Gateway Community College students who are taking a foreign language or English as a Second Language now have access to two language labs to gain practice in reading comprehension, writing, speaking and listening, using state-of-the-art software. The labs, located in S204 and S207, are open from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays during the month of March. The schedule will change on a monthly basis.

Both labs feature software such as “Rosetta Stone” and “Tell Me More” for foreign language students, and “Pearson’s Azar,“ “Grammar in Focus” and “Longman English Programs” for ESL students.

The software is some of best available in the country. “Tell Me More” is so sophisticated, said Susan Chenard, associate professor of English and ESL program coordinator, that it can pick up on the student’s cadences, tone and intonations and then play a native speaker’s response and graph out the differences. This allows students to see where they need to focus. English language learners as well as students taking Spanish, French and Italian are encouraged to use the labs for practice. 

“The labs are in constant demand all day long so we are very happy that students will be able to access them late at night just after classes end,” Chenard said. Gateway plans to add open labs in early morning hours before classes in the next academic year.