INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING Administration Building, Suite 136 355 N. Lansing Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-2896 317-274-7711 Fax: 317-274-5457

WEST AFRICAN STUDENTS COME TO IUPUI TO POLISH ENGLISH, COMPUTER SKILLS

INDIANAPOLIS - Twenty-two seniors from a West African university are polishing their professional English and computer skills at IUPUI, a move that will translate into business success in their home country.

Students from the National Polytechnic Institute of Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) on Friday (Nov. 2) will complete an intensive, three-week English for Specific Purposes course with the Indiana Center for Intercultural Communications (ICIC), part of the School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI.

The students are accounting, insurance, and logistics and transport majors who have had extensive English language training in their French-speaking native country, and therefore, have general reading and conversational English skills. Their IUPUI class is designed to make them more proficient English communicators within the global business marketplace.

"They are here to develop professional English skills," said ICIC assistant director and IUPUI professor Aymerou Mbaye. "English has become the No. 1 global language for business. They will need to be proficient in it in order to succeed in their career fields."

The English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses offered by the ICIC differ from English as a Second Language instruction in that they teach specialized business skills as opposed to general-purpose English speaking skills. For example, the course for the Ivory Coast students includes instruction in business writing, understanding business jargon, and the use of computers to enhance professional communication.

"ESL is for general purposes, to go shopping, to discuss things with an international host," said Mbaye, a native of Senegal. "You need English for Specific purposes if you are a business man meeting with other business people. The idea is that you may be a native speaker of English, but not be able to understand the (professional) jargon. ESP gives you the jargon."

The Ivory Coast students are staying with host families in Indianapolis. Their stay in the United States has given them the opportunity to develop their English fluency outside classroom settings and experience American culture, student Kanon Julien said. The ICIC program's afternoon computer lab sessions are also very valuable, he said.

"Here we have an opportunity to use the computer in our classes. If you want to use a computer in the Ivory Coast, if you want to connect with the Internet you have to pay (a local entrepreneur)," Julien said.

The Ivory Coast students are the first group of African students to participate in a program at the IUPUI Center, ICIC Director Ulla Connor said. Previously, ICIC has hosted students from Asian and European countries.

Note to Editors: Reporters and photographers are invited to interview the Ivory Coast students during classes Thursday and Friday, Nov. 1 and 2. To arrange an interview, call Diane Brown at (317) 274-7711.

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