Clarion 1996-10-10 Vol. 72 No. 03

              Events:
pages 6,7
Students and Alumni
celebrate another
Homecoming.
Arts & Entertainment: pg. 10
A local band evolves,
performs at summer
music festival
Variety:
page 14
I
What every student
should know about
nutrition.
Thursday, October10,1996
NEWSPAPER OF BETHEL COLLEGE
Volume 72 • Number 3
Administration considers ending interim
By Megan Lawton
Bethel News Editor
Interim has been a part of
Bethel for 25 years, but now
concerns that have risen that
may cancel it altogether.
The University of Minnesota, along with all other state
schools, decided last year to
switch to an early semester
system in 1998. The first semester would finish before
Christmas and the second at
the end of April or beginning
of May.
State school students getting out earlier could eliminate
the advantage that Bethel stu
dents have had at getting the
first chance at summer jobs.
This concern led to the formation of a committee, consisting of faculty and administration and headed by professor of philosophy Dr.
Stanley Anderson.
The committee met last year
to discuss the impact of Bethel
also changing to an early semester system which would
eliminate interim. They also
met with different groups
from faculty, administration,
and students to get overall
views on the issue.
Tricia Brownlee, Dean of
Academic Programs, said,
"We think interim is good for
Bethel, and we are interested
in staying on it but our concern
is, will we be forced by outside
pressure to change?"
These pressures are stemming from the possibility of
other private schools switching to an early system. For example, Macalester, a MIAC
school, dropped their interim
starting this year.This is a
problem because MIAC
schools, as a group, have a
voice in the Minn. Legislature.
The Legislature requires students to take 15 credits in both
the fall and spring in order to
receive financial aid, but has
allowed private schools to add
interim to either semester to
cover the credits. Without the
support of the majority of
other MIAC schools, this
policy could change to require
students to take at least 15
credits each semester for four
years to be able to graduate.
Brownlee said, "If it turns out
that Bethel is the only school
left in the state that is on the 4-
1-4, I'm not sure how much
voice we will have with the
Legislature."
Other options for the school
year could be having a May
interim (4-4-1) which could be
either required or optional, or
going to a quarter schedule.
Changing the schedule will
affect ministry and travel opportunities for Bethel students. Sophomore Sarah
Gibbs, who traveled to the
Philippines during interim last
year, said, "I would never have
the opportunity to go for thirty
days to establish the relationships I did over there without
interim."
Interim at Bethel is a sure
thing for the next two years,
which will provide time to see
the trends of the other private
schools. Any decision made
about interim will have a notice time of at least two years.
English as a Second Language program
Uniting Bethel and Hispanic worlds
By Joanne Nystrom
Co-Editor-in-Chief
Bethel Spanish students
become English teachers to
Hispanic residents of Minneapolis every week at
"Ingles Para Ti," an English
as a Second Language (ESL)
program.
Dr. Patricia Beckford,
professor of Spanish, began
the ESL program in Feb of
1995. She taught twice a
week at Calvary Baptist
Church in South Minneapolis and expanded the program to include Bethel students the next semester. She
said she felt called to unite
"these two worlds that I
have: the world of the Hispanic and the world of
Bethel."
"What makes it unique
is that you have two cultures totally different from
all standpoints - economic,
social, educational - and
they come together and the
commonality in there is
God," Beckford said.
ESL student Aaron
Bastian Mota came to Minneapolis from Mexico to
find a job. He said he found
it difficult to communicate
and wanted to learn to read
and write English. He re
turns to ESL because he found
good friends and teachers!
"When I come here I understand a little bit more," he said.
To meet the needs of students like Mota, Beckford has
developed the program to focus on communication instead
of traditional worksheets. She
uses group games, songs and
skits as well as one-on-one interaction. She said this is important because the majority
of students are lonely and
struggling to survive in the
work force. "It's not a premeditated kind of program
and I strongly work against
that, almost fighting it, because we're trained with an
academic mind," she said. "In
an informal setting, learning
can take place which is far beyond the language."
Sophomore Rebekah Taylor
has seen the impact on the ESL
students. "You can tell that
people really appreciate that
there's someone here that will
take the time to listen to them,
get to know them, and try to
make it easier for them to live
here in a new place," she said.
Beckford has also been
more intentional about integrating faith in the learning.
She said the program has
helped both groups of people
to break down stereotypes and
Clarion Photo by Memo Fant
Senior Amy Larson helps Aaron Bastian Mota learn to write sentences in English. Larson,
like many other Bethel students, volunteers to teach English as a second language at a
South Minneapolis church through a program developed by Bethel professor Dr. Patricia
Beckford.
realize that "God is one and
that we can praise him in different languages."
"Something that has stood
out very strongly for me is that
I have a lot of stereotypes of
Hispanics and in the beginning that was something that
really scared mc," said sophomore Amy Hedstrand.  "I
found that my negative stereotypes and my fears have been
gone because I've developed
friendships."
Beckford integrates ESL
into the classroom by allowing
the students to share their experiences with their classmates and giving credit for required cultural activities.
Hedstrand and Taylor said
ESL has helped them to apply the concepts they have
learned about combining
culture and language.
In the future, Beckford
said she would like to develop a model that other
churches or schools may be
able to implement.