December 20 – The Northstar Language Center (NLC) is scheduled to open and begin classes on January 9 at 8123 E. Wardlow Rd. As a new division of the Northstar Learning Center, which has been providing academic assistance to Long Beach students for the past decade, the NLC’s goal is to equip international students entering the California university system with the tools necessary to overcome the language and cultural differences they may encounter. “Unlike most language schools that only focus on getting students in the door, we focus on where students are going after they finish with us,” NLC Director Karl Kottman, pictured teaching a class with instructor Rebecca Santa Cruz, said in a statement. “It’s one thing to teach someone grammar; it’s an entirely different thing to acculturate, educate and prepare a student to become a productive part of society.” For more information about Northstar Language Center or its class schedules, visit www.northstarlanguagecenter.com or call 562/431-3111. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Thomas McConville)