Lawrence Hamilton Lawson is the recipient of Palomar\u2019s 2018-19 Distinguished Full-Time Faculty Award.<\/p>\n
SAN MARCOS \u2014 When he is in the classroom, helping students launch into higher education by learning English, Lawrence Hamilton Lawson likes to say that \u201cpractice makes progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because learning English as a Second Language (ESL), like acquiring any language, is a messy process, and perfection an elusive goal post.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe in the growth mindset\u2014to succeed we fail, and whenever we make mistakes we learn something to improve the next time,\u201d said Hamilton Lawson. \u201cA fixed mindset is the opposite, which is, when I make mistakes it just proves I can\u2019t do this thing, so I\u2019m just not going to do it. The growth mindset is that you aren\u2019t proficient in something until you make a lot of mistakes and do a lot of practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton Lawson has been teaching ESL at Palomar since 2009. He currently oversees several programs to help English language learners succeed.<\/p>\n
And for hundreds of students, ESL is foundational to academic success: \u201cThe students in my academic ESL classes are taking history, they\u2019re taking nursing, they\u2019re taking child development\u2014they\u2019re doing writing in other classes that is overwhelming for them, so the techniques they\u2019re learning in my class are immediately applicable to their other classes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Among the programs that Hamilton Lawson oversees is LEAPstart, an accelerated path to English proficiency that has helped many students finish their ESL classes in one year instead of two.<\/p>\n
Students come to Palomar after having \u201clearned language like it\u2019s something in a book,\u201d he said. \u201cI really like to contextualize the language they\u2019re learning, to show that it\u2019s an important, living thing for them to achieve their goals. I just love having students look at their work at the end of the semester and say, \u2018This is amazing, how did I get here?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
There are seven full-time ESL professors at Palomar, along with many part-time professors, and Hamilton Lawson pointed out that the need for English language training doesn\u2019t appear to be letting up any time soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Palomar we\u2019re giving students the confidence to realize they\u2019re making the right choice for their lives by pursuing education,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"