Name: Learning English in the Sunshine State: Academics and Community at Florida State With Angel Rios
Uploaded: 2026-01-14T17:34:47.000Z
Duration: 18 min 18 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Welcome back to another episode of Breaking Boundaries, the world's premier podcast for international students.

Modal verbs - A2

I have the distinct privilege today of being joined by Dr.

Angel Rios of Florida State's center for intensive English studies.

Dr. Rios, so grateful that you joined us today.

Now, I wanted to open with a question, not about the program, but

about your background, because I think it's fascinating.

You taught high school French for a long time.

You also speak passable Italian, and You have a PhD in foreign language teaching.

But I want to focus on your own French and Italian.

What lessons have you derived from learning those foreign languages that you translate to the English language classroom today?

When I first moved to the United States, I did not speak English, so I had to learn English at the high school level.

And I was told accidentally that to meet the foreign language requirement for the.

For the high school, I could not take Spanish for Spanish speakers.

And I'm like, I'm barely trying to learn English and you want me to add on another language?

About five weeks into the semester, the counselor calls me back and says, I don't know who told you this.

You're not supposed to be doing two languages at once.

We can put you in a Spanish for Spanish speakers to meet the foreign language requirement.

By that time, I had fallen in love with my French teacher, with her techniques, with her approach and with the language.

I said, I'm going to figure out how to do two languages at once, but I will.

And that really initiated my love for languages and the passion for education and then being able to combine both.

So my experience with learning French, I feel, shaped me as a professor and my approach in teaching languages.

My experience with learning English was so horrible that it reminds me of what I should not do as a professor, because the ESL programs, at least in the state of Florida, they need a lot of improvement, are not very successful or efficient.

And so it's sort of like that sink or swim approach where you've got some actual English instruction, but

then you're also in regular English classes, and

And so that part for me was very difficult.

But learning French, on the other hand, from the style that that teacher had was enjoyable.

And it really helped balance so that I was able to get the negative and the positive, and

For those listening, there are plenty of French words that are plopped into the English language.

For example, we have chauffeurs and concierges.

But generally speaking, the languages are very different.

And it's fascinating that you learned both simultaneously.

And one was something of a joy and the other was a drag, if it's fair to say.

English was the necessity because I had just moved to the United States, so it was kind of like the one I wasn't enjoying was the one that was not optional.

As an aside, did you move here from Puerto Rico?

My family and I moved from Puerto Rico kind of just in search of better opportunities for us kids.

My parents wanted to be able to provide for us, but none of us spoke the language.

So the entire family started from zero with learning English.

And both my parents have master's degrees.

My mom was a registered nurse, head of the entire northwest coast of Puerto Rico.

All the hospitals were under her command, and

she came to the US to not be allowed to practice.

My dad went from being a college professor and high school principal, also with a master's degree, to cleaning bathrooms during the graveyard shift at a hotel.

And that's how our first few years in this country started for us.

I have a good friend from Nigeria who was an attorney in Nigeria and moved to the States, and

she had to work as a parking garage attendant while going to law school to gain her credentials anew.

So it's quite an adventure, and it makes perfect sense why you are where you are.

So let's talk a little bit about the center for Intensive English Studies at Florida State.

Tell me a little bit more about the program and the students you serve.

So the center for Intensive English Studies was a result of a research project at FSU was trying to conduct in order to attract more international students, not just to the university, but

We are a program that is in charge of receiving any international student who wants to do a Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in the United States, but

has not met the language proficiency requirement for that program or that university.

They're here 9am to 3pm every single day.

It's a very different schedule than the Average college or university schedule, and

they stay with us for as long as they need to until they reach the language proficiency level needed for the university or for the program that they want to study.

And how long are students typically in the program before they move on to what's next?

It could be an average of anywhere from six months to a year.

What level they're in, when they first come in and take their placement test, that will determine the length of stay for the program.

And do you tend to have a higher concentration of students from certain regions of the world, or is it a mix of folks from around the globe?

You know, as the world changes, our student population changes.

So for, for example, 10 years ago, five years ago, even, we would have been very heavy on the Middle Eastern populations.

A lot of Saudis, a lot of Kuwaitis, and, you know, the.

Oh, the program didn't pay the light bill.