The History of LSL

An exciting, state of the art Listening and Speaking Lab opened in Fall, 2002, in ATC 304. Initially, LSL was focused primarily on those students enrolled in ESL and Speech classes with plans to expand in other areas. Thanks go to Franklin and Catherine Johnson for major funding of the lab.

The lab is a dream project representing the hard work of many dedicated educators. To start, Enrique Riveras-Schaefer, former Dean of Language Arts, had a vision to create a safe place for ESL students who were afraid to practice their listening and speaking skills in public.

After Enrique Riveras-Schaefer left De Anza, John Swensson, the then interim Language Arts Dean, looked at this "vision" as if it were a ball that needed to make it across the goal line with only a few seconds left to spare. Starting in Winter, 2001, he quickly contacted some funding sources, found a location for the lab, and enlisted staff to work on the project.

Working together, John Swensson and Zena Gray, ESL Instructor and Chair of the Planning Committee for the Language Lab, recruited an enthusiastic team of advisors from various departments to help bring this "vision" to fruition. Some of the advisors include the following people:
Sharon Sunico, Director of Readiness lab, Diana Alves de Lima, Coordinator of the Skills and Tutorial Center, MaryAnne Ifft and Clara Lam, ESL Instructors, Rob Dewis and Kim Pearce, Speech instructors, Wallis Leslie and Marshall Hattorie, English instructors, Ming Jung Chen and Cristina Moreno, Foreign Language Instructors.

Next, faculty were asked what they would like to see in the lab and Zena Gray administered a student needs assessment survey which was administered to 20 ESL sections, 2 English sections, and 1 world language section in Winter, 2002. The results of the poll and survey led to the creation of the LSL programs we pilot tested in 2002.

For more information, you can contact LSL at 864-5385.

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Listening and Speaking Lab
De Anza College - ATC 304
(408)864-5385
lslab304@yahoo.com