Lakeland College

Language Partners

Language Partners are Lakeland College students who are carefully selected to work with the summer program. The Language Partners serve as tutors, conversation partners and friends to students. The Partners live in the residence halls and are available to provide help and guidance. They help students understand American culture, and they get students involved in fun activities on and off campus.

Tony (Dong-Hyun) Kim

I experienced the ELI program first as a student but several years later as a language partner and believe the summer ELI is a great program. It is a very helpful bridge to people who first visit the US or come to Lakeland College as a student. The Summer ELI program provides students not only with a crash course in the English language but also experience with American life and activities. After English language study in the morning, afternoon activities are planned where students can put forth their effort into real world activities. Evening activities encourage students to enjoy their experience with each other, the language partners, and friends made on the Lakeland College campus. Kind teachers, sincere language partners and Lakeland college students from all over the world are always here to help the ELI students. Lakeland is unique because of its small setting; yet having so many international students makes it feel like a microcosm of the world we live in. If you really want to have a challenge and find your inner self, I would say join the Lakeland College Summer ELI program. You won't regret it.

Megan Maas

Being a language partner was a wonderful experience. I enjoyed getting to know the students from Ansan College. I thought that I would be teaching the students about America, but they ended up teaching me a lot about the Korean culture. I cannot believe how many memories I was able to make in one summer. I will never forget the experience that I had working as an ELI language partner.

Ryan Maiuri

Being a language partner for the ELI partner is an incredible opportunity that has brought me great joy the past two summers. This is an opportunity to work with another culture and not only help them with our culture, but learn something about their culture. The memories collected from these past summers are, not to be cliché, priceless.

Joey (Young-min) Jang

It was great experience for me throughout the summer ELI program as one of the language partners. Mostly students who participate in this program don’t know anything about America or even English. However, they showed a stunning job at several activities from this program, such as effective the poster session. I think I learned more than they did through this program. Also, we could offer making friends from around the world and the sights and culture of America. Actually, being involved with a lot of different cultures is one of the particular merits of Lakeland College. I think this program helps students to significantly improve their language and become coherent with different cultures in a short time. Lastly, it is a perfect opportunity to brush up on English skills while traveling in new surroundings.