About the elc

The ELC is committed to building community while also providing quality English language education in a welcoming environment  Our teachers are qualified and experienced educators familiar with the most recent research in English language education and trauma-informed practices. 

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OUr Methods

Classroom instruction is structured around current research in adult language acquisition and takes into account the needs of the current student population. Lessons center around topics about living in the United States and provide ample opportunities for practicing using English in realistic settings. Students also learn life skills that will prepare them for life-long learning even after the leave the ELC. 

Student levels are assessed with oral interviews before being placed in a class that caters to their specific English language acquisition needs. Our curriculum includes topics such as:

• Basic Language
• Community Services
• Consumer Economics
• Health
• Employment
• Transportation
• Housing

meet our Staff

Steve Rainey

Senior ESL Instructor 

Steve has taught ESL/EFL for over 30 years, and also served as the director of an intensive English language program in Korea. He also oversaw a pilot intensive ESL program for Mexican students at BSU. Mr. Rainey has worked with refugees in Boise for over 20 years. He has a background in linguistics with a focus in language acquisition. He has served on the Intermountain TESOL board and the Refugee Concerns Interest Section board of the international TESOL organization.

Ashley Hislop

SERVICES TO OLDER REFUGEES COORDINATOR

Following a year of AmeriCorps VISTA service at the ELC, Ashley became the Services to Older Refugees Coordinator at the end of 2017. Ashley taught English in Mongolia as a Peace Corps volunteer after graduating from Boise State University with a degree in Anthropology and finished a graduate program in Crisis and Emergency Management in 2019. 
Ashley is semi-fluent in Mongolian and has dabbled in a variety of other languages; she is currently taking an online course in Norwegian. She is half-way through her dream of visiting every continent and enjoys reading, watercolor painting, writing, and studying folk-lore.

Chelsea Jordan

Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator
​ESL Instructor

Chelsea has worked with refugees and multi-lingual students for the past 7 years. Her career started at the English Language Center as a service-learning volunteer and research assistant at Boise State before going to Northern Arizona University for her Master's in Teaching English as a Second Language. She then worked as a English instructor at a university in Ankara, Turkey for two years. She recently re-joined the ELC in the summer of 2019 and enjoys creating engaging lessons and developing the ELC's curriculum as part of her role. 

SHARON SEID

ESL INSTRUCTOR

Kate Udall

Adult Education manager of Idaho

Kate spent 12 years working with multi-lingual students at Boise State and CWI before beginning in her current position of Adult Education Manager at Idaho Office for Refugees. She enjoys her role building partners across Idaho to work with in developing and supporting English programming for new Americans. She has taught English in Portugal, Korea and Mexico and has worked in higher education partner development in Asia and Latin America.

TARA BRADENBURG

ESL Instructor 

Jesse Moneyhun

Computer lab tutor

BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH LANGUAGE