Jose Lombardo Niño Cabrera

Proposal

The aim of this proposal is to suggest some propositions in order to improve English language skills and
confidence of the Mother Language program’s students at UGC. The proposal was requested by advanced
English class students and follows the research conducted by Anne-Marie Truscott de Mejía, from the
Education Research and Training Center of Los Andes University. She concluded that keeping in touch with
English language from all the contents in the learning process, makes it easier to teach them once you
become a professor.

In October of last year, the investigator was looking for different forms to increase not only the language
teachers’ and future teachers’ English level, but also the awareness of English teaching knowledge from
the subjects that they are actually developing, for instance pedagogy, learning theories, etc. The
investigation informs that students who had more exposure time to English language, had a significant
increase in their level and confidence on what they were going to teach.

In the research, the language expert consider some ideas to improve and manage the situation. The
following ideas seemed to be the most useful and practical to be implemented:

1. Full academic immersion program since third semester. This would soared the future teachers’
English level and at the same time, it would be a model to implement in other institutions due to
its quality and success.
2. Partial socio-cultural immersion program since first semester. It consist about making trips
(abroad or in an appropriated location) with a suitable setting like a native English country. This
would promoted a real English interaction between students and English speakers.
3. Students interchange abroad. This will combines both last ideas but this has to be abroad in an
English speaker culture. This would rose the international recognition of the university.

It is well known that some ideas suggested above are not the less expensive but are the once with more
benefits to future teachers, to UGC university and to Colombian learner community. However, I know that
with this program in the long term, the university will teach students from many different countries and
its recognition will be around the world.