KU News Release

Graduation stories: KU student devotes time to teaching, volunteering

Karen Acosta

LAWRENCE — The Beatles helped Karen Acosta learn English. Now she’s paying it forward by teaching the language to others.

Acosta will graduate from the University of Kansas this month with a master’s degree in teaching English as a second language — a field that has seen huge growth as more and more people seek to communicate in a common tongue.

Acosta grew up in Paraguay, and Spanish is her first language. She learned English when she was a teenager with help from American television and popular music.

“I would watch English-language TV while doing homework,” said Acosta. “Then one day, I could understand it.”

While she earned a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from the Universidad Católica de Asunción in Paraguay, she worked at an American-Paraguayan cultural center, teaching English to schoolchildren. Her boss at the time happened to be a KU graduate and encouraged Acosta to pursue a master’s degree in Lawrence.

Here, Acosta discovered that her passion was teaching, especially working with children learning English.

“No one is better suited to the job than bilinguals like Karen who have great ease and fluency in two — or more — languages and cultures,” said Lizette Peter, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction at KU. “Karen is an impressive person, advanced in her thinking and mature in her demeanor. In class, she was always prepared to engage the sometimes-controversial issues in thoughtful and sensitive ways and contributed positively to class discussions. I could count on Karen to offer insightful comments that came not only from her understanding of the material, but through her experiences as an English teacher in Paraguay and as an international student in the United States.”

But Acosta does more than just work in the classroom — she’s a passionate advocate for her community.

When she was in Paraguay, she was so busy with school and two jobs that she had no time to volunteer. When she arrived at KU, one of the first things she did was seek out opportunities to serve her adopted hometown.

She worked at the Juvenile Detention Center in Lawrence, helping youths under house arrest with their school work. She also became involved with the Douglas County AIDS Project and translated documents such as brochures and volunteer guidelines into Spanish. She did the same thing for the Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority, helping both organizations serve Lawrence residents who otherwise may have been left out.

“They seem like small things, but they help me feel at home and involved in the community,” Acosta said.

In 2007, Acosta hosted Bilingual Story Time at the Lawrence Public Library. Every Friday she would read children stories in Spanish and English. Unfortunately, in the last semester of her master’s program, she had to give up story time to focus on her studies. However, she is staying at KU next year to pursue a doctorate and hopes to resume the activity.

“It was so fun seeing the kids and talking to parents,” Acosta said. “And it was nice meeting Spanish speakers in Lawrence.”

For now, Acosta is thrilled to finish her master’s degree. She’s planning to walk down the hill on May 18 and is quite excited to wear the fancy regalia. She said it reminded her of graduation scenes in movies — they don’t have these kinds of formal graduations in Paraguay.

Acosta said the best thing about KU was meeting people from all over the world who are all learning how to teach English to others.

“I learned as much from my classmates as I did my professors,” she said.

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The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.