VGCC Increases Days Offering Free English Instruction Classes

Vance-Granville Community College now offers its English-As-A-Second-Language (ESL) classes four nights a week.

The college has been holding the classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays at all of its four campuses – in Vance, Granville, Warren and Franklin counties. Recently, ESL classes began on Monday and Wednesday evenings at VGCC’s South Campus on N.C. 56 between Butner and Creedmoor in Granville County. The Tuesday and Thursday classes will continue at the other three campuses.

All classes run from 6 to 9 p.m., anyone 16 or older may attend, and all classes are free. Students may enroll at any time, and all they have to provide is contact information, such as name and address.

English-As-A-Second-Language classes are designed to teach English to any nationality, but the majority of the students attending the VGCC classes are Spanish-speaking. Instructors are bi-lingual, or an interpreter is available to assist in the classes.

George Tyler, who coordinates ESL instruction for VGCC, said the classes teach “survival” English, or practical things, such as how to talk to a merchant, a rental agent or a doctor, and what to say in emergencies. “We also teach the students how to get along in American society, how to greet someone, how not to offend others, the common courtesies of day-to-day living,” Tyler said.

The college provides a Spanish-language manual to help a student get a driver’s license.