LANGUAGE LABS INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION
Note: Application for Fall 2022 instructor has been closed. For more information on Spring 2023 application, please contact isl@uga.edu.
ISL is seeking current UGA students to serve as Language Lab instructors for fall semester 2023.
Language Labs will provide current international students at UGA a comfortable and reoccurring venue to practice their American-English language skills and to ask questions to clarify points of confusion related to the complicated nature and nuance of the American-English language. Further, this program helps introduce international students to various American cultural concepts to assist in their tranistion and adjustment to UGA and the U.S. The main goals of Language Labs are:
Goal 1: Developing Social Capital
Social hurdles for international students are mainly due to (1) language barriers and (2) challenges understanding American cultural references. When international students are in social settings with their American peers, pop-culture references and jargon tend to quickly disconnect these two groups of students. The Language Labs program doesn’t aim to educate international student participants on all American pop-culture references, but it will strive to provide some foundational examples and provide useful tips for how international students can continue to educate themselves on American pop-cultural terms and references.
Goal 2: Classroom Confidence = Academic Success
International students have expressed confusion in the classroom setting when professors and fellow students use American-centric terms or jargon to teach class content. The Language Labs program creates a space where international students can bring questions around certain American-cultural or American-English terms they hear in the classroom setting for clarification. Ultimately, the goal of Language Labs is to help build international student confidence related to American culture and the English language so they can engage with peers in academic group-work settings more effectively.
Program Details
- This program is free and open to all international students enrolled at UGA.
- Language Labs will begin in September 2022 and run on a monthly-basis through the end of classes in May 2022. Instructors selected for fall 2022 will be given the option to return for spring 2023.
- Up to three Language Lab rooms will be available each month (on the same date/time) and each room will have at least one instructor. Instructors are current international and/or American student volunteers who have been selected by the Department of International Student Life (ISL).
- Each Language Lab room will have no more than 20 international student participants in order to keep the experience as individualized and comfortable as possible. If student interest in the program warrants, additional rooms and instructors will be provided by ISL to meet the demand.
- Involvement is based on student interest and availability – meaning student participants can choose to come to as many or as few language labs as they wish.
- While each monthly Language Lab will have a theme or topic that the instructor will briefly teach, the majority of the time will be unstructured to allow for students to interact with each other and the instructor(s) informally to seek out assistance with specific questions or challenges.
Instructor Commitment
Because this opportunity is unpaid and volunteer-based, we understand that Language Lab instructors will have other priorities in their lives. Therefore, we have structured this experience to require minimum pre-planning work and have built the majority of the ‘curriculum’ in a way that allows for the instructor to easily facilitate each session. Further, ISL will provide each instructor with a budget to utilize towards activities and snacks. Below outlines the basic commitments and expectations of a Language Lab instructor:
- Prepare and facilitate two 1-hr Language Lab sessions each month (September – November) for about 15-20 student participants;
- Maintain contact with Language Lab ‘students’ and serve as a resource throughout semester;
- Attend monthly 1-hr Language Lab instructor planning meetings (September – November);
If you are interested in this opportunity, monitor this page for more information.
Fall 2022 Language Lab Instructor Application
Applications are closed.