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July 8, 2015August 20, 2018

Program Spotlight – Community Service Recognition

Serving the local community is an important part of life for many international students at San Diego State University’s American Language Institute (ALI).

To acknowledge those who are volunteering regularly, the ALI recently launched a Community Service Recognition program. Students who consistently make a difference in the community now earn an embossed seal on their academic certificate or on a letter of recognition.

Jesus Carrillo from Colombia has been actively involved in community service for many years. During his time as a student at the ALI, he has served food at St. Vincent de Paul Village that provides temporary housing to those in need, volunteered with Boys and Girls Clubs, helped to restore Chollas Creek, and danced with senior adults at the College Avenue Center.

“Before I came to San Diego, I knew that ALI was promoting volunteering activities,” he said. “It was not difficult for me to accept the invitation from the Student Life office and its team. I am very surprised about the commitment of these people, as well as the diversity of partners they have. Besides the volunteering, activities promote sharing with students from all over the world and improving English skills.”

Fellow Colombian Claudia Toca has participated in activities such as canyon restoration, community garden maintenance, health and wellness programs for San Diego-area youths, and serving meals at St. Vincent de Paul. She also took part in volunteer projects before attending the ALI.

“In my present and future, these kind of activities help me to feel satisfaction and tranquility,” she said. “These activities are part of my social and environmental consciousness.”

The Community Service Recognition program is available to students in the following programs: Intensive English for Communication (IEC), International Business English (IBE), Social Entrepreneurship (SE), English for Academic Purposes (EAP), Pre-MBA and Pre-Master’s, and Semester at SDSU.

Alan Schuchman, the ALI Student Life Coordinator, oversees the ALI community service program. He said that the ALI takes its inspiration from SDSU’s strategic plan and the goal of being a good neighbor to the surrounding community.

“We see how eager our students are to do positive things while they’re here and we’re happy to connect them with projects organized by local nonprofits,” Schuchman explained. “The students are directly involved; they connect with local residents and develop real-life communication skills. As they help build a better community, it’s clear their lives are also being enhanced.”

February 24, 2015August 21, 2018

Feature Story – Around California

When students attend the American Language Institute (ALI) at San Diego State University, they are going to school at a beautiful location in California with many fun places nearby to visit.

Lots of students love to visit the beaches that stretch for miles. For an entire day of activity, they may also visit such tourist attractions as the San Diego Zoo, Sea World, Safari Park, and Legoland California.

There are numerous other places within driving distance in California, including Los Angeles (two hours away) and San Francisco (about an eight-hour drive).

Las Vegas, Nevada, a popular tourist destination, is about a five-hour drive. The Grand Canyon in Arizona is within a long day’s drive.

The ALI offers many trips to its students through various local companies. Aztec Adventures on the San Diego State campus also hosts numerous excursions.

ALI student Natalia Mityushina, an International Business English (IBE) student from Russia, drove to San Francisco along with five friends from the ALI. She described her group as “six people in one car with jokes, music, long talks, and fun, fun, fun!”

“San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities in the world,” she said. “It’s small, but has its own charisma and style. It’s not like other American cities; it’s more European. Also, in San Francisco you can find a lot of stuff to do and to see like the Golden Gate Bridge and Pier 39. Just to walk around is nice, and you see lots of colorful districts.”

Her group also enjoyed riding the cable car (an open train trolley). She said it was interesting to stand up all the way while riding the cable car.

Natalia added that a big part of the adventure was the car trip. “I totally recommend to do a road trip through California State Route 1. It’s an amazing route: the road runs between the ocean and mountains.”

Sibel Can Uzun from Turkey, an IEC/IBE student, took the short drive to Los Angeles.

“When I went to LA, I was walking on the Hollywood Boulevard and everybody was taking pictures with the stars. I did the same,” she said. “Lots of people were wearing costumes like Spider-Man and Captain Jack Sparrow. My favorite was Captain Jack Sparrow because I love (actor) Johnny Depp.

“A lot of tourists were there, too, in front of the Chinese Theater taking pictures. I looked at all the famous artists’ names. It was amazing.”

Amy Sakurai is an IEC student from Japan who visited the Grand Canyon, a spectacular place to see in northern Arizona.

“I really loved the Grand Canyon,” she said. “It was so amazing. I went there with SDSU friends and spent three nights together during the Thanksgiving holiday. We talked and laughed a lot. I have a lot of good memories from there.”

The same can be said for so many ALI students who take advantage of the wonderful areas that surround San Diego, California.

February 18, 2015June 18, 2020

Staff Profile – Chad Schempp – ALI Recruiting Director

Chad Schempp has certainly been well served by tennis in his career path, and it all began by playing on a California state championship team at Vista High School.

He moved on to UC Santa Barbara, where he chose to focus on his studies and not play tennis at the collegiate level.

Even so, he still kept interested in tennis. And being at UC Santa Barbara ultimately led him to SDSU’s American Language Institute where he has been the ALI recruiting director since September.

During Schempp’s junior year of college, he participated in Semester at Sea, where students sailed around the world for five months and made stops in 14 countries. Their assignment: Explore each country for several days, come back onboard the ship and write research papers for classes concerning the country they just visited.

“I had a passion to work with international students from that point on,” he said. “That’s what has led me to my current job and related jobs.”

Upon graduating from college, he worked for a government insurance office in downtown Sydney, Australia. But the tennis bug never left him, so his next job was teaching tennis in Saipan, a commonwealth of the United States near Guam.

Schempp went from there to Japan, where he still had visions of teaching tennis on a full-time basis. But a technicality prevented him from getting a work visa teaching tennis, so he taught English to obtain his work visa and taught tennis in the evenings and on weekends.

“I started to enjoy teaching English more than tennis,” said Schempp, who worked as an associate professor at a Japanese junior college teaching and advising students who desired to study abroad.

After that, he was recruited to help create and teach at an in-house language school for 2,000 General Electric employees in Japan.

From there, it was back to San Diego County as director of an international student program at Mira Costa College in Oceanside. Around that time, he married his wife who is from Japan, so they decided to move to Hawaii in order to be halfway between their two families. While there, he worked as director of graduate admissions for Hawaii Pacific University.

The Schempps then decided to move back from Hawaii five months ago to be closer to his entire family that lives in San Diego. And speaking of family, Chad said there is nothing like the family atmosphere at the ALI.

“People here are unbelievably friendly,” he said. “I’m impressed and surprised by how long people have worked here on average. When I went to the (SDSU) staff awards luncheon, I was surrounded by fellow employees who had been here 20 years or more. People obviously enjoy it, which is great.”

November 15, 2014August 21, 2018

ALI Students Give Back to the Community

Students at the American Language Institute (ALI) come to San Diego State University to improve their English language skills and prepare themselves for success in the future. Before returning home, many choose to give back by participating in community service projects.

Victor Alsaeed from the small Middle Eastern country of Qatar is a perfect example.

Alongside other ALI students, he has participated in activities ranging from serving food to residents at St. Vincent de Paul Village to picking up coastal debris with I Love A Clean San Diego to filling planter boxes at the College Area Community Garden.

All the while, Alsaeed said he is giving as well as taking back. In the process of doing community projects, ALI students are also working closely with Americans and learning how to improve their English through verbal communication with fellow volunteers.

“As Martin Luther King had a dream, we have a dream to speak English as American students,” Alsaeed said. “It’s my pleasure to serve the community. It’s a good use of your time. It helps with your speaking and listening, too.”

Among his favorite outings was the Aztec Unity Project. Planned by SDSU Student Life and Leadership, the program involved volunteering with fellow ALI and main campus students at the Salvation Army Kroc Center’s Boo Bash. The group spent half a day organizing Halloween-themed activities for local families and children.

“I made new friends; not just ALI students but San Diego State students,” Alsaeed said. “It’s a good way to break the ice. ALI students are sometimes shy to speak English. We stayed close to the SDSU students and learned how to speak the same language.”

Eun Hee Cho from Korea is another example of an ALI student helping out in the San Diego community. She has taken part in many of the same projects as Alsaeed.

“I like the saying ‘No man is an island.’ If there is somebody who needs help, I want to share what I have. I also want to keep our nature clean for the community and for the next generation,” Cho said.

She also spent a weekend as part of the Aztec Unity Project where ALI students joined their peers from the main campus cleaning up trash from the banks of the San Diego River. The day before their clean-up effort, the group participated in a series of team-building exercises to ensure their work together would be enjoyable.

“I participated in the Aztec Unity Project for the same reason as other projects; I wanted to help the community. The only difference was that we discussed our project after volunteering,” she said.

Alan Schuchman, the ALI Student Life Coordinator, oversees the volunteer program. He said that the ALI takes its inspiration from SDSU’s five-year strategic plan and its aim to be a good neighbor to the surrounding community.

Starting in spring 2015, ALI students will receive recognition on their program certificates for volunteering on a consistent basis, he noted.

“It’s heartening to see our students take the extra step to help others,” he said. “They’re not just students in school; they’re engaging with all kinds of people and

November 13, 2014August 21, 2018

Program Spotlight – Business English Certificates

Business English and Business English Certificates

The Intensive English for Communication (IEC) program through the American Language Institute at SDSU will offer two content-based English language programs during the spring semester designed for students and professionals who want to develop and improve their practical English skills as well as study business English.

The ongoing International Business English (IBE) content-based language program is designed for students with intermediate to advanced English-language proficiency and a high level of commitment. This course is for students and professionals interested in improving their general business knowledge and learning more about American business practices as they relate to business around the world.

A new Social Entrepreneurship (SE) content-based language program will also be offered in spring tailored to students with high-intermediate to advanced English proficiency who want to learn about creating businesses that solve social problems.

“We have a great environment to create a program like this,” said Kelly Shah, ALI program director, noting that SDSU has been ranked No. 18 by FORBES on its list of “America’s Most Entrepreneurial Universities.”

As part of this new program, students gain membership into the SDSU Entrepreneur Society and are able to take advantage of SDSU’s Entrepreneur Center & Incubator. Students will take a variety of social entrepreneurship and business content classes in English instruction with a curriculum incorporating case studies, guest speakers, on-campus resources, and technology. There will also be field trips where these international students can witness real-life experiences in the United States.

In contrast, the IBE program offers more variety of levels than SE. Students in the program are allowed to observe SDSU business classes, and some students from both IBE and SE will even transfer into a Semester at SDSU program.

IBE and SE students have the opportunity to follow one of three tracks depending on their length of stay. Students who successfully complete a session (eight weeks in fall and spring, six weeks in summer) receive a Certificate of Recognition. Those who successfully complete a term (two sessions) earn a Certificate of Achievement. Students who enroll for a period shorter than a session are eligible for an IEC certificate with specialization in Business English.

Carlo Portman from Switzerland is a perfect example of an ALI student who has benefited from the IBE program. He will utilize his studies to work in an internship at a Swiss bank upon returning home.

“The program really helped me to explain and understand opinions in English,” he said. “For people to understand Business English, they need to understand the idioms and expressions. I can take these back home with me and use them with business partners.”

The same will be said by SE students when the program comes into existence in spring 2015.

September 8, 2011August 24, 2018

Staff Profile – Lynnette Torres – Academic Advisor and Marketing Assistant

Lynnette Torres has worked for ALI for almost four years and her experiences have shaped her understanding of living and studying abroad. She knows all about being a new face in a different country. She worked abroad with the Jet Program. “I moved to Japan and worked there for two years teaching English at elementary and junior high schools. I taught English for two years in Chichibu Saitama. It’s a city about an hour and half north of Tokyo,” says Torres.

Coming back to the states was a big culture shock, “I wanted to integrate my overseas experience with work, so I decided to work in education. When I returned in 2007, it wasn’t long before I found the American Language Institute.” Since she traveled all over Asia she feels that her experience has given her insight to be the academic adviser for ALI she is today.

ALI is a place of diverse people, as are Torres’s observations of the students she helps. She works for the academic program assisting students to gain entrance to universities and helping them with the application process. She says it’s important to get all the information for the scholastic journey ahead.

Her invaluable time teaching in Japan gives her the ability to relate to students. Lynnette says, “It’s nice to talk with students and share their experiences. I enjoy working here and seeing all the people from different cultures. With any country, there are cultural differences and experiencing living abroad helps when relating to the students.”

Lynnette’s advice is to be prepared to study the language. She adds that students may not get all the information they need back home, and that a lot of research will help.

March 1, 2011August 28, 2018

A Journey from Saudi Arabia to San Diego – Two Generations, One School

In a home in Saudi Arabia last year, a father (Ghusson) and son (Faisal) were both excited and nervous. Faisal’s acceptance letter to study in the U.S. had arrived. That excitement turned to total shock, when Faisal got the good news — he was accepted to be a part of the 2010 San Diego State University American Language Institute (ALI) English program.

The ALI has been teaching students for many years. It has welcomed many students from over 115 different countries for 37 years; however, it has never had two generations of family members attend the same program. Until now.

“I knew he was applying to schools, but I had no idea he applied to SDSU. When he told me I couldn’t have been more proud,” says Ghusson. “And when I told Faisal I went to SDSU in the 80s, well he was surprised.”

“Yeah, I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it was the same school. He started telling me about where he lived and other small things like how to pronounce ‘El Cajon.’ My father told me before I came here, ‘Don’t say El Ca-joan,” laughs Faisal.

Ghusson and Faisal recently reunited (Faisal has been in the U.S. for several months) on SDSU’s campus and discovered that yet their experiences in the classroom were very similar, the surroundings changed a bit. “The campus is completely different, but the beautiful garden is the same,” Ghusson explains. “It’s very emotional – I’m happy I can share a good education with my family. I knew ALI’s culture and they are like a family and my son is in safe hands.”

They have done a lot during their visit. Faisal showed his father downtown, which is something Ghusson hadn’t seen during his time in San Diego, and they spent some time at the Bay. Faisal has an American roommate and his family mentioned that when his father came to town that they all should go out to dinner. So they did. Faisal adds, “My roommate’s family lives in San Diego, so they all spoke about San Diego 30 years ago and mentioned things we didn’t know.” All agreed it was a great night of learning, sharing, and making new friends.

When father and son discuss their first day in the U.S., Faisal says that his first day was memorable to say the least, “I was like a little kid who went into a toy store where he’s just exploring the place, watching everything. I had never been to the U.S. before so everything was like a dream, a new experience.”

Ghusson mentions that the city’s reputation extends around the world. “San Diego is a beautiful city, and ALI and SDSU have a great reputation in Saudi Arabia. SDSU is known to provide an excellent education.”

The conversation continues and switches to learning English, and Faisal chuckles about how his English has changed since arriving at the ALI, “If we had this conversation when I first came here, we’d probably be here for two hours just so I could explain myself. My roommate helps me when I have difficulties, especially writing.”

Faisal also provides advice for those who are studying English. “I tell my friends that sometimes I don’t have a problem communicating [English] with people. By the end they will understand what I’m trying to say. Start thinking in English, don’t think in Arabic. When you wake up in the morning, don’t think in Arabic, ‘I will go take a shower, get my coffee, and go to school.’”

So what does the future hold for Faisal? Well, his father has an answer for that, “I want my son to earn a degree and come back home of course. Use his knowledge he learns here, since he is getting a good English education. I haven’t used my English in probably 15 years, and as you can see I can still speak English. It shows you I got a good education.”

Today, Ghusson is back in Saudi Arabia and Faisal is planning to pursue a degree at an American university in business administration. As for the ALI, it will be here when Faisal decides to send the third generation of Azizs to learn English at SDSU.