NEWS - Fort Jackson - U.S. Army

NEWS
ACS offers classes for non-native speakers
By STEVE REEVES
Fort Jackson Leader
Learning English as a second language can be difficult,
as well as time consuming and costly, for many people.
But with a new pilot program about to begin, people who
want to improve their English can do so without leaving the
post.
For the first time, an English as a Second Language
course is being offered on Fort Jackson. The class is designed
for foreign-born spouses, but is open to anyone needing
English language instruction.
“We have a lot of foreign-born spouses who relocate
here to Fort Jackson,” said Miranda Broadus, relocation
program manager for Fort Jackson’s Army Community
Service. “We’re providing a service for those spouses that
before, they had to go off post to receive.”
Typically, Fort Jackson family members had to take ESL
courses at a local college or high school and pay for it out
of their own pockets.
CAMPAIGN PLAN FOCUS
English as a second language
classes support the campaign
objective “enhance
quality of life for families” (5.0 on
the strategy map). Quality of life is
one of the three lines of operation
of the Fort Jackson campaign plan.
Fort Jackson’s new ESL program will be free to participants
and all instructional materials will be provided,
Broadus said. Child care will also be provided for free.
The first ESL course will be limited to 10 people and begins
Dec. 8. Classes will be held every Tuesday for two to
three months, depending on the progress of the students.
If the program proves successful and there is a high demand
for more classes, Broadus said it could be expanded.
“We anticipate there being a very high demand for an
ESL course here at Fort Jackson,” Broadus said.
Clayton Leishman, a certified ESL instructor at the Defense
Language Institute, will be one of the program’s
teachers. He said the pilot program will be a “nonintensive”
course intended for beginners.
“It’s going to cover the basics,” Leishman said. “It will
focus on reading and speaking English. We’re trying to develop
the daily communication ability.”
Leishman said it is important that foreign-born spouses
learn English so that they can take part not only in the Fort
Jackson community, but the Columbia community as well.
“Language is what unifies a community, but it can also
divide a community,” he said. “We can provide people with
the opportunity to have access to the larger community outside
Fort Jackson.”
For information about the program, or to volunteer as an
instructor, call Broadus at 751-1124/5256. She can also be
reached by email at Miranda.Broadus@us.army.mil.
Steve.Parrish2@us.army.mil
Theater reopening draws scores of moviegoers
Continued from Page 1
“You can’t help but smile when you
walk inside the facility,” she said. “I invite
everyone to support the theater. The price is
right and the company is even better.”
The renovated theater features new seats,
curtains and carpet, fresh paint, upgraded
projection equipment and concessions, and
a new Dolby Digital sound system.
Matt Gibbs, project manager for Fort
Jackson’s Directorate of Public Works, said
approximately $600,000 in garrison funds
went toward the renovation of the theater,
which had been closed since 2007 because
the facility had deteriorated so badly.
The renovation project began in April,
Gibbs said, and was completed just before
the theater’s grand opening last weekend.
Matt Shealy, chief of engineering for
DPW, said the theater’s ceiling had been
badly damaged by water leakage and maintenance
of the interior had not been kept up
in recent years.
“It was just a tired, old space,” Shealy
said.
Aside from being a major source of entertainment
on post, the theater was a multiuse
facility because of its large capacity.
“The theater is as important for training
as it is for movies,” Shealy said. “We just
don’t have that many spaces on post that
can hold 750 people. We really needed the
theater to open back up.”
But being a source of entertainment is a
large part of the theater’s significance to
Fort Jackson, Shealy said.
“We need a theater on post because
that’s important for the families,” he said.
Steven.Parrish2@us.army.mil
Photo by CRYSTAL LEWIS BROWN
Jason Rosenberg, AAFES general manager, Col. Lillian A. Dixon, garrison commander, and Billy Wood, movie
theater manager, cut the ribbon during the grand opening of Fort Jackson’s movie theater. Dixon said she
made the project, which took two years to complete, one of her priorities when she came to Fort Jackson.