide where they fall. Starting off is pre-entry which are people who just moved here or have very little to no English. Then it went up in order as Entry 1,2,3 then they switched to levels 1,2 then they can go for their GCSE exams at the end. These exams are their way of getting into University in the following years.
In the first classroom that we went to, the students were learning English so they could get a job as plumbers. This was in the middle of the pack for the language levels. They were going over grammar and the main was about prepositions. This lesson about prepositions is more and more about primary education because it was the same. The second class we went to was for students who wanted to pursue an education in IT. Each class has such a diverse group of students. We got into a discussion of languages and how students at this school know up to 4 languages. It made me want to learn more languages because in America we don’t have such a strong emphasis on learning a new language. That’s one failing in our education system in my opinion. We focus only on English and don’t expand our insight outside of the United States. Our last lesson was with students who were pre entry, meaning boys had pretty much zero previous experience with English. This class very similiar to how elementary classes are run. They are given spelling lists each week for them to study. Each week has a theme to their spelling lists. Today was about clothes, we watched as the teacher distributed the tests and repeated the words for the students to write out. There was one boy who was so funny. He would repeatedly ask us if he had spelt the words wrong. Of course we responded with an I don’t know. Which made him chuckle.
This school has no age limit, it is run as a college. All they must do is apply to the school and get into certain programs. While walking the halls and being in the classrooms, the study body was very diverse age wise. The end of our trip concluded with a tour of their vocational sites. We saw brick laying, tile work, a motor vehicle section and lots of plumbing. This is very similar to what we have back in America. I am not very hands on, but if I were to be one of those students, it had so many working pieces that really give them so much experience and training.
We are currently on the bus to London. I am so excited for the rest of our trip. We have dinner tonight then tons planned for tomorrow. Including a couple museums and tourist spots. I am very sad to know there are only two days left. I love everybody on this trip and am forever grateful for this opportunity and all we have learned. A final shout out to Ana! Come visit Pittsburgh!!
