The mission of two-year or community colleges in the United States is to provide comprehensive educational opportunities to all students, and as suggested by their very name, community colleges are designed to serve their communities. To accomplish that, these schools should offer courses and curricula adapted to the particular needs of their districts.

An additional mission of community colleges is to serve students who would normally not be able to attend college at all because of reasons such as poor academic performance or lack of fundamental skills needed for post-secondary academic work. English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction is one of the many services offered at community colleges. ESL programs contribute to the mission of community colleges in that they serve the nonnative English-speaking population in their communities. These students seek English instruction as a means to gain access into higher education, to improve their job skills, or simply because they need English as a survival tool. Community College Intensive English Programs (IEP's) are designed to serve an ever-growing non-native English speaking population who comprise the typically diverse student bodies of such colleges. ESL students truly embody the concept of multiculturalism in education.

Students in community college ESL programs come from many different countries, and they have different ethnic, racial, religious, cultural and linguistic backgrounds. These students' educational experiences and backgrounds are as diverse as everything else about them is. One group of ESL students in community colleges may be recent graduates of American high schools who wish to further their education, but who are not linguistically ready for college level academic work. Another group may be comprised of more mature working people from all walks of life and with very different educational experiences and ages. International students are another group who make up the student population of these programs.

These students usually come to the United States to pursue an academic career and then return to their countries. More and more international students are now seeking community colleges as an alternative to universities. Community colleges are much less expensive than universities, and entrance requirements to community colleges also tend to be less stringent than university requirements.

For a much lower cost, international students can attend ESL classes and obtain a two-year degree in a community college and then transfer to a four-year institution, as is the case for many American students. As a response to this growing trend, community colleges have instituted a number of services designed to attend to international students' needs.

The mission of community college ESL programs is to teach English to all students; but it is my belief that our mission goes far beyond that. In addition to assessing students' English linguistic ability, placing students in the correct level of instruction, teaching them grammar, composition, reading and vocabulary, and speaking and listening at all levels of language proficiency, an ESL program has a much broader mission. ESL students require a number of special services such as assistance with housing placement, counseling on health insurance and medical services, assistance setting up bank accounts, academic counseling, learning how to work within the American educational system, and employment on and off campus.

The promotion of social and cultural activities is also part of the services provided to students by ESL programs. Most of all, ESL students need emotional support in personal as well as academic matters. When these students first arrive in this country, their ESL program and its faculty and staff may be all they have to relate to.

Offering students all these services is certainly the role of ESL programs, but in addition to that, ESL programs (and here I refer to faculty and administrative staff) should be advocates of nonnative speakers in cultural, linguistic and academic issues. It is fundamental that ESL programs communicate with other departments on campus and inform education professionals not accustomed to working with nonnative English speaking students of the level of complexity and difficulty associated with learning a second or additional language.

The same is true for cultural differences. Those college professionals not used to dealing with a multicultural and multilingual student population need to be educated on how to be tolerant and understanding of others' cultural backgrounds. Also, educators need to make use of the cultural wealth available in their own classrooms to teach other students about diverse cultures. While much is said about multiculturalism within the United States in reference to American minorities, the issue of 'international' multiculturalism is often overlooked. How do ESL programs in community colleges cope with such a great diversity in their student population, and how are they able to serve their students in so many ways? As a rule, an ESL program is an extremely labor-intensive endeavor, and ESL students are more 'service-demanding' than any other student group on campus. ESL professionals who chose to be involved with the typical diversity of ESL, by and large, have had experience working in non-traditional educational settings. These professionals also have a desire to work with diversity.

In addition, ESLers tend to accept ambiguity and many thrive in an environment where uncertainty is usually the rule. Above all, in order to serve their students, ESL professionals need to adopt two fundamental approaches to education. First, they need to believe in a student-centered philosophy, where curricula are designed and based upon students' everyday realities and needs. Educators involved in the teaching/learning process need to subscribe to a belief that all students can learn.

Some community college ESL programs choose to adopt different 'tracks' to serve different student populations. These tracks may separate permanent residents from international students or they may offer academic and vocational ESL instruction. I am not sure how those programs differ and who makes decisions related to which students should fall into which category. Most of all, I cringe at the thought of tracking students since I am an advocate of full inclusion of students. Why should international students be separated from permanent residents? In what way do their needs differ?

Many permanent residents attending ESL classes plan to follow an academic career just like international students. But even if they do not, in which way should their language instruction be any different from that given to international students? The same question is valid for vocational versus academic ESL instruction. Who can guarantee that the person who, at first, opted or was placed in a vocational program, will not later decide to attend college classes? Here, obviously, there is a suggestion that one of those groups is 'superior' or 'better' in some way than the other. I would hate for any of the students in my program to think that way, and to fall into the trap of the self-fulfilling prophecy.

Finally, I would like to add that it is generally accepted that one of the roles of ESL programs is to teach American culture to its students. I would like to suggest that one of the fundamental missions of ESL professionals is to teach their students how to preserve their own culture while understanding some of the American culture surrounding them. An added mission of those involved with ESL is to teach students how to preserve and appreciate their native language and how to use their language to learn English through a constant contrastive analysis process. The mission and scope of community college ESL programs cannot be underestimated. They serve their communities in that they provide a much-needed service; they teach ESL to nonnative speakers. Perhaps it is not the nonnative community which most benefits from ESL programs. Rather, it is the community at large which most profits from such educational endeavors.

ESL programs greatly enrich the community by attracting a wealth of cultural diversity. Community college ESL programs help the nonnative English speakers, and they help educate the native population as well.