Faculty profile:
Lowell Riethmuller

Before many ELI faculty were enticed, beguiled, or otherwise led into becoming computer-confident, Lowell Riethmuller was looking for interesting ways to bring this new wave to his students. To some students, Lowell may simply be the ELI computer guru, author of the English-language games in the Smith Hall computer lab.

Although Lowell has been a long-time ELI teacher, he did not begin his career specifically in ESL. He did, however, always know that he wanted to teach. Born and raised in Nebraska, he credits his high school German teacher with showing him "what good teaching could really be." Upon graduating from college with a bachelor's degree in German, Lowell came east to Elkton, Maryland, to teach high school. He brought a love for music, language, and especially life-long learning. It is this love of learning that has propelled Lowell through different phases in his life, including his studies for a master's degree in German, another period in which he played piano professionally and various travel stints in which he visited 23 countries and 49 of the 50 United States.

In the course of time, Lowell decided to broaden his skills by studying ESL and linguistics. He received his master's degree in English Language Studies from the University of Delaware in 1984. One of his teachers then called upon him to tutor at ELI, where Lowell found a new area of challenges and pleasures. The variety of students in a typical ELI class demanded that he expand his teaching skills to meet student needs, while the needs of ELI encouraged him to integrate into his classes his interests in photography, video and audio technology, music and ultimately computers.

Lowell's primary goal in teaching remains unchanged: to help students find their way to greater knowledge and skills and to a greater understanding of themselves and of their potential. In the end, he hopes his students will be inspired to continue their development independently, knowing that "someone is paying attention." And Lowell is always paying attention: it is a true pleasure for him to hear from previous students about the new things they are seeing, doing and learning.

Lowell continues to work on finding ways to make the Internet and computer technologies more meaningful to ELI students in their short time in Newark. Currently, he is most interested in making the ELI web page more useful and in making it easier for students to acquire word processing and Internet researching skills. Eventually he hopes to write a book of his own, combining his photos of children from around the world with commentary and insights on the places he visited. He says, though, that his habit of getting "housebound with itchy feet" may just put him on the move again, perhaps back to Japan, where he taught for two years, or to someplace new. After all, the Internet is great, but it just does not match being there.

Tutor profile:
Patrick Ruffin

Patrick was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, but was raised in Wilmington, Delaware, within sight of the Delaware Memorial Bridge. During his college years at the University of Delaware, because of his lifelong attraction to languages, he spent a month studying in Heidelberg, Germany. In 1969, he graduated with a major in German. Then, as with many other young American men in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the direction of Patrick's life was changed by the Vietnam War. He spent two years in southeast Asia in the Air Force teaching English to cadets in the Vietnamese Air Force. Each day, sitting in a former French ammunition dump bordered on one side by a minefield, his M-16 rifle propped up in a corner, Patrick drilled prospective pilots and aircraft mechanics using the audio-lingual method of English language study.

After his military service, Patrick returned to the Midwest, receiving a master's degree in TEFL in 1975 from Southern Illinois University and later a second master's in linguistics. A meeting with a South American friend opened the door for Patrick to go to Brazil, where he taught EFL to students and language teachers from 1976 until 1980. During this time, his facility in speaking and reading the Portuguese language surpassed his fluency in German, and his cross-cultural interests deepened and widened.

In 1980, Patrick resettled in Delaware and took an ESL teaching position at Temple University in Philadelphia. Since then, he has taught English, coordinated ITA programs, and tutored at Drexel University, Delaware Technical and Community College, and the Community College of Philadelphia. In addition to teaching ESL and researching his family tree, Patrick enjoys driving his '81 Corvette and watching international films.

He likes helping people learn an international language so that they can share their ideas cross-culturally, thereby enriching the world, as well as their personal experience. His advice to students who have traveled so far from their homes to learn English is to make friends and to use their English, not only in class, but also outside in the "real" world. "If you really want to learn English," he says, "you need to actually use it, and there are three easy ways: speak, speak and speak."

Professional staff profile:
Linda Bigler

Linda Bigler is the coordinator of the Tutoring Center and of the Corporate Training Program at ELI. She joined the Institute ten years ago as a tutor, bringing a unique approach to English language teaching: her Cooking Cluster brought together students who wished to improve their language skills while learning how to fill their stomachs, American-style. She got the idea for the cluster while teaching English in Japan, where her students showed their respect for their teacher "by sitting quietly in their seats--extremely quietly!" Determined to get some real communication going, Linda proposed a combined English language/Western-style cooking course, and a fun, interactive approach to ESL training was off and running.

Linda comes from a center of great cooking, New Orleans. Though she left the city 30 years ago, you can still hear the unique regional dialect of New Orleans in her speech. She studied communications at the University of Southwestern Louisiana before marrying and traveling around the world with her husband, Bill, who, during his career as an Air Force officer, was stationed in Texas, North Dakota, Illinois, Missouri, Florida and Japan. Everywhere she and Bill went, she took cooking classes to learn about the regional cuisine.

Linda began teaching English for the Department of Defense while in Japan, where the children of American servicemen with Japanese wives needed English lessons to keep up with their classmates. In addition to teaching English, Linda has honed her teaching skills by instructing Americans in Japanese, Chinese, and Louisiana cooking at various cooking centers.

In addition to Linda's administrative duties, she teaches the Pronunciation Cluster, a small class aimed at improving students' oral intelligibility. Linda says she "knows personally what it's like not to be understood," for as a child she had a speech impediment that made it hard for her, just like her students at ELI, to produce clear, spoken English.

Linda's outgoing personality, energy, and enthusiasm make her an effective and well-loved English teacher. Her office is decorated with photographs, mementos and colorful postcards from students who continue to think of her after they leave ELI. With her usual laughter, Linda claims a big part of her job as Tutoring Center coordinator is "controlling the insanity," but it is clear that she fully enjoys that insanity!

Staff profile:
Donna Lumpkin

Any visitor to the English Language Institute encounters a friendly face upon entering the ELI building. That face belongs to ELI's secretary, Donna Lumpkin.

Donna, who came to ELI two and a half years ago, enjoys the variety of experiences that working with international students provides. She worked at colleges in Philadelphia, her hometown, and New Jersey before coming to Delaware. "I love meeting Level I new arrivals and watching their skills grow," says Donna, "until they're standing at my desk chatting away."

Donna enjoys watching her children grow as well. She has been married for twelve years and has two daughters, 16 and 9, and a son, 8. One of her favorite pastimes is reading Bible stories with her children.

Though her job keeps her very busy, Donna maintains an upbeat attitude and advises students to do the same.

"The word 'institute' sounds too formal," she says. "The director and staff strive to make ELI a home away from home, to make sure that students' first experience with American culture is a good one."

Donna's warm welcome is an important element in creating that positive first impression.