In any language, new partnership will enrich student learning

With the looming decommissioning of Kruegel Hall this summer, its resident Intensive American Language Center (IALC) – where international students learn and polish their English and knowledge of American customs through beginner, undergraduate and graduate programs – needed to find a new home for its classrooms and Learning Support Center. IALC found its new home for classrooms and staff in Daggy Hall. The Learning Support Center found the ideal location through a partnership with CAS’s School of Languages, Cultures and Race, which runs the Language Learning Resource Center (aka Language Lab) in Thompson Hall.

Now WSU students will find synergy at play as those who primarily speak English and are taking foreign language classes avail the Language Lab services alongside international students learning English.

International Student and Scholar Services Director Dr. Kate Hellmann said, “Native speakers of different languages will be interacting with each other in the Language Lab, sharing cultures along with languages and gaining new perspectives on the world. They’ll find the Lab provides a safe and welcoming space for learning whether it be in English, French, German, Chinese or any of the multitude of languages spoken on campus.”

Academic English and academic tutoring services previously offered by IALC’s Learning Support Center (LSC) also transferred to the Language Lab. The LSC’s virtual desktop infrastructure, which was funded by a Student Technology Fee secured by the International Students’ Council, supplements the Lab’s significant network of computers, printers, projectors, software and other technology essential to language learning.

“As international travel resumes for education abroad and international enrollments rebound across WSU, this partnership offers a unique opportunity to share language in person among both international students learning English and SLRC students learning languages spoken by international students,” Hellman said.

“This partnership provides a nexus for language and cultural exchange that can benefit both groups of students,” Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo, Director of the School of Languages, Cultures and Race said.

Across the system, WSU counts approximately 1,850 international students and scholars from over 135 countries in any given year. SLCR has over 300 students majoring, minoring or getting certificates in at least one language.