English (and only English) spoken here

Students like Cedrik Zamoto from France
and Jae In from Korea befit from the
ELI's new "English Only" policy.

10:10 am: break time! Students trickle, then pour, out of their first classes, filling the halls, lobby and porch of the ELI building with friendly chatter. Listen closely: what do you hear? Yes, it’s . . . ENGLISH.

This hasn’t always been the case. Students have always been expected to speak English in class, but between and after classes the English Language Institute has sometimes sounded more like the Tower of Babel.

“It was weird,” says 2008 student Jung Min Oh of Korea, “coming halfway across the world to Delaware to improve my English, and finding myself among a bunch of Koreans speaking Korean.”

In addition to squelching opportunities for practicing English, the pattern of using native languages during free periods encouraged students to close themselves off into national groups. As teacher Ana Kim observed, “Whispering secrets to a friend in front of others is very rude, isn’t it? Well, it’s no different talking to your friends in your native tongue in front of speakers of other languages. They feel totally left out.”

After a great deal of discussion, faculty decided to hold a referendum on the issue. In May, students voted, 152 to 47, to adopt a policy of speaking only English inside and in the immediate vicinity of any building in which ELI business is conducted.

Oh feels the policy supports her efforts to practice English. “When a fellow Korean thinks I’m weird because I talk to her in English, I can say, ‘Sorry, I have to. It’s the rule!’ It’s a good excuse.”

Now, several sessions after the referendum, “English only” is a matter of habit. New students, looking to fit in, take their example from old students, who are already speaking English among themselves. Goodbye, Tower of Babel. Hello, English Language Institute!  • SP