Dear Students,

Happy New Year! First, I want to welcome our new IEP students to UCA, Conway, and the United States of America. I am so happy that you chose UCA, and I am looking forward to getting to know you better during the semester. Also, welcome back to returning IEP students! Almost all our students from Levels 1 and 2 last fall are back this semester, and that is a great compliment to the IEP.

I think most of you have noticed that we do not have a big group of new students this spring. We are still expecting one or two more students to arrive, but we will probably end up with five or six new full-time IEP students. You may have noticed that we don't have a Level 1 this semester. Because we have fewer new students, we are not able to have all three levels of the program. Fortunately, we do not have any new students who placed at Level 1, and we were able to move all the students from Level 1 last semester into Level 2.

Unfortunately, we don't have enough students to provide teaching opportunities for two of our part-time instructors from last semester, Mrs. Koeth and Mrs. Demirel. We hope they will be able to teach summer classes, and we think they will definitely be back next fall. Mrs. Koeth will be teaching a Spanish class for UCA faculty and staff this semester, and Mrs. Demirel is at home in Little Rock, recovering from surgery. If any of you would like to get in touch with either of your former teachers, please let me know. (I also have some cassettes and papers for students in Mrs. Demirel's Level 3 Pronunciation, Conversation, and Public Speaking class. If you are the owner of one of these cassettes or papers, please pick it up in my office.)

An Uncertain World
Threatens Study Abroad.

Why is our group of new students smaller than usual this semester? I think the answer is clear: Political and economic situations in the world are making study abroad very difficult, especially for people who want to come to the USA. People who apply for student visas in many countries are rejected. Parents read their newspapers and watch TV and feel nervous about sending their children away from home. Economic problems all over the world are causing prices to rise and investment dividends to fall. All of these things are causing people to stay at home and put off their study in the USA.

I hope the world situation will improve soon, not just because I want our IEP enrollment to grow. I want peace for the whole world. I also pray for economic conditions to improve, especially in poor countries, so that people will have enough to eat and will receive better health care. Some might say, "War is good because it improves the economy," but I disagree. War is never good. I hope our political leaders can find another solution to the problems in the world. They should do everything possible to avoid war. They should talk to each other, try to understand each other, and help each other.

World Peace on a Small Scale.

In fact, political leaders could use an IEP class as their model. In an IEP class, students from many different countries meet together every day to work for a common goal: improving their English. By working toward this goal, you learn about each other's countries and cultures. You help each other with class work. You work together on class projects. You give each other constructive criticism. You learn new ways to do things. Through all these activities, you gain a better understanding of the world and its cultures, and you develop the ability to accept other people with different beliefs and habits. This is world peace on a small scale.

We have an old saying in English: "Great oaks from tiny acorns grow." An oak is a common tree in the USA, one that grows very big and strong. An acorn is a nut or seed from the oak tree. If you plant an acorn, an oak sapling will emerge — and eventually it will grow into a giant, strong tree. Maybe our work together in IEP will be one of the seeds of world peace. This is my hope.

Sincerely,

Lynn Ramage Schaefer

Interim Coordinator
Intensive English Program
Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Irby Hall #207J
University of Central Arkansas
Conway, AR 72035
tel: (501) 450-3671
fax: (501) 450-5185
LYNNR@mail.uca.edu