MCC Campus Connections Podcast: Episode 7

Geovanny Mayorga  0:04  
All right welcome once again to MCC campus connections we are recording from our downtown location it at LaSalle Two Three North LaSalle. And you can find us on youtube Spotify, Amazon Music Apple podcast, you can contact us at empty podcast at MTC. college.edu. We look forward to hearing from you. And today we have we're going to do things a little bit different today. So we have with us, shouty Martinez, who's going to be our co host for today. Welcome shouty, how are you? Oh, good.
Ryan Mudder  0:43  
Super excited again.
Geovanny Mayorga  0:45  
Yeah, your previous guests on one of our episodes. So you're, you obviously liked it and wanted to come back and do it again. Yes, definitely. Wonderful. And we have Ryan matar, who is our international admissions manager. And you're fairly new to MCC? You're correct. Yeah.
Ryan Mudder  1:07  
As of last November.
Geovanny Mayorga  1:08  
So last November. Has it been that long already? Oh, yes.
Ryan Mudder  1:12  
It's like what the new year just goes by really fast. Yeah. Oh, since
Geovanny Mayorga  1:15  
last year. Wonderful. So, first of all, I'm excited to have both of you. So we're gonna do a little bit, you know, things this, this podcast will be a little bit different because we have three people instead of just to the international international team. Uh huh. So we'll get started getting to know Ryan a little bit more since you're the our latest addition. And you're not from the Midwest, which is, I always find that fascinating. Yeah. When I speak to people that are not from the Midwest, so you're from
Ryan Mudder  1:52  
South Dakota, South Dakota. Actually, I'm not from like Chicago. So like, for us, it's like that. The other Midwest, right. So yeah, originally from South Dakota from a small town called Avon. I always call it the village because it's probably about 500 or so be nice. Most people live in the countryside. Of course, you know, there's the actual town center itself. But yeah, and I was there for at least good 1920 years of my life. Okay. So I mean, it's a small community, rural farm community. Your school is basically kindergarten, preschool all the way to senior year. So that's basically my educational background for my early youth.
Geovanny Mayorga  2:37  
Wow. You still have connections with the people you want to? So
Ryan Mudder  2:41  
yeah, I mean, like, a few people I still talk to or know, or at least know of them. Rather, it be like through word of mouth. Social media, Facebook, of course. Right. But even like, when you go back, I haven't been home home for a while. But like, I know, if I go back there, people probably know me. Versus if I don't remember then just because since it's such a small community, very close knit. Most people know you by your last name. They probably know your parents or like people in your family background. It's like one of those situations where everyone knows each other. So yeah, it's a very, like, familiar place.
Geovanny Mayorga  3:19  
Do you find that people who, who live in small towns stay in small towns?
Ryan Mudder  3:24  
You for the most part? Yes. So like, I know, in the past, like, think of my parents age, it was more common to stay in a small town or stay in the States. By no, like, in my experience, most people like for example, my class majority have stayed in the state because that's just a trend. If people don't stay in the small town, they go to like the larger city like Sioux Falls, maybe Rapid City for school work, employment opportunities. That is a trend, right. But looking back, I think back home home, and like the Avon, it's more of there's still people there. But I think most people nowadays once they finish high school, they do tend to move or if they stay, they might stay for like family farms, agricultural, maybe they have a connection. So yeah, I
Shaudy Martinez  4:14  
was about to ask the same thing, because my reference are the movies. And we always see that people from small towns, they always dream to get out of that. That kind
Ryan Mudder  4:28  
of was yeah, that would have been that was a dream at one point. But like, again, it's not the common dream of most people like even in my senior year. I mean, it's very common for people to go to either one of the two state colleges, either they go to USD University, South Dakota, or they go to SCSU, South Dakota State University where I went, right. If they don't go to those two state colleges, they'll go to maybe a specialty college, or they might go out of state. But it's like at least a good 90% Probably state in state How do you get out of? It depends on you. I mean, people I know that maybe we're at a state probably had a scholarship. Some neighboring states like Minnesota, usually have a deal with us. So we're considered in state tuition. I almost went to university in Minneapolis or Minnesota. They had an offer or a deal. There was a place in like Marshall, Minnesota, Southwest Minnesota university, they also do in state tuition. So that would be one opportunity. And if someone didn't do that, I mean, it's a different situation, maybe they did something else, or they had something else they could use to go out of state. But generally, it's like in state only. But
Geovanny Mayorga  5:43  
so your transition from Avon, which is a smaller town, to when you went to university, what what was that transition like? So
Ryan Mudder  5:54  
I always like make the reference, I kept going up and up and up and up. Right. So SDSU is Brookings, South Dakota, it's more of a, to me, it's more like a farm town. But since it has that university, it's more of a college town. Right? The population goes from like, 500, like I had an Avon to about maybe 16,000 Because of the university. So it is like a small adjustment. And I always think at first might go to a bigger place or biggest bigger city or new city. It feels like it's bigger. But after a while, it seems like it's still a small town to me. Right? Like the last time was in Brookings, I can still remember the streets, it doesn't feel like it's that big. Of course, if you go off, like, college course season or whatever, it's less people because most people leave. So it goes from like, 16,000 to like, what, maybe 8000 When school is not in session, or like the summer break? Yeah. For me are like what? Oh, yeah, I mean, it's a big thing. Like I remember always in like, Summer, or like an August when school starts up, like this group of people just coming in, and you can't really go shopping anywhere because it's so busy. There's so many people coming in and people are moving. Very common Midwestern thing is like when your child is going to university, you take them university, you help them move. It's like a family thing. Right? Always someone's crying because like it's the first time Yeah, first though is the last time Yeah, but for those three days is always busy, right? Even when I worked for international students, maybe my second or third year, I'd help international students at my university kind of, Hey, welcome to your new school. Welcome to a new cultural setting of the orientation. Exactly. So yeah, and then we would do pre orientation, helping them adjust because it's not going to be very similar. Or maybe what they knew and movies is a little bit different, because I can't really think of an accurate movie or series that depicts my home. Other than, like, Western romance movies, which are even accurate, because I mean, that's yeah, like Wild Bill.
Shaudy Martinez  8:06  
But for international students is different. Because probably they don't have their parents here. Exactly. They are alone. So things that yeah, help them. It's good to have that orientation. At that time. Yes. Totally new new country, new college, new everything. Yep.
Ryan Mudder  8:22  
And that's like always having to have these like small communities of international friends. So like, I have been in some groups here and there, like help people find a group so they can connect with someone, especially like, think about the holidays, right? Oh, most people leave, but they can't. There are like, you know, holidays, and maybe things you celebrated back home or in your culture. Like, that's something I always tried to, like help get people involved or like, find that connection. Right. And that's where a lot of my friends kind of came from in that background, too. So it gave me more of that cultural insight. Because like back home when I was growing up the village, I mean, it's not very diverse, like, yeah, we have TV, we have the internet, but like you don't actually experience multicultural things until you actually get involved and meet people. Right?
Shaudy Martinez  9:11  
I don't know if you have the same experience. But when I was in Venezuela, I didn't have any contact with international people at all. So I was in my town. Am I sitting in my car? I mean, all my friends were from my, my neighborhood. So yeah, like once I leave the country. I really started to understand learn and connect and appreciate the differences and similarities but I didn't have any contact with international people well
Ryan Mudder  9:41  
even like in my home like home school like in my Avon I mean, we'd get occasionally like one international student by always kind of felt kind of strange for them because like okay, you came from Norway. You came from Spain. You came from Korea, to like this small farm town. They probably had no idea what you're getting into, because they probably went through like some sort of like an agency or a company, then they just send them like, welcome. But yeah, but some had fun. I mean, like, I don't think, I don't know of any of that bad experience. But I think it's a very different experience than you would maybe a thought of when you started. So
Geovanny Mayorga  10:20  
is college deliver more or the university was was that a little bit more diverse? Or was it still mainly people from South Dakota or so or North Dakota SDSU
Ryan Mudder  10:28  
is more diverse, because of course, you have like your typical, like Midwestern South Dakotans here, but then you also have like an international community, because the university kind of specializes in agricultural studies, nursing studies, so some my international friends were probably more in agricultural, or they're doing maybe a stem kind of college situation. I had a friend at Columbia, and she studied bees, which is really interesting, because I didn't know we had an actual like department for that. And like, think of the Smithsonian, like they have all those, like specimen samples of bees. And that wasn't my university. So I got to see that that's cool. I had a friend from both Mexico and Bolivia, they did a lot of agricultural stuffs. They're doing like testing different kinds of seeds and planting, which again, agricultural state is what we use for that. So yeah, it was a nice, like, opportunity to learn more the international side, or like, it's more diverse than just what I had at home. So what was it
Geovanny Mayorga  11:25  
that you originally wanted to study? Once you got to? University?
Ryan Mudder  11:29  
So I'm one of those classic, you know, I changed my major a few times. And so it's like, students are like, what? Anyways, I initially my went to entered SDSU. I was biology major, because in high school, I mean, I did well in biology, I liked it, I understood the material and like, Okay, this could be an opportunity. So my first year did biology, which was okay, right by new bat, my second semester of my freshman year, and like, hey, a little bit different than what I had in my school for education, because the chemistry and the physics are more advanced, not doing as well. So at some point, I kind of had to make a decision that was more like, okay, you know, maybe this isn't for me, maybe I'm not doing too well. In my university, they kind of have your first year you have like a, like a buddy system of some sort. I don't remember the name of it. But they kind of help you when it comes to okay, you're not maybe academically performing well, in certain classes. Here's some study groups, here's what you can do what you know, I took advantage, but at some point, it's like, okay, this is this is not going to work for me, because I'm not doing as well as I did, which is culture shock. And my sense, like, okay, education from home was very focused on test taking, because that was the trend at the time to go to university and understand like, Okay, what you study and learn here is not test taking, it changes your whole perspective. So basically, I know my following semester, I took a semester off, because it gives you the option to like, okay, you can take a break and come back next semester, which I did. And so after that came back, I believe I chose park management, because my state's known for you know, natural parks, state parks cetera. I worked at State Park briefly as well during the break. Okay, I switched my major to park management, and then that following to us at Spring semester, despite its winter, there were some budget cuts. So that program was then canceled, so no, option. Next option is like, Okay, well, I mean, I'm already going to start semester, I switched to undecided which undecided is basically you do a general requirements, you take a class to kind of discover yourself, right, which at first, it sounds kind of silly to take a class like that and pay college credit for that. But it's the same class to help me realize, okay, you know, you do well, at teaching you dual languages, you have opportunities, there's something you explore, which I did. And that's where I changed to like more international studies, right. And then eventually, when I started that for the following semester, I decided do more kind of more languages, since I had more backgrounds in that way, we have an opportunity to take a placement test, which is very familiar around most schools, when you take a language course you take a placement to see where you're at. I had taken German prior, I didn't really feel like it wouldn't continue with German, because again at that time, I mean, is it horrible? It is and also like Spanish is more common and more practical, right? I had taken two years in high school. So when I decided let's try Spanish, took a placement test, I got basically intermediate, which is about B one, b two. And the other nice, like convenience of that was that my university there's a deal where you can basically buy the credits for all the lower levels to fast track your degree, which is convenient because at that time, I don't want to stay longer because it can be more expensive. And at that went like, Okay, we'll continue with it did Spanish and that was my further kind of choice. And then by the following couple years, graduated in basically a bachelor of arts and Spanish with a minor of English, because at that time, there wasn't really like a ESL program, there was one for more like teaching in K through 12 settings. But I knew I didn't want to teach in K through 12, just because of personal preference, I preferred more like the international side. So I kind of tried to take courses that were relevant, did some kind of volunteering that helped me kind of determine is this the career for me, which was great, too, because the one class I had for Global Studies, the requirement was to volunteer in your community. And I volunteered for a long name, Lutheran Social Services refugee immigration center, okay, where you basically teach English to incoming refugees, immigrants, or anyone that might be new to the country. And that opportunity really helped me kind of, you know, yeah, this is what I want to do for a career.
Shaudy Martinez  16:02  
And also you help the students, as you mentioned before, they are pre orientation.
Ryan Mudder  16:08  
Yeah, so I was always involved in international students and studies. I even did a radio show like this kind of similar for language group, right? There was the International Coffee night, which I helped kind of get involved. At some point, I just became more like a co host. By choice. Like I didn't have to, but I wanted to, because it was a great place to meet people, make connections, learn more about other people where they come from, why they're here. See, I've always been involved in international situations and like, communities, and I liked that. So that also kind of made me yep, I want to do this for my career and continue with it. So. And
Geovanny Mayorga  16:45  
that's how you made the transition to
Ryan Mudder  16:50  
his natural sight. Yeah.
Geovanny Mayorga  16:52  
Well, you made a move correct and made a move to, to Midwest
Ryan Mudder  16:56  
after that. Yep. So I guess I keep going up and up. I remember like, basically, after I graduated, I moved to Sioux Falls, which is the largest city in South Dakota, officially almost 200,000 foot population now, according to the recent census. So I kind of was working for my first year after graduation, because college courses etc. I was still volunteering and and at some point, during that time, I knew that I wanted to get my certification for teaching English abroad, there was a class in Minneapolis. So I did that for a brief month. And then when I came back, I got a job at the place was volunteering as a full fledged beginning English teacher did that for a couple years. And eventually, again, it's one of those decisions you have to make for yourself, like, am I going to stay here or there a better opportunity somewhere else, which I did, I found one in Minneapolis, and I ended up moving to Minneapolis. So the next big city, that
Shaudy Martinez  17:55  
job I think is one of the hardest one to be a beginner teacher because you take students from zero, and it is hard for them to understand you. So you have to have a lot of skills. Yeah. Make them understand
Ryan Mudder  18:11  
exactly, because like different schools I worked at, are you they're like nonprofit schools, or some that are more for profit universities, private language centers, right. I think we talked about that difference, too. And it is true, like when you work in some cities, or some schools that are more nonprofit, some students you get are, you know, legitimate false beginners, they have no experience in the language. Never had exposure possibly, or there might be an initial beginner where yeah, they might listen to English somewhere here, but never formal study. Or I'd have people I specifically work with adults back in Sioux Falls for harder, my friend harder. These are people who never even learned how to write in their own language. So I'd have people from like Nepal, who I mean, of course, their background, never learned literacy in their own language. So you have to take that into consideration when you're trying to teach this person, new language, a new cultural setting a new environment, adjusting to USA, you know, all those fun stuff. So it can't be difficult. Yes,
Shaudy Martinez  19:15  
it is hard for an adult to feel like really doesn't control anything and don't know anything. Yeah. It is. It is a hard job to be the first one. I think I will think about it if they offered me like just to teach beginners because it is really hard.
Ryan Mudder  19:34  
Well, then I moved to Minneapolis, I was working for another nonprofit school, right. And my new school setting was basically more grassroots. I was teaching classes, I think four days a week at this retirement home of you know, former students that were from abroad, right. So I had a class of Russian speaking grandmas, and some Ethiopians because in that area of technically like St. Paul, because Twin Cities right When I first entered the class, I was kind of like surprised and like, Oh, these are all, you know, mature students who come from different backgrounds. Each has different kind of level of English because even when people tell me like, Oh, um, B, one, b two, whatever, no one truly is that level or like when, as a teacher, right, I teach a class of this level, people on that level are up in between a cetera, it's not one level across. So the first day just getting to know people and like, Oh, we're from Belarus. We're from Russia, Ukraine, right? From Ethiopia, and cetera. So then getting used to the new students what they need to learn, what do I need to teach them, because when you work for nonprofit, typically, there are certain rules, policies you have to do and teach, especially if grants are involved. So even though I'm teaching a group of mature students who are retired, I still have to incorporate like job skills, which is a requirement from Minnesota for adult ESL learners, or do like occasional testing, like testing I did in high school for them, which they loved. Joke.
Geovanny Mayorga  21:10  
But what are what are the different? Because I'm not sure that I know, what are the different levels of learning language?
Ryan Mudder  21:18  
So I mean, level wise, it really determines or depends on kind of some factors of like, what scale we're using. So I mean, think of the components when you learn a language, you have listening, reading, writing, speaking, grammar is considered a fifth multiple, a four, but this five, those are some aspects you look into for a level. So depending on what kind of test procedure we're doing, or what system we're using, that can correlate to a certain level, depending on how they do on a placement, test, etc. So, in Minnesota, I believe it's called CASAS testing.
Geovanny Mayorga  21:55  
But the level the levels go from 12345. Yeah,
Ryan Mudder  21:59  
so you go from like, your beginner to like, advanced or professional, the beginner would be what beginner is like, I mean, I know what CFR is a zero, a one to be Elementary, right? Yeah, it really it gets complex. And that's where it's harder, because there's different standards, right? Again, if I remember, in Minnesota, it's like, well, technically, it's like an A one, are they considered just as beginner? Right? So, beginners?
Shaudy Martinez  22:26  
Zero is like, you learned numbers? Yeah,
Ryan Mudder  22:30  
they usually we base a
Shaudy Martinez  22:33  
one, you can construct a sentence, you know, more things. Yeah. Just start from from that. Yeah, I will use this. I mean, right now, I explain our students that, because sometimes they they feel like they know more than the level they are. But they they had to have them in a level in a specific level is that all their skills have to be like in the same level. And sometimes they speak very well. But they really don't know the grammar. Or they are lacking some listening skills. But they speak very well. And they believe that they are ready. They know English. And that's the idea to have them all in the same level, but with all their skills.
Ryan Mudder  23:26  
Yeah, that's true. And then that's like you mentioned too, you'll have some people that have maybe higher speaking skills, lower literacy or the inverse, they have more literacy, less speaking. Oh, usually
Shaudy Martinez  23:35  
writing they're better in writing and reading. Yeah, well, when they are going to express themselves, like so
Ryan Mudder  23:42  
as a teacher, so learn how to address all those are like no your learners, right? What are their strengths? What are their some things I need to improve upon or need help with? Even though you teach one level, you have multiple levels within that level, and at address and try to be able to teach everyone or even like, can they work together on these activities, these projects? So that's a definitely a teacher skill is yes, yeah.
Ryan Mudder  24:07  
It's a challenge for them. Yeah. Yeah.
Geovanny Mayorga  24:10  
Sorry. Like, like you showed me my original language. My native native language is Spanish. I was born here in Chicago. But I grew up in Guatemala, Guatemala City, and I learn because I, we moved when I was one years old. So I learned Spanish as my first language was only in Guatemala City up to third grade. So in terms of the Spanish language in terms of grammar, obviously I only learned into up into third grade. And while I'm sure like you shouty, we had English classes, why I went to Catholic school, and I had English classes. I mean, it was very basic stuff. So when I moved back when I was 10 910 years old I mean, even though I, you know, what's your name, that type of stuff, but it's just not conversational. I was not at a conversational level. So I came to the States I was placed into I want to say fifth grade. But I couldn't be in a classroom because I didn't understand. So then I was sent to supposed to, like bilingual class. Yeah. Where, I mean, they were going over math and science and all this stuff. But you know, all that stuff, I was well advanced in you with the exception, right, with the exception of English. And it's like, like, you know, how do I catch up? Yeah, obviously, in you know, eventually, once you get into I think we're, I don't know, if it was high school, you know, I took a Spanish class, but more so for the grammar and writing, as opposed to learning because as as, as opposed to, you know, a child who's going to learn and pick up quicker as an adult? I'm sure it's a little bit. And you can tell me your experience how difficult it is to pick it up or not to pick it up. So learn the language. No,
Shaudy Martinez  26:05  
but yeah, definitely. I recall. I was studying English, back home before I came. And I was in intermediate level. Yeah, no, no. When I arrived here, I knew how to write sentences.
Geovanny Mayorga  26:22  
Difference. Yeah.
Shaudy Martinez  26:27  
It was super challenging, because I thought I was an if you say, intermediate level? I mean, no. No, I was totally lost. I you started like, yeah, lower intermediate, like be one. But know
Ryan Mudder  26:42  
what you've been like volunteering, like back in my university town, because that was those side projects. Do you have the volunteer units you study, like, some schools, I went to very similar to YuGiOh. It's like, okay, I'm assigned to this school, this middle school, I'm helping a student from Mexico kind of adjust. They're similar. They place them into like, the special, not special classes. But like, this is a language class to improve. In this one child is working with us from Mexico, and like he understands the material. He just can't do in English. And like the teachers like hey, we try to talk the parents, but they don't speak English. So you have to be that middle person and translate what a parent teacher conferences, what are the grades mean? Usually the parents the most important questions like how's my child doing? Of course, parents, right, like, hey, you know, he's doing well, he understands material, we just need to practice writing in English. And that's it. So it gives me more insight because like, I don't have that similar background, like, you asked me about learning grammar. The only time I recall learning English grammar was like maybe eighth grade. And when we use like, these old textbooks from like, the 80s, and like, do a lot of the underlining sentences parsing, which is not the most up to date method. And that's the only time I recall actually studying grammar in English. Despite that, I grew up in USA and such.
Shaudy Martinez  28:05  
And I the same, I feel that because, well, I grew up in Venezuela, so I know and also I study journalism and so I know grammar. But here I heard Spanish I listening to Spanish speakers that were born here. And they are lacking grammar skills. But they speak Spanish, or some pronunciation and things like so. You that studied Spanish also.
Ryan Mudder  28:39  
For a good majority of my life, maybe right?
Shaudy Martinez  28:42  
We are here. We are three Spanish speakers, I guess I'd
Ryan Mudder  28:47  
say like how long so I did two years of Spanish in high school, which at that time, like it was very basic Spanish. I don't think it's even level specific. I wanted to take it just because I wanted to learn the language for once because I had the opportunity afterwards like fast forward like back to when I was University and then took Spanish again like well, I can remember these concepts that very basic stuff. Grammar wasn't the best because of prior we didn't really learn grammar, we just read books that were for children, right? But
Shaudy Martinez  29:17  
in elementary school or high school do you think is still basic Spanish like we we learn basic English in our countries. But do you learn here basic Spanish, it's
Ryan Mudder  29:28  
very basic, like I remember in high school, when we start learning about verb and conjugations which at first I never heard that before. It's like what's the conjugation? And then of course we do it but in high school, I specifically remember okay, we're going to do your basics but we're not going up so throats because we don't use it here. Okay. Which looking back didn't really help because later when I did a study abroad in Spain, where they use photos a lot, luckily, like when I went to university, my wonderful teachers shout out to them at Modern Language Department. retaught me things that I didn't know or like, helped kind of this is the actual Spanish you need to know not just your specific grammatical Spanish,
Shaudy Martinez  30:08  
but it's in the university level where you think Spanish become like more formal.
Ryan Mudder  30:14  
Yeah. So I remember in university, we learn more like, okay, it's, you know, you have your general Spanish. But then again, I remember the advice I was given, like, once you learn enough to feel confident, you kind of need to pick a region, right? Are you gonna study more Spanish in Spain? Are you gonna study more like session Mexico, Argentina, right? And my one professor gave me that advice, like, pick a region, and stick to it. Because if you decided to learn all the regions, it's gonna be very difficult. What's true. So that's why eventually, when I did my study abroad in Spain, the bulk of it that had the real practice with is Spain, Spanish, which is hard to like, determine what that is, right? So yeah, I would say like, looking back from high school, people who study Spanish today, especially that my friends who do like Spanish Immersion School back in Sioux Falls, I think they learn more general Spanish that can be used for all Spanish speakers. Because once you start to advance, again, you have to kind of choose where do you want to focus on?
Geovanny Mayorga  31:17  
Right?
Ryan Mudder  31:18  
So which, like, in my mind, we don't think of that in English that for like, do you know American English? Or do you know British English when there's a whole global English concept, or there's more people who speak English as a second or third language than native speakers? So,
Geovanny Mayorga  31:34  
yeah. So then how did you make your transition from Minnesota to Chicago?
Ryan Mudder  31:40  
Moving up and up? Right, so at that point, I think after about a year or so in Minneapolis, there was an opportunity to teach English at Kaplan here in Chicago. So it was like well, you know, this is a really like, like Kaplan was a big school cetera. So I did that applied, got the job, and 2018 When I first moved Chicago, and then yeah, I went from teaching more from the nonprofit to more for like a private language center, which gave me more of the international perspective, because by then teaching English at Kaplan, these are students that are, of course, more knowledgeable. They're recent graduates from like, bachelor's, and Master's, or they're just tourists, right. So give you more of a different perspective on the international side, or, like when I was in university, the students I'm talking to now are just like the people I had back in my university, the only differences out in the teacher or administration, basically, so
Geovanny Mayorga  32:37  
that you find your way to MCC. Moving
Ryan Mudder  32:41  
on up and up, right, there was a unique position available, and I decided I'm gonna take it because I got the experience and skills. And you know, even though I started as a teacher at Kaplan 2018, at some point, I kind of transitioned to more administration, which I kind of liked a little bit more, because on the admin side of things, you're more involved the students, not just the students in your classroom, right. And even though I was doing admin at Kaplan, I was still able to teach here and there or like, get to know people and make those connections, even people finished. So when I saw this position at MCC, I was like, You know what, it's great opportunity. It gives me more side to help people who are applying from abroad, right, people who are transferring to change the status. Right. And I have experience in that since I did admissions prior at Kaplan as well. So that's kind of why I came here. And also, like, I have renewed have, I've known of Midwestern for a while. So moving on up.
Geovanny Mayorga  33:39  
We talked about, well, obviously, I learned English at a different age. You know, I was younger, Saudi, a little bit older. We've talked a little bit about that. There's really no age to learn. It and I'm sure aside from the diversity that we have here. We have age diversity as well. Talk a little bit about that. Yeah.
Ryan Mudder  34:03  
So I've had I mean, people always ask me like you, okay, you teach adults but like, what ages do you teach? Or what's the youngest? What's the oldest, right? The youngest, I'd probably say like, I know, at one point, we had like, 15 year olds, or like 14 year olds or again, I was doing volunteer work in elementary schools, middle schools, these are people who are like eight. My favorite is the one student had back in like, Minneapolis, St. Paul. She was Russian. She was like, 104 Wow, learning English. And, you know, I still tell the story, because when people say, you know, I'm too old to learn language. Well, I had a student was 104. I checked I at first it's kinda like maybe it's like, maybe it's a different ID or at verification. I checked 104. And then yeah, she was very unique. Despite that she had a hearing aid, she can still participate, she learned. So having that mindset, can I change my perspective? Like you're not that Oh, Old or you learn at any age? It's no excuse. It's your own excuse. And yeah, she started probably learning that 90. She was from Russia. So she's 90, she became a published author. She wrote some articles for like a Russian magazine, I think. And then she just learning English because that was the opportunity. So yeah, she participated, despite age being a factor, health, etc. She could hear the hearing aid, and that she would still come to class. So that kind of made me more inspired to like, you know what, I can do this, you can do this, or anytime a student tells me, I can't I'm too old. No, you're not. Try it. put the effort into it or like, think of reasons of why you don't want to do it. Right, right. Or how to teach yourself better. So
Shaudy Martinez  35:52  
I'm a spin class. I mean, as soon as we finish, I'm gonna start writing my book. Definitely. I mean, students lace I mean, this. I mean, you have to come to classes. I mean, no excuses. Learn English, learn any language. Do you think learning a new language is definitely a blast. But how make you as a person? I don't know. Like, that open mind is, I don't know learn the language. Open your mind in different ways. Yeah,
Ryan Mudder  36:24  
I talked to a friend about this. And we were talking about like our experiences, because we both did something similar when language is, you know, her back was more in French. It's more like, okay, learning a new language was like opening a new door to yourself. And think of your personality, like, how are you when you speak Spanish? How are you when you speak English? How do you act when you speak French? Right? So it definitely does open doors, and does open your perspective and kind of can change in a way right? Because remember, even when I came back from study in Spain, my mom's like, you sound different, like, Well, okay, I just came back from a different country where language is not technically English as a native language. So of course, I'm adjusting. Right, right. But yeah, does change is just even friends. I talked to people who maybe know me before, I'm like, Oh, you talk different, but not in a bad way more like, Okay, you talk the way that's more easy to understand. Like, you'll have been teaching for the last quite a few years. So yeah, definitely. And as well, like, how do you incorporate that? Right? A lot of students have asked like, How can I learn listening? How can I learn this? What are some things you do every day? Like when you go home? What's the first thing you do? I watch Netflix? Okay? How about you watch something like Netflix? In English or whatever language you're learning? Subtitles? Yeah. I mean, my favorite is like the friends method, where I think this Korean band on the Ellen Show are saying like, we learned English through friends. My sister did that. I've got friends who've done this. Through classes. I have a friend who learned all his English from basically TV shows and like the way you could do is very similar. Watch the whole series, English or maybe in your language with subtitles, watched again, put English subtitles, watch a third time in English, no subtitles, and you could I've tried it myself. But it's hard because sometimes I watch shows where I know the the actor's voice. You're a different voice. It's hard. Yeah.
Geovanny Mayorga  38:24  
Both of you obviously shout to you participated in part of your ESL program here at MCC now you're you're the manager for admissions, what are some of the highlights about our programs are what differentiates our program versus others? Well, I
Ryan Mudder  38:40  
will say like coming from other schools I've worked at there's more flexibility, right? That's a plus. The classes you take here are definitely useful, depending on what your your goal is. Because like we mentioned, some classes are level based, right. But a typical thing at most schools is like what happens after you finish levels, right? Where do I go next? So at MCC, you have options for that they complete the levels they can do professional English, and academic English is great for like University Prep, or if they really want to, they can transition towards associate programs to great because that's usually what most of my students in the past would do is they would apply to university, a master's program. But depending how that goes like an admissions itself, but MCC, you have the options for the business programs, you've got accounting and there's human health programs. So to me, and to all the schools I've worked in the past and there's more opportunities for international students than just okay. English has done move on. You actually can stay at MCC and continue something great.
Geovanny Mayorga  39:46  
Right? Surely
Shaudy Martinez  39:47  
our students already had a career in their countries their their bachelor's or from their country, or they already had a master but our associates complement all of that, and is a way to don't stop and or get stuck, like, okay, learn English. But now, as you as you're saying, so it is, yeah, MCSE has that good option? Yeah,
Ryan Mudder  40:11  
I've had students who, you know, in Chicago go from one English school to the other and the other and like, you know, that's great. But at some point, you kind of have to do something more productive and worth your time in value. Because, I mean, you're learning English for the sixth time at this school is great, but maybe if you want to do something like marketing, right, that's a great option to get that associates an entry level requirement, you could potentially either look for a job or possibly do an internship, or MCC, there's also the options for CPT op T, right, which is great as well, because you can get work experience as a student. So it builds towards like a future path, which is great.
Shaudy Martinez  40:54  
Also, like, when you feel like you learn English. I mean, we never stop learning a language. This is definitely that. I can speak by myself, because I got at some point, like, I don't want to write an essay anymore, or the same like we do in ESL. programs. So when when MCC open the business program, I immediately did the I switch to that program. So I still continue learning English, but I was, I feel that I was advancing. It wasn't a different level. But we never stopped learning the language. I'm still making mistakes, I make mistakes.
Ryan Mudder  41:40  
Everyone busts, my favorite. Like when you learn a language, my favorite thing is always like, okay, even though you make mistakes, you learn that way, right? Because even in my background, I've made many mistakes in Spanish, but like, those are funny mistakes to me, because again, like it's a language difference, right? And that helps you learn or at least you remember that better than trying to memorize 2000 words. That's the teach their own, but to me, it's just easier to learn by actually doing it versus just like studying over and over these vocab. So you might not use or if you work for a business situation or a degree of some sort, you're using the English skills or language because you have an actual real life situation, which the more that practical use some
Shaudy Martinez  42:26  
It's okay. Yeah, sometimes I correct myself sometimes No, but this life, this is my English. And it's okay.
Geovanny Mayorga  42:33  
It is, I think the most important thing is, is to be able to do it go out, enroll, wherever it is. The Start, once you get started, you know, you find yourself and you get the confidence to be able to to do something. We're wrapping up. Anything else you have in mind.
Ryan Mudder  42:56  
It's the q&a portion.
Ryan Mudder  43:00  
We have quick, quick questions here. No, no, we don't have. Awesome. It is awesome to have you here.
Geovanny Mayorga  43:08  
Yeah, welcome. Where do you see the program going? The ESL program going?
Ryan Mudder  43:14  
Well, I know that we're looking at more I brought applicants and we are getting more people from abroad to plan, which is great, because I mean, again, this opportunities that people have and maybe they didn't know of or like, again, people looking to have the opportunity to study abroad, maybe advanced a career, or at least get more of insight of what they can do when they're here. That's a great option. So that's great for me, because again, some of these countries like for example, Colombia, of course, which most of my friends are Colombian, that side, mean, there's opportunities, and that's a great way to kind of start. What
Shaudy Martinez  43:50  
are the countries that represents our students?
Ryan Mudder  43:54  
I'd say now definitely Colombia, Brazil, Mongolia, which to me is unique because every school I worked at this always this unique group of students, which you didn't expect, but then you see some Mongolians getting to know more and more. I've seen more for Turkmenistan. Took me exactly like I haven't really had, like very, I would say countries that are not common. Until now. I'm like, wow, get more applicants from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Kyrgyzstan. Of course, my Colombians Venezuelans as well. Right. So
Ryan Mudder  44:33  
some Venezuelans here. Yeah. It's
Ryan Mudder  44:34  
my favorite. You can try like listen to like Venezuelan Spanish and like
Ryan Mudder  44:40  
we thought that we didn't have any accent.
Ryan Mudder  44:43  
Everyone has one. So like everyone has their own accent of some sore finger. And yeah, if you ever watched like the fun videos for English, I just watched one maybe a couple of days ago. It was a person who is from Wisconsin versus Minnesota. It's like your typical Midwestern states. There are some Um, features that are different or like vowels are differently pronounced or might be some variants here and there. Even like me when someone asked me or told me like you have an accent back at university, as like, What do you mean? Say your state, South Dakota, like, Oh, all right, then you can hear it gets the Oh, right. So, I don't know, I can get that. Yeah, it's, I mean, you can kind of pick it up here and there. But if I were, if I were to go to like maybe West coastal states or like New York, etc, they might pick up like Midwestern, but in my defense, I think Midwestern English accents are kind of easier to understand. They're neutral. We don't have any kind of, like, difficult to understand features. But maybe, yeah, probably
Geovanny Mayorga  45:44  
us accents are easier than say, you know, Irish. Yeah,
Ryan Mudder  45:51  
it's more like I remember one, Scottish accents are difficult. I had students try to like pretend, okay, you want to pretend you are a real New Yorker, I want to hear your best impression of someone from New York. And they went, you know, I would play a video that kind of helps. Kind of, I mean, like, coffee, like those things, right? We'd watch the video first. And they kind of practice Okay. In
Geovanny Mayorga  46:16  
college, there was a classmate that was from from England. I can't remember, you know, which part of England. But there were times that I did not, I could not understand what he was saying. It was just like, say that again.
Ryan Mudder  46:30  
Yeah, I've had coworkers too, that, like, you know, the UK side of things. And one guy came over to visit for like a work event. There were a few times it was kind of like, what, what did you ask me for? Because again, the expressions are different. Yeah, and fun fact, it's usually vowels are different among English. So rather, they speak some sort of British variety. North American variety, it's the vowels are permanent, gonna be different. If it's not valid, it's probably gonna be like, maybe some phrases, verbs now, just like in Spanish, too. So I,
Shaudy Martinez  47:04  
I have a well, I have, I ran the conversation club in here at MCC just to also challenge myself. But we discussed this week that one of our students, she said that she couldn't understand the teacher. And I told her, don't worry, you will get used to because she said because of her accent. And so don't worry, we have an advantage that nobody has. We know how to understand English from a international people is like we recognize the words that coming from an Asian from Burson from, I don't know, Turkmenistan. This is unique. I always put the example of my sister because she learned English, she is also a English teacher. But she is also always around Americans. When an international student or something are close to me and talk to me. She always asked me like, I didn't get anything. Yeah, just a few words is that I understood everything. Because I think this is an advantage. Similar
Ryan Mudder  48:18  
to me, like after teaching a while, like you kind of learn how to understand if that person doesn't feel confident. My favorite are the people like sorry, for my English, like you spoke fine. I understood everything, you do not need to apologize, or people who are just too nervous, and instead will like will show you the phone screen and like Google Translate and like, Hey, it's okay. I mean, I've taught for 20 years, I can kind of understand what you're saying or I'm used to it. So I think a
Geovanny Mayorga  48:43  
lot of it is just fear, I think, fear of not sounding correctly, or fear of making whatever it's gonna get get over that fear. So I think it's been a while I really enjoyed the conversation, as has been wonderful conversation, talking a little bit about everything, mainly Spanish and ESL. Until the next one, we should do another one panel discussion. Why not? Yes. Yes. So I want to thank both the co host shouty for being here and Ryan, our ESL, admissions manager, I think is a great conversation hopefully gave some good insights into what it is to come to Chicago and Midwestern career college to learn the language and many other things. So I want to remind our listeners to follow us at Spotify, Amazon music, Apple podcasts, YouTube, and write to us at podcasts at MCC comm studied you. And we look forward to talking to you next time. Thank you guys. Thank you