Brian Schorr

Before teaching ESL, Professor Brian Schorr was an art teacher for middle and high school students, both domestically and internationally. While teaching in Australia, Schorr’s visa had expired, so he moved to South Korea to teach English. After living abroad for a few more years, Schorr returned to the United States to get his Master of Education in ESL degree from The College of New Jersey.

In the Language and ESL department at County College of Morris (CCM), Schorr enjoys working with students from a variety of cultural backgrounds. “In any given class, there are 10 to 12 languages students speak,” Schorr explains.

In addition to having a wide variety of languages in each class, students have varying educational backgrounds. Schorr has had students from some countries who only made it to eighth grade and students with doctoral degrees from other countries learning English in the same classroom. “ESL is the story of language, the story of culture,” he says. “When people move, they bring their language with them, and it changes. Languages are always breathing and growing.”

Schorr finds it fascinating that cultures are always adapting to new language trends: “Every year there’s new words and we have to figure out how to spell them and use them. I think that’s really exciting, because it’s the story of people.”

Also in the Language and ESL department, Schorr teaches sections of the College Student Success (CSS) course– a one semester course that helps incoming college freshman adapt to college life. Almost all colleges in New Jersey require a variation of a first-year seminar course to help explain the structure and function of college to ensure students have the skills to be successful.

Schorr loves to see his students succeed. The most rewarding part of teaching to him is watching a student graduate who originally said they weren’t going to make it and was going to drop out. “That is why I teach,” he says.