Learning a new language can be hard. As a college student, how do you go about the process of adapting to a new language and culture? What resources are available and how to do you deal with all the nuances, metaphors, and slang of spoken English in a classroom environment? Hear from Emerson College English Language Coordinator/Lecturer Jeremy Heflin about the process of adapting to a new language and culture.
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Nearly a decade ago, Heflin was brought into Emerson College to coordinate building English language learning (ELL) courses, unify elements of support for non-native English students, and professional development for instructors and staff. For Heflin, he says, it’s been a thrilling experience engaging students, building institutional and global partner collaboration between staff and faculty, and an honor to bridge cultural and educational perspectives amongst such amazing people, and have been particularly honored and proud to spearhead an relationship between Native American leaders, educators, artists, performers, and people with the Emerson community.
Heflin has always been drawn to culture; art, folk tales, history, the food. The path of my career has moved me always in circles around how to understand the cultures and people around me; photography, journalism, public affairs, historical research, and teaching. As a young man, he traveled far and wide with the US military as a photojournalist and public affairs specialist and never really stopped traveling, studying, and teaching. It’s in his blood, saturated in what he thinks is the heart of all humankind; cultural context. "It defines us and makes us curious about any part of our world. My years of education and experience are what I bring to a classroom, department, institution, community; to breath life into the languages we use to describe, define and advance," he explains.
