`English for All' via the Web Program is relief for immigrants waiting for classes
Jaime Chaparro was ready to learn English when he found the Jamaica Plain Community Centers Adult Learning Program at English High School more than six months ago.
The 32-year-old Colombian had been in Boston only three months, but he knew he needed better language skills. He wanted to communicate with his co-workers at
The program offered free English classes, but with a catch -- a long wait ing list that would take years to slog through. The key for him, though, was the program was offering a new distance learning English class, a pilot program funded by the public-private venture, English for New Bostonians .
The class uses an online program called ``English for All," created by the Los Angeles Unified School District and offered free to English-as-a-second-language programs nationwide. Accessible from any computer through a website and an accompanying disc, the program follows a character, Alejandro , through brief, entertaining movies that focus on grammar, comprehension, and the vocabulary needed for job and life skills. Students test after each ``episode," but they can repeat the lessons and movies.
Teacher Diana Satin checks their work and tracks progress on the website; students receive her comments and ask questions via e-mail. If someone doesn't log in for a few weeks, she will call, then e-mail and send a post card. Out of 24 total students, she has lost only four since the program began in February, she said, mostly because of job conflicts, though one had technical problems. Two students have finished. Once a month, the class meets in English High School to practice conversation.
The new online program is exciting, said Lee Haller , director of the Adult Learning Program of Jamaica Plain Community Centers, because it helps the roughly 430 people on the wait ing list jump ahead. ``It's forward thinking to look at these wait lists and think, `What can we do to meet these needs?' " she said. The course also gives students forced to drop out of traditional classes a way to continue, she said.
Chaparro said he jumped at the chance to try distance learning. He liked working on a computer and the flexible schedule worked for him. ``I can do my homework in my spare time, whenever I want," he said. ``I think I'm improving my English because my co-workers said I'm getting better day to day."
Chaparro's language challenges are common in Boston, where immigrants make up more than a quarter of the city's population. According to a survey done in January , more than 6,000 are on a waiting list for the 13,900 slots in English classes around the city, said Joanne Arnaud , executive director of the Boston Adult Literacy Fund . And those are just the people asking for help, she said.
``To me, its just a crime that [ we have] people who have the interest and are willing to take time out of their incredibly crowded lives to go back to school . . . and we have to say to them, `You'll have to wait six months, a year, three years,' until they get their services," Arnaud said.
At the East Boston Harborside Community Center , about 100 people are waiting to begin English classes; the wait takes between three and six months. At the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, about 350 people are waiting and the list can take two years to get through, assistant director Sam Bernstein said.
But Chinatown, which has employed distance learning through videos since the early 1990s, is also using a tutor-assisted ``English for All" program to decrease its list and help its classroom students move faster, Bernstein said.
Despite these efforts, English distance learning is still rare, said Jennifer Rafferty , project manager for the state-funded Massachusetts Adult Basic Education Distance Learning Project . The state supports only one ``English for All" pilot program at the Notre Dame Education Center in South Boston, she said. Educators hope distance learning will become more widespread . ``One hope that I have is that the Department of Education will increase its funding for distance learning, if initiatives like this can show that it has good outcomes for students," Haller said.
English for New Bostonians will fund three new ``English for All" pilot programs, in addition to the Jamaica Plain program, beginning next month, Arnaud said. The new online classes should be offered to students on wait ing lists, those forced to abandon in-person classes, or students seeking additional enrichment. If the programs succeed this year, they could continue through July 2008.
It's vital that more people gain access to language courses, educators say. Immigrants who can't speak English may not be able to speak with their children's teachers. They might not understand doctors, pharmacists, or their employers. Just getting through daily business -- paying bills, ordering services, mailing packages -- can be overwhelming. Children are often enlisted to interpret for parents, creating role reversals.
When Linette Lopez arrived in Boston from Panama a year ago, she found herself learning from the children she cared for. ``When I came here, my English was really bad," said the 25-year-old Jamaica Plain nanny. Once, she remembered just pretending to understand while her 4 -year-old charge described his school day. But the Jamaica Plain distance learning class, in which she participates on her employer's computer, has given her new confidence, she said. She plans to volunteer at the Massachusetts Audubon Society , leading tours. The job will allow her to use the agricultural degree she received in Panama.
Carla Borbon , 36, also hopes to return to her field of expertise -- accounting. After leaving Mexico for Boston five years ago, and working as a nanny and spending two years on the Jamaica Plain wait ing list for English classes, she was eager to get started. It's been difficult at times to find a computer, she said , and she's had to learn to use the Internet and juggle homework with work, but she said, ``it's important."
Chaparro said he feels confident he and the other students will achieve their goals through their studies; every day, they learn more words and practical skills for navigating life in America, he said.
``I think next year we're going to be able to do everything we want to do."
