English Programs at universities in Seattle & Portland

UW Intensive English Program
University of Washington has 7 English language programs. The coordinator recommended the “Short-term English Program Courses (STEP) Three-week intensive courses on the University of Washington campus”. It has 3 sessions, and he suggested us to take second one because there are many international students. Most students are Japanese in third one, so if you want to study English hard, you should choose second one. It coasts about $2,254. Most Japanese students are good at grammar, but it is not good at writing as a grammar skill. By taking classes, students need critical thinking, and their writing skill will get better. Also, their listening skill gets better really fast because of the environment. (by Aya)

Judy Reed introduced the Intensive English Language Program at Portland State University to us. The largest groups studying English at PSU are currently Saudi Arabians, Japanese, (South) Korean, African, Chinese, Taiwanes, and Vietnamese. Therefore, we can see the students from various countries at this university. (However, the numbers of Japanese students is decreasing, after 9-11.) On the other hand, the numbers of Saudi Arabians is increasing, especially.The national policy of Saudi Arabian force their English skills to improve to graduate ones in only one year. Generally, it seemes to be impossible. However, Saudi Arabian students' motivation is very high and they worked hard, so their English skills improved to graduate level in one year. Japanese students tend to be good at grammar, but poor at speaking. Teachers motivate such students by giving opportunities to speak English many times in the class. Judy's English speaking was so clear for us to listen and understand, so I learned from her, "language teacher should speak the language, which he/she teach students, clearly and slowly to listen for the students who start to study the language." (by Rie M.)