EnGen Learning Lab: Career-Oriented ESL Learning
Above: Participants from first EnGen Learning Lab working in the platform, based on individualized lesson plans
Southern Vermont has welcomed hundreds of new Americans over the last several years, in large part thanks to the efforts of asylum and refugee organizations and volunteers. Our new neighbors arrive with a wide range of backgrounds, education, experience and English language level.
In 2023, BDCC began to deploy a special online learning platform that was designed to support English Language Learning, but with content geared to career goals. The program does not provide credentials – if someone had been an electrician or nurse in another country, they would need to obtain locally recognized credentials. But it does offer English language lessons geared to those specific fields, and dozens of others. This targeted approach has the potential to accelerate people entering, or re-entering, fields and has motivational benefits as it ties English learning to career goals. In partnership with Vermont Adult Learning, BDCC had provided the tool to nearly 50 individuals. However, there was no structured support and usage was uneven, as is often the case with online classes.
Last fall, Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation held the first offering of an EnGen Learning Lab class series. The idea was to provide a more structured and supported learning experience, a vocational and digital literacy class where participants utilized EnGen, to improve their English by focusing on career specific language. BDCC staff learned about this hybrid idea from workforce professionals in states with larger immigrant populations, where EnGen has been deployed at greater scale. To structure the class, BDCC and VAL staff worked together to help participants identify relevant online modules in the career sector of interest, allowing students to focus on learning vocabulary they need for the career they want. The program focuses on high demand fields such as healthcare and manufacturing but has classes for a diverse range of interests and language levels. This first Learning Lab series consisted of nine New Vermonter participants who could work at their own pace through classes of their interest with technical support provided by BDCC staff and VAL. It was enormously successful with students completing in some cases hundreds of learning modules and advancing to increasingly technical learning levels.
This spring, BDCC is holding its second EnGen Learning Lab for non-native English speakers. The structure of the class is designed to support learners who learn best independently in-person but also provides ample opportunity for participants to work at home. Each student has a learning plan based on their own level and long term goals, which include nursing, high school teaching, dentistry, construction, CDL, psychology and non-profit administration. Every participant in the class already works, but they all hope that as their English levels improve , they will advance to positions that reflect their abilities and goals.
About the Workforce Center of Excellence
The Workforce Center of Excellence (WFCoE) is a workforce and career training and education initiative of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation that helps people take the next step in their career pathway. It supports both youth and adults, working Vermonters and those entering the workforce with one-to-one assistance, supportive services and career readiness training. The WFCoE leverages BDCC’s relationships with employers and workforce development partners, supporting both sides of the labor exchange to connect people with opportunity, and employers with the talent they need. The WFCoE is funded in part by a Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC) grant from the Northern Borders Regional Commission and US Department of Labor’s Employment & Training Administration (ETA).
