Community English Program
The Community English Program (CEP) is a community program at Teachers College (TC), Columbia University. It provides integrated English learning instruction for adults of diverse nationalities and backgrounds in the New York City area who are learning English as a second language. The CEP also serves as an on-site language education laboratory.
Teachers College ranks as the #2 education school in the USA, according to US News and World Report’s 2010 rankings.
Program
The Community English Program (CEP) is managed by the Community Language Program (CLP) and is part of the TESOL and Applied Linguistics programs at Teachers College. The CLP provides English classes, and language lessons in Chinese, French, and Arabic.
Qualified teachers on the CEP are graduates of Teachers College. Teachers College students on the CEP focus on empirical inquiry, and train to teach through teaching practice under the auspices of the TESOL department, with feedback from practicing teachers, professors, and CEP students.
Curriculum
Teachers College supports CEP coursework formulation, which uses the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach to second language instruction for adult learners, facilitating communication between students using languages taught.
Structure
The program runs over four semesters of classroom instruction yearly: Spring, Summer A, Summer B, and Fall. The CEP has five coordinators who are students in the TESOL or Applied Linguistics Program. Student tests for placement cover reading, listening, writing and speaking. Learners are divided into thirteen proficiency levels.