Thread: NJ: ESL classes offer more than English lessons

ESL classes offer more than English lessons
By Michael Riley • Gannett New Jersey • September 21, 2008

Karina Salmoran walked into Central School in Keyport on Thursday afternoon with an uncertain smile, the smile of someone who was not entirely sure what she was in for, but hoped for good things to come of it.

She was not alone. More than a dozen women had arrived at the school by 3:30 p.m.

What all these women wanted was to learn to speak and write English. And so they sat in some of the same classrooms where their elementary school children spend their days.

This is the third year that the nonprofit Keyport Cultural Harmony Program has provided English as a Second Language programs for adults after school hours. It is a nine-month program, lasting as long as the school year.

Keyport is one of 228 school districts out of 592 in the state to provide ESL for its students, according to the state Department of Education.

But the KCHP adult program reaches a population not served during school hours. It operates with the blessing of the school district and classroom space and some funding provided by the district. The program was founded four years ago by Tom and Margie Fischer and Keyport Police Chief Tom Mitchell. Margie Fischer is an ESL teacher in the school, and many of the women attending the program have children in her elementary school classes.

This course had a strange genesis. It began when the Fischers were approached by the town police department to teach the officers some Spanish.

The growing Latino population in Keyport had made the proposition something of a necessity. The language barrier made misunderstandings between immigrants and the police more likely. It helped that the Fischer's daughter, Shannon, was and continues to be a police officer in town.

But, as Tom Fischer put it, there is limited value when the the education is going only one way.

The phrases that the police would likely need to learn mostly were imperatives: "Stay in the car," and "License and registration."

The Fischers thought it might be better to offer English classes to the community.

Literacy Volunteers of Monmouth County provides the tutors, and $1,000 from the Keyport Board of Education helps with the cost of the educational materials. Volunteers also provide child care during the afternoon sessions.

"We are always in need of child-care volunteers," Margie Fischer said.

For the first time this year, KCHP is offering an evening program as well as the afternoon class. The Wednesday night is expected to run from 7 to 9 p.m. (without child care) and the Fischers hope to attract men to these nighttime sessions.

"The working men cannot make it during the day," Margie said. "We want to give them the opportunity."

This inaugural class had 29 registered students and seven tutors. Other volunteers provided child care for the mothers who attended.

Not all the of those who registered showed up, but there were a couple of drop-ins, people who just showed up to begin the class.

"Sometimes, attendance can be sporadic," Margie Fischer said.

The large group was broken up into smaller classes, reflecting the level of fluency on the part of the students.

Barbara Sullivan of Matawan spent the 90-minute session with two women whose knowledge of English was minimal.

"I was born in Mexico," Sullivan said, indicating that the women should repeat after her.

In other classes, students were asked to point to pictures that showed what the speaker was saying. Which picture showed a child eating, she wanted to know. Sleeping? Running?

Tuck Houston of Brick is a tutor for some of the more advanced students. His four students, some of whom attended last year's class, are busy learning how to tell and write stories.

"It's not complicated," Houston said of his commitment to the program. "It makes me so happy to teach and see the progress these students make."

While the ESL classes form the bulk of the work of the Keyport Cultural program, that is not all it does.

"We help immigrants learn English, help them get a taxpayer identification number so they can pay taxes," Margie Fischer said. "When the immigration laws change, these people will be on a path to citizenship."

This last is obviously more hope than fact. Comprehensive immigration reform, the kind that would provide a path to citizenship for immigrants who did not come here legally, is not likely to become law any time soon.

Sometimes, Tom Fischer added, their work goes beyond teaching English and handling paperwork.

"We mediate pay disputes between the day laborers and their employers," he said.

The investment of time and energy, the Fischers believe, has already paid dividends.

"Parents can now help their children with homework and strive for better jobs," Margie Fischer said.

Maybe student Linda Tomayo of Keyport put it best and certainly spoke for many of the students when she said, "I learn to speak English and it's better for everybody."
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbc ... E/80921010

So now the taxpayers of that city not only pay for the anchors to be educated (while the parents don't even have a taxpayer id number so aren't paying taxes) but also for the parents? Volunteers watch the children. How many of those volunteers are illegal? Are illegals too good or too busy to volunteer to watch the kids of their freeloading peers? What do the ESL "students" contribute to their "education"? Do they pay even $5 per class or nothing at all? How many have made donations after they receive free mediation services to help them get more $ from their employer? Why do some illegals sign up and then not bother to show up, not bother to call to let the volunteer know they won't be there? Is it because this is a free service they are entitled to and no big deal if they don't show up? Is this considered assimilating or still living the laid back, I-don't- answer -to -anyone lifestyle they supposedly left? Why is the school being kept open, at night, using electricity, water, etc with someone (I assume someone being paid overtime) there to make sure everyone leaves the building and to lock up to teach just over a dozen (I assume they are so responsible and want to learn so badly that they come every single week) illegals. This sounds like a waste of money that should be paid for by the illegals, perhaps with the money they save by not paying state tax, federal tax, medicare, social security, etc (and don't say "they pay taxes too, because they usually work using a stolen social security card, and knowing they can't get a refund using someone elses SSN, tell the employer they support a huge # of dependants, so very little if anything is actually held back for taxes, or write in on the I-9 that they don't want taxes withheld during the year, they will just pay what is owed at tax time, and then of course, don't pay). Wouldn't they appreciate it so much more if they actually paid for the classes themselves?