English Language Center Programs Celebrate and Support Japanese Students

English Language Center Programs Celebrate and Support Japanese Students

Throughout the year, Wilkes welcomes Japanese students to campus from three different partner universities to provide a study abroad opportunity through the English Learning Center (ELC). During the fall and spring semesters, students come from Tamagawa University and Kanagawa University. In the summers, students come from International Christian University (ICU). This past summer, we welcomed 15 students - an increase of students over recent years.

ICU works with five study abroad programs around the world, but Wilkes is their only American partner. ICU students choose their study abroad institution from those five. Wilkes has been ranked No. 1 among ICU's program partners for the last three years.

Director of the ELC, Kimberly Niezgoda, EdD, is not surprised by that ranking. Niezgoda explains the strengths of Wilkes offerings, including no-pressure options for international students to audit undergraduate classes without being graded. In addition to their academic programs, Niezgoda ensures that the students experience American culture in a variety of ways through day trips, excursions, branching out into the local community meeting new people, going to the movies, shopping, bowling and trying new food at different restaurants.

According to Niezgoda, a favorite excursion is their trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Each time, she takes the students to visit a particular Amish family to see their way of life. "It is their favorite trip because there is nothing else like it in the world," Niezgoda says. "For me, I developed a relationship with this Amish family. When I started these trips, they had four kids and now they're up to eight, so I've gotten to know the family and see their children grow."

A staple activity in the summer is the ELC International Festival. The entire campus community is invited to come together to celebrate our diverse international students by learning from them as they share their cultures, traditions and foods. It is also an occasion that builds connections. This past festival featured students from Great Britain and Japan. They showcased different customs, with Japanese students translating English names into Japanese while teaching the history of the yukata, English students serving traditional English tea with biscuits and much more.

"This festival unites campus in a way I haven't seen before. So many departments and programs come together," says Niezgoda. "The international students care so much about their culture and sharing it with everyone that they plan and pack everything ahead of time and bring it all with them to Wilkes."

To mark the end of summer, ELC hosts a graduation ceremony to celebrate the students and their accomplishments. They begin as overwhelmed students in English 101, but by August, they are elated and proud of themselves. "It's amazing to watch the students from where they start to end, and the impact they've had on campus and the number of people who come and support them," says Niezgoda.

Niezgoda, who is also the program coordinator of the master's program in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) and English Language Specialist for the U.S. Department of State, emphasizes that ELC's goal is to not only expose international students to new ideas and cultures, but to provide quality support while they study at Wilkes.

Much of this support comes from current Wilkes students. Two essential pieces to this support system are the "buddies" and the "conversation partners." Several Honors Program students volunteer to help these students acclimate to campus life in America by dedicating their time to be a buddy or a partner. The role of a conversation partner is to spend time with the international students at least once a week so they can practice speaking English. For buddies, it is a more immersive commitment. In addition to conversation practice, they participate in activities and trips with the international students. This buddy system not only inspires fun and learning but shows the students a warm welcome right at the start when they travel to the airport to pick up students and bring them to campus for the first time.

"Getting to share new experiences with people is very fulfilling for me. Being able to be a part of someone's new experience in a new country is rewarding," says Liz Keller from Aston, Pennsylvania. Keller, a senior political science major minoring in legal studies and history, says her connection to being a buddy is also deeply rooted in her study abroad experience at Tamagawa University. "Being in a class with Japanese students and American students, learning things from Tamagawa's professors and also getting to make friends with people from all over was very special," says Keller. "One of my conversation partners from last year was there at Tamagawa, so I got to see her again."

For the conversation partners, the goal is to spend at least one hour a week helping them practice their English. But, as Madalyn Thomas, a double major in mechanical engineering and engineering management points out, both international students and their conversation partners benefit from the experience.

"With engineering, there's four major disciplines, and I'm also pursuing engineering management. So now, this is giving me an international perspective," says Thomas. "It's making me more of a well-rounded person. I'm able to see things differently and it makes collaboration more easy and effective." Thomas, from Dallas, Pennsylvania, meets weekly with her partner, and when they're feeling particularly homesick, she will take them to find something more familiar, like a local Ramen restaurant in town that "tastes just like home."

For brothers Luke and Erik Mauro, both PharmD and MBA majors from Milford, Pennsylvania, being buddies and partners is about improving social skills, friendships and their mutual love of Japanese culture. Through the University's partnership with Tamagawa University, Kanagawa University and ICU, Wilkes students can study abroad through the Japanese partner schools' language and culture programs in the summer.

The Mauros have been to Japan twice, studying at both Kanagawa University and Tamagawa University. "The one thing on my mind since returning from Japan this summer is how I can go back," says Erik Mauro, who is also minoring in chemistry. Next summer, the brothers plan to return to Japan and study at ICU.

"Tamagawa lasted for two weeks in the summer, and Kanagawa four weeks. Both experiences were amazing, as the Japanese students and teachers showed great hospitality towards you no matter your Japanese level," says Luke Mauro. "In both programs, I was able to go on trips to famous locations, participate in cultural experiences and make new friends with Japanese and international students alike."

Niezgoda and the University continue to strengthen the partnerships with Kanagawa, Tamagawa and ICU. The common goal is to impact all students at Wilkes and abroad, expanding their perspectives through education and immersion in different cultures.

Overall, this fall semester, Wilkes welcomed 34 international students including two exchange students from Japan and the United Kingdom; 19 English Language Center students; 10 short-term from Japan, one from Mexico; one from Vietnam, two from Saudi Arabia; one from China; one from Honduras; three from the Dominican Republic; four graduate students from Vietnam, India and Kenya; and 11 undergraduate students from Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Italy and Serbia. The current number of international students overall at Wilkes totals 74.

"I watch their lives change. It is the greatest gift of all," says Niezgoda. "Their cultural knowledge increases and their worldviews change, especially for those who haven't left home. They are transformed, and that's what it's all about."