Venturing out on one’s own is a shared experience for students attending a university. For international students at the University of West Florida, moving to college comes with leaving home to experience school in the United States.
UWF teacher,Yen-Shan Lien, educates 11 international students from seven different countries in an Intensive English Program for International Affairs. Lien gives her students the knowledge they need to communicate using the English language while still being confident to embrace their own unique cultures.
The students have lived in the United States for anywhere from 1 month to 3 years. Some students will stay at this university for years and earn a degree, and some will eventually go back to the places they know as home.
Students expressed that while they miss the countries they call home, UWF has brought them many opportunities and a new view of American culture. They conversed about experiences with communicating that are unique to the United States.
“The people here are very polite and very kind,” Panamanian student Thaysbeth Tello said. “I like this because the people in my country are totally different. The people here help you with whatever you want, and that’s amazing.”
The students talked about their struggles with communicating in English to other people at UWF and the Pensacola area. Even though most international students come to college with experience in learning English, students report often freezing up when in conversation with other English-speaking students.
Lien’s class is designed to teach English-learning students writing, grammar, listening, speaking and reading while making their progress accomplishments to be proud of. The students have class Monday through Sunday for 4 hours and rotate between the aforementioned sections of their English education.
The students have homework every day and tests on what they have learned. They also participate in activities such as color exchange, in which students learn about the culture and languages of other international students.
UWF Vietnamese student, Huy Nguyen, explained some of his country’s traditions and demonstrated how to pronounce certain words.
“In Vietnam, for the Lunar New Year they have performances with a dragon suit that usually has two or three people in it,” Nguyen said. “They dance on a very high and thin column, and they play the drums. It is very dangerous.”
UWF also offers a coffee hour for international students to share their experiences in the U.S. and back home with those who have similar experiences. Many international students come to Pensacola for different reasons. Valentina Silva Pineda, a Colombian student at UWF, shared her inspiration to study at this university.
“I came here because my brother started here,” Pineda said. “I was traveling like this for months after high school, so he told me to come here to Pensacola to his University. If you like it, you can stay here. And I was not really sure if I wanted to be here at first, but I am here now.”
Since coming to the United States, the class has noticed many differences between here and their home countries. The main consensus among the students in the class was the difference in food: the amount and diversity.
The students mainly spoke about the abundance of fast food in the United States and the lack of styles of food from the countries they moved from. One of the students mentioned the prevalence of macaroni and cheese as a major source of food at American grocery stores.
“I prefer the food in Chile,” Chilean student Vanessa Martinez said. “Here, the people eat a lot of fast food. I like fast food, but not all of the time. I think the people here need more variety. The culture here is different in general. Here the people have a lot of different holidays. People here eat a lot of turkey, but people in Chile eat a lot of chicken for the holidays.”
Through their time in the class together, the students have built a closer bond with each other beyond classwork. Through both their unique and shared experiences, they can help each other in an unfamiliar place.
Lien offers an amazing opportunity for international students to grow in their education and expand their opportunities. The class looks forward to becoming more engaged on campus during their time at UWF.
