Nancy Eastman teaches an English-speaking class at English Language Center of Cache Valley on Wed. February 28, 2024.
LOGAN – The population mix in Cache Valley is changing. There are different nationalities moving in and the English Language Center of Cache Valley (ELC) is growing to meet their needs.
Jessica Francom, the assistant director of ELC, said the last couple of years they’ve had a 40 percent increase in students attending their programs.
In 2021 the center had 481 students, by 2023 they had 850 students.
Founded in 1998, the ELC located at 1544 N. 200 West in Logan provides classes to help people who don’t speak English. Their clients learn six levels of basic reading, writing, grammar and conversation skills.
The ELC serves both non-English and limited-English speaking adults from throughout northern Utah.
Francom has worked at the center for 14 years and has definitely seen a growing number refugees and migrants using the services.
“We have students speaking 70 different languages in our classrooms,” she said. “The last couple of years we’ve had a 40 percent increase in students.”
Instructors use charts, diagrams, pictures, videos and written directions to help clients learn what they need to know to be successful. Students not only participate in classroom learning and discussions, but they also have peer conversations and field trips.
“Some employers will pay for their employees to come learn English,” Francom said. “The majority of the people pay $25 and they are receiving lessons from qualified instructors. The book alone cost $70.”
The ELC family literacy program includes certified educators that visit participating migrant families at their homes to demonstrate and provide learning activities to parents and children.
“We have 15 to 20 instructors depending on our need that all have degrees in teaching with bachelor’s or master’s degrees,” Francom said. “Some of our instructors have English as Second Language certifications.”
Students attending ELC are not all at the same place when it comes to learning.
“We have all levels of people attending classes. We have students that don’t even know how to hold a pencil,” she said. “The population varies greatly, and we are able to serve all types of people.”
A large population of their students are from Latin America, but they have a lot of refuges from Afghanistan and Ukraine.
They also teach basic life skills, basic computer skills and prepare some for the U.S. Citizenship test.
The ELC has a tight relationship with Cache Refugee and Immigrant Connection (CRIC).
Director of Finance and Operation for CRIC Lorien Belton said they rely on ELC for their English speaking referrals.
“If we find someone who needs to learn English we refer them over to ELC,” she said. “We have a lot of client overlap, but we have similar goals. We love to work with ELC and we help each other. “
Both organizations are helping refugees and migrants from all over the world.
Danny Beus, executive director of CRIC, said the organizations crisscross their duties quite a bit.
“ELC is our strongest partner. We meet almost weekly,” he said. “We have good chemistry, and they are the biggest reason we don’t teach English.”
CRIC refers 100 percent of their clients that don’t speak English to the ELC. The ELC and CRIC have been under the same tent for many years, and they have a strong partnership.
“We value their services and we have watched the numbers of immigrants and refugees increase. CRIC has settled 61 refugees or immigrants since October through February,” Beus said. “However, there are other people that come to Cache Valley on their own accord.”
Many of the people that go through the program work all over the valley. JBS, Gossner’s, Schreiber’s and other businesses employ people who have gone through the ELC program.
“Our incredible Cache Valley is a good place for anyone to work,” Beus said.
About 50 percent of ELC funding comes from grants and endowments, another 43 percent comes from private donations. Student tuition pays about 6 percent of their total budget.
The ELC is holding a Benefit Gala on Thursday March 21, at 6 p.m. at the Riverwoods Conference Center.
For details about the Gala or ELC call (435) 750-6534 or go to [email protected].