Matthew Loriso
Staff Writer

This August marked the start of the ELS Language Center at the University of La Verne.

The Center is one of over 40 locations around the world. They act as a location for students to become more proficient at the English language.

This particular center was originally located at Chapman University.

ULV officials, including Director of the International and Study Abroad Center Phil Hofer, participated in conversations with ELS Language Centers. Their conversations dealt with moving the ELS center from Chapman to ULV.

ULV’s liaison to ELS, Jeffery Nonemaker, transferred from the ULV Athens campus in September to take the job.

The ELS center uses classrooms in Leo Hall to hold language sessions. There are 13 sessions throughout the year, with one starting every four weeks. The first was on August 15, the day the Center opened.

The sessions deal with teaching a range of English classes.

“[Students] begin with level 101 and complete with 112,” Hofer said. “If students complete level 112 successfully, they may begin ULV academic programs if the student is admitted to the University.”

Aside from helping teach foreign student English, there are additional benefits for opening the center.

“ELS provides recruitment support with its some 700 recruiting agents world-wide,” Hofer said. “We expect that international students will hear about ULV through the ELS recruitment efforts.”

The inclusion of the ELS classes also helps ULV financially.

“ELS pays for use of our facilities and they use them during a part of the day when space on our campus is most available,” Hofer said.
The addition of new foreign students adds diversity to the ULV campus, which is another bonus.

This semester, around 30 students have signed up for the center’s sessions. The same center at Chapman usually had between 60 and 70 students. During the busiest summer sessions at Chapman, up to 220 students signed up.

Because the center just opened there was a small number of students participating in this fall’s sessions.

“[For a new center], 30 students is a good number,” said ELS Center Director Yongmi Han.

The offices for the ELS Center are located on the second floor of the Lordsburg Building.

Matthew Loriso can be reached at mloriso@ulv.edu.