Basic English & Esl (2 Pk) / Instructional

Luda Lebedeva is one of the many students taking English as a second language, a growing need in the metro-east as demographics shift and more people move to the area. Once perceived mostly as classes for Spanish-speaking immigrants, now the classes are filled with people from everywhere in the world, and they have only one thing in common: they’re trying to learn the English language.

Southwestern Illinois College offers English as a second language courses and students often have ties to Scott Air Force Base. Director Lea Maue is seeing a reduction by almost 50 percent in Latino students over the last few years.

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