Bilingual education: Discover the new proposal of the Languages Center that blurs the borders in the labor field.    

The Institutional Project for Subjects in English (PIMI) promotes bilingual education and internationality at Universidad La Salle. It will consist of teaching 10% of undergraduate subjects in this language. It has entered the pilot testing phase in the August-December 2022 semester.

The objective of the PIMI is that, once they finish their Foreign Language I and II subjects, students will continue their language training through professionalizing classes in English.

“That they begin to use technical vocabulary and develop in a working field with more knowledge of the English language specific to their degree,” said María Del Rosario Escalada, Coordinator of the Language Center, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this 2022-23 cycle.

According to a report by the organization Mexicanos Primero, in 2015 only 5% of the Mexican population spoke English.

This language, at the same time, is key to Latin America’s continued insertion into the global market.

“We want them to continue practicing and for it to be specialized English. This will give them great benefits when they go out into the labor market. They will be able to communicate fluently, because there will be more semesters in which they will have oral, written and aural interaction.”

The first year of PIMI’s work (2021-22) consisted of mapping and designing the proposal, that is, identifying “where we are as a university” and having the faculties (departments) choose the subject and professor who would teach it according to the guidelines provided by the Language Center.

“If any teacher does not have the level, there will be a course (provided by the Language Center) for them to be able to speak it (…) We need the professor who will teach the classes to be fluent, know technical English, and have very broad listening, reading and writing abilities,” Escalada said.

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Thus, during the September-December 2022 semester, the PIMI starts a first phase with pilot tests. According to the plan, by the 2023-24 cycle (phase two), the LC will have fostered four curricular spaces in English.

“We want undergraduate programs to teach 10% of their subjects in English. We are moving gradually because we also have to look for the right teachers for this project (…) who are prepared and know specialized English.”

This work contributes to the bilingual education and internationalization of Universidad La Salle. In addition to the language, the institution will have the opportunity to open itself to more agreements and exchange programs with foreign institutions.

“With this project, we want the university to start becoming bilingual. Not only students, but also all the administrative staff and faculty members. We want the whole community to have a higher level, first in English and then in other languages,” the Language Center Coordinator said.