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It’s a cold and damp Wednesday morning, but in a small classroom in Trent Hall, Andrew Davis is facilitating a class discussion on the nuances of American family dynamics and the characteristics that tend to define an American’s transition from childhood to adulthood, and later adulthood to old age.
“American children are expected to move out and become much more independent,” Davis explains to the class. “Even if they are not going to college, children are generally expected to have their own job, and to have their own place to live when they turn 18.”
After some surprised reactions from the class of international students, Davis engages the group by asking them to describe their own cultural experiences with adolescence.
The class, comprising students from seven countries across the globe, offers insights that transcend a discussion of family expectations to one illustrating the values and ideals that define unique cultural life experiences.
Conversation, Culture, and Connection
joined TGS in 2018.
During this 8-week course offered by the English for International Students (EIS) program, international Postdocs and scholars, as well as their spouses or partners, are invited to build their conversational English skills, explore American culture and values and form connections that strengthen their ties across cultures to the Duke and Durham communities.
Davis, a Lecturing Fellow in The Graduate School’s EIS program, taught the course during the Spring 2025 semester, now in its second year. Born as a collaboration between EIS, the Duke International Student Center (DISC), and the Office of Global Affairs (OGA), the course has been the first of its kind at Duke.
Offered during the spring semester and as an intensive during the summer, the course gives international students and their families more confidence as English speakers through a curriculum that incorporates idiomatic and conversational English and discussions on cultural values, ideals, and sometimes, idiosyncrasies.
Using a collaborative learning model, students engage with each other through large and small group discussions and creating interactive dialogues guided by the course instructor, who offers insights and often uses personal life experiences to discuss trends in American culture.
The result is a casual and personal atmosphere that emphasizes self-reflection and openness to new perspectives. The opportunity has been positively received by students since the non-credit course began in the spring of 2024.
“I waited for this class for about a year,” one student shared during a class break. “Because I’m international here, I want to be familiar with American culture so I can better connect with others and communicate. Understanding the culture allows us to make friends, build our families, and can help when we are taking the next steps, like interviewing for jobs.”
An Evolving Curriculum
Several members of EIS have worked on developing the course curriculum, including EIS Instructor Craig Dresser, who taught the first offering of the course, and Brad Teague, PhD, assistant dean and director of EIS. Teague has led the EIS program for the last decade, joining The Graduate School in 2015.
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the EIS program within TGS
since 2015.
Teague’s career has focused on working with ESL students, a passion that began through his high school Spanish classes and continued through paid ESL positions in college. Recently, Teague was appointed to a leadership position in the TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) International Association.
"I'm thrilled to partner once again with DISC and OGA to offer this course for the second year in a row," says Teague. "Through this collaboration, EIS has extended its impact beyond traditional matriculated students to reach more of Duke's vibrant international community. The demand for these services has never been higher."
Davis shares that the curriculum of the course has evolved over time to meet the needs of current students.
"The first time the course was taught, it really focused on American values and an American culture conversation,” Davis says. “So we start with things like friendships, and small talk, and how to make those connections. And then in later classes we talk more about the practical areas of their own life, like schooling, children, public schools, customs surrounding dining in the United States.”
Davis joined the EIS program in January 2018, and previously taught in the ESL program at the University of Iowa. Davis’ inviting and energetic personality has made the EIS course a welcoming and comfortable environment for international students to build their skills.
“For me, learning American culture has been the best part,” another student in the course shared. “Even the many ways to say hello and goodbye, the idioms are different in our culture. Sharing our own experiences that I’ve had with Andrew [Davis] and the class, he is able to comment and help us understand the connections to American culture and the differences.”
“Sharing our own experiences that I’ve had with the class helps us understand the connections to American culture, and the differences."
EIS Student
DISC has been instrumental in advertising the course to international students and their spouses, in addition to other opportunities available to them at Duke. International students automatically receive a weekly DISC newsletter, which advertises available student groups, social clubs, volunteer opportunities, and more. One student in the course shared that social events like a Cooking Club have offered chances to practice conversational English and also form new connections in the Duke community.
Finding Commonality Across Difference
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In the 2024–25 academic year, nearly half of students in The Graduate School are international, hailing from 63 countries. Their contributions to the global academic research community, and to the community here at Duke, are immeasurable.
Programs like EIS and course offerings like this one serve as valuable resources to Duke’s international community. And through the course discussions, focusing on commonality rather than difference has become an underlying theme.
At the close of the lesson, Davis discusses core beliefs that are often instilled in American children from a young age, including independence. He uses the idiom “tough love” to describe how many parents allow children the freedom to make their own choices which then become learning experiences.
“I really like that,” one student shares in response, who is raising her family in Durham. “My son, when he goes to school, sometimes he is picky about what he eats. And my other son in daycare will sometimes put his shoes on the wrong feet. I talked with the teacher, as we thought someone should fix that for him at school. But he is now learning that for himself.”
Davis closes by sharing a similar experience he has with his young niece.
These found connections across cultures serve as the most beneficial discoveries of the EIS course. Although the students have widely different life experiences—from all corners of the globe—the course’s strength lies in underscoring the cross-cultural interconnectedness that unites us, and the spirit of community that binds us here at Duke.