History of Adult ESOL

The English as a Second Language program was initiated in 1978, in which it served permanent residents, refugees, temporary visa students and amnesty students. Originally most of the people that were being served were refugees that left their country to get away from communism and war.

Along with the development and the varying needs of the community the program later offered various supportive services. Some of the services that were provided were a school bus system that picked up students living in the Provo city boundaries; an outreach person who had the responsibility to search out amnesty individuals, make them aware of services offered in the area, and help them with the process of applying to become a permanent resident; career and /or vocational counselor for permanent residents, refugees and amnesty students. These services were provided to facilitate the main objective of the program, self-sufficiency, and to enable students to reach their highest educational goals.

Due to the increase in diversity of the area other services were added to the program. Along with the six-level program an intensive ESL program was offered by Provo School District that was designed for students who needed to pass the TOEFL or Michigan tests for college entrance. The program was also authorized to issue I-20s in 1983, in which it became the first school district allowed to issue I-20s. In addition to that there was an in-home volunteer program were a regular ESL teacher had the additional assignment of recruiting, training and placing volunteer tutors who went directly into the homes of refugee and amnesty students to teach English and Community Orientation lessons. This program operated as described until 1993.

In the last 10 years the demographics in Provo City and Utah Valley have changed. We have experienced a 200 % increment of immigrants in our communities, mostly from Latin America. Therefore, our services have changed. We are offering ESL classes days and evenings in various schools throughout the Provo School District, in which we offer childcare with certain evening classes. Our classes are spread throughout Provo City in 6 elementary schools, 2 middle schools and 1 High School, also with the support of Provo City Library who provides space for ESL classes at their building. Our program is no longer authorized to issue I-20 visas or any other kind of visas. Our focus has now become the community; this program offers services to members of our community and other neighboring cities.