P i s t a c h i o

An immigrant workforce has oiled the wheels of hospitality for decades. Finally, a course to give English-as-a-Second-Language workers the chance to advance by tackling their communications skills.

â—Š

HOSPITALITY ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Industry-Specific Communications for ESL Labour Force

Published in Ontario Restaurant News, August, 2007

TORONTO — George Brown College has begun accepting applications for a new hospitality program that focuses on English as a Second Language and industry-specific communications.

ESL Hospitality and Culinary Operations is a certificate program developed jointly by the School of Continuing Education and the Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts. The program intends to ease the industry’s labour shortage and help a growing immigrant workforce advance professionally by improving their communication skills and formalizing hospitality training.

“The certificate is primarily focused on two groups,” says Program Manager Joe Baker, “ESL professionals looking to work in the hospitality-culinary industry, and ESL professionals currently working in the industry and looking to progress in their careers.”

“The simple fact is that there is a growing need for skilled workers in hospitality,” says Dean John Walker. Citing a 2005 report from the Canadian Tourism and Human Resource Council, Walker says that by 2015, the industry will need 300,000 additional workers to sustain its growth.

“This program is extremely creative and forward-thinking” says Bill Pallett, Senior Vice President of People and Quality for Delta Hotels and Resorts. “Immigrant workers are a key source of recruitment,” he added, “and this program is a way to get better utilization from that talent source.”

Pallett says that there are about 150 Delta employees in Toronto who might take advantage of this program, adding, “I can see many employers, including Delta Hotels, encouraging their employees to enrol.”

At Humber College, “ESL has been part of our course for as long as I remember,” says Rudi Fischbacher, Professor and Co-ordinator of the Culinary Program. Fischbacher estimates that 10 percent of his full-time students are foreign, mostly from Asia and Eastern Europe.

To satisfy the specific language needs of foreign students in the Communications portion of the program, Humber College streams these students into an existing ESL course that academically matches the communications instruction given to students whose first language is English.

George Brown’s approach is to use a foundation course called “ESL Hospitality English,” to focus on industry-specific communications. Students then integrate with other hospitality students and get ongoing ESL support.

The two-part program is made up of a Hospitality section, where students can specialize in Food and Beverage or Hotel, and a Culinary section, with specialization options in Cooking or Baking.

Vancouver Community College has a full-time “Cooking ESL” course that includes training in communication skills for the hospitality industry, including technical vocabulary. The program is taught by two instructors: one from Culinary Arts and the other from ESL.

Independent language schools have also recognized this unique employment-training niche. Access International English Language Centre in Toronto offers a course called
“Focus on English for Tourism and Hospitality,” that includes the offer of an internship placement.

In California, job-specific ESL learning has become highly specialized. City College of San Francisco offers the following three distinct ESL courses: Communications for Culinary Workers, for Food Service/Hospitality and for Hotel/Service Workers.

â—Š