NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State University will offer an English for Everyday Living class, a basic English speaking/listening/writing class for the Natchitoches community. The course is non-credit and designed or adults whose first (native) language is not English.
The class is for people who use English every day to live and to work in the local community, the city and parish, said Dr. Jim Mischler, chair of the Department of English, Foreign Languages and Cultural Studies. Katie Rayburn, a student in NSU’s TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language) graduate program, will assist Mischler in the classroom and work with students individually.
“The motivation for developing the course is the number of phone calls I receive every year from people in the Natchitoches community, asking if our department offers a basic-level ESL [English Second Language] course for people who want to speak, listen and write in English better,” Mischler said. “We have not offered such a class previously, but the feedback I have received shows that there is a clear and consistent need for it. We are happy to provide a course that could serve the personal and workplace needs of the local community.”
The class will meet on campus two nights a week for eight weeks beginning Sept. 17. Participants will focus on learning English in conversation in writing for both formal and informal communication. Participants will learn to introduce themselves, describe things, people, places and events; ask and answer questions, take and give instructions and/or directions, counting and measurement. New vocabulary and grammar will be introduced each week and practiced. At the end of the course, each student will receive a detailed evaluation of their current English language skills and suggestions for future study.
The class will be held Mondays and Wednesdays in Kyser Hall Room 318 from 5:30-7:15 p.m. Sept. 17-Nov. 14. The fee is $49. Materials for the class will be discussed at the first session.
Students should register before the class by visiting checkout.nsula.edu. For more information on NSU’s non-credit programs, visit nsula.edu/ece/non-credit-programs or call (800) 376-2422 or (318) 357-6355. 
