This fall, English at Work’s Executive Director, Maile Broccoli-Hickey, had the privilege of working with two groups of students from the University of Texas’ McCombs School of Business. Each group chose English at Work from a list of local nonprofits who sought help increasing revenue, developing a competitive advantage, and planning events, among other things.
Maile is pictured above with students from Professor Eugene Sepulveda’s Community Development Consulting course. The students were charged with researching whether English at Work can increase the fees it currently charges employers to host a class. After meeting with four host businesses, the group found that half of the employers would be willing to pay more, whereas the other half indicated that paying more to host an English class is not currently possible. While businesses and students gave English at Work the highest possible rating in surveys and interviews, they also shared the following suggestions with the McCombs group:
– courses should last longer than 6 weeks,
– incorporate class activities for different types of learners, and
– include cultural lessons in each course.
The Community Development Consulting group went beyond what was expected of them and also helped English at Work launch its Guest Speaker initiative. This project brings successful immigrant community members to English at Work classes to discuss strategies for learning English and commend students on their dedication. Professor Sepulveda’s students arranged for Professor Jose Montiel, from UT’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese, to visit the organization’s class at the Omni Hotel. Professor Montiel’s visit was a great success. Check back with this site next week for a summary of his comments.
Many thanks to Jesse, Paula, Dora, Fernando, and Professor Sepulveda for their great work!
English at Work’s Program Manager, Dawn Allen, and Maile with business students.
The other group that consulted with English at Work this fall was from Professor Mihran Aroian’s class in the Management Department at McCombs. These students investigated how English at Work can expand beyond the service industry in 2008. After months of research and a few visits to English at Work classes, the group concluded that the next industry the organization should target is construction. This suggestion was based on the following information:
– construction will be adding the highest number of jobs in the near future,
– it employs the most number of immigrants out of all Austin industries, and
– construction companies have a lot to gain from an English-proficient workforce.
The group made suggestions as to how to market to the construction industry and even made a brochure for English at Work to use in both English and Spanish. Like their Community Development Consulting colleagues, the Management group exceeded expectations by going on to develop a plan for English at Work’s expansion at the state and national level. Also, since several members of the group speak Farsi, they helped translate the organization’s fall fundraiser invitation so that our Iranian students could come to the October event.
A thousand thanks to Shapour, Pegah, Sanam, Shehzila, Jonathan, and Professor Aroian for their hard work!