Helping Adults to Learn English
by Les Ottinger with Suzanne Daub
For anyone who lives or works on Nantucket, it is very clear that the number of people on the island whose native language is not English has increased almost exponentially in the last five years. Portuguese speaking painters; Spanish speaking landscapers and masons; construction workers and house cleaners with Bulgarian or Polish as their own language; restaurant and service personnel from Honduras and the Dominican Republic and Guatemala; Bartlett’s Farm with a mixture of East Europeans and Central Americans; au pairs from Thailand; Salvadorians and Columbians and Brazilians; and on and on. From the standpoint of their educational backgrounds there is also great variation. Some are college graduates with an academic knowledge of English while others cannot read and write in their native language. Some were educated for the professions – there are doctors, lawyers and engineers – and others were farmers or truck drivers or students before they came to Nantucket. They do share almost universally one common desire, though, and that is to become fluent in conversational English.
For these new island residents, Nantucket presently offers two Literacy Programs. The oldest, run by the Community School, has been in the business of teaching conversation, reading, and writing to adults for more than a decade. Its courses have been modified over the years to meet the perceived needs of its students. At the present time, the courses concentrate on grammar, conversation, and basic reading, writing, and listening skills. Taught by certified ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers, the courses are twelve weeks in duration and are offered twice a year. Many of the teachers are members of the NPS staff. One-and-a-half hour sessions are given twice a week with a progression of instruction and learning in the continuity of a structured classroom setting. The courses are Beginners English Levels 1 and 2, Advanced Beginner’s English, Intermediate English, and Advanced English. They satisfy varied needs and advancing skills. Free childcare is offered in the evening for students with small children. During the summer months there are weekend intensive classes for beginners, as well as conversational classes focused on familiar themes of everyday life. In addition to the English as a Second Language classes, the Community School also offers students basic literacy instruction in both Spanish and English. As an activity of the Community School, the instruction is in the evening and school classrooms are utilized. For more information, call Michelle Meckler at 508 228 7257, ext. 1817, or Kate Bartleman at 508 228 7257, ext 1571.
The second Literacy Program, which is now 18 months old, is sponsored by the Nantucket Atheneum. Courses and tutoring are free to the students and books are supplied. The program is structured around drop-in courses in conversational English for beginning and more advanced students. These meet year round at 6 PM on Thursday evenings at the Atheneum. The drop-in courses have a dual aim: conversational English is taught, but the main goal is to get each student into a one-on-one relationship with a tutor. Tutors are volunteers who devote one or two hours a week to their student or students. Times are set up to meet the schedule of the student, often in the evenings and on weekends. Although conversation is the initial goal, students may also go on to study writing and reading with the tutor. Currently the program has about 50 tutors and 70 students receiving individualized instruction. Since the need for tutors usually exceeds the supply, additional tutors are always being sought. The next tutor training session will be at 9:30 AM, Saturday, April 21, at the Atheneum. The workshop will give potential tutors a chance to meet other tutors and develop an understanding pf volunteer tutoring. No previous teaching experience is required – just a desire to help someone learn to speak better English. For more information about the program or to become a volunteer tutor, you may call the Atheneum or one of the program coordinators, Tharon Dunn at 508-228-1382, or Les Ottinger at 508-228-8710.
For the students in both programs, mastering English is a key to better employment. But it is also a way to widen contacts and to begin feeling comfortable in what for many is now their year-round home. Beyond this, classes function as a way to meet and interact, in a non-threatening setting, with other people with limited English skills. In addition, tutors may offer the student the first opportunity to know a Nantucket resident who is friendly and interested in her or him, and who can help with integration into the island’s social fabric.
The tutors in the program get immense satisfaction from their endeavors. They, too, gain a broader view of the world as they get to know people from other cultures and backgrounds.
“I get as much from them as they get from me,” commented Maria Zodda, who has been involved in ESL classes on Nantucket for five years and has been a literacy volunteer at the Atheneum since the start of that program. She is presently tutoring two students from very different backgrounds: one from Thailand and one from the Dominican Republic. A teacher by trade, Zodda volunteers to make a difference in the community. “My own grandparents were immigrants who came with no knowledge of the language. I’m very supportive of those who come to this country and want to learn.…it’s a way I can give back and it’s challenging professionally.”
Native Nantucketer Julie Kever feels much the same way. “I enjoy helping people…it’s very satifying to see them tackle the English language…and it keeps my skills up.” Kever has been tutoring here off and on for 13 years, and, like Maria Zodda, has been a part of the Atheneum program since it started. Kever’s current students are from Bulgaria. “My very first student on Nantucket (also from Bulgaria) brought his fiancé over, and they married and had children, and last year they all became [U.S.] citizens. And one of the women I’m tutoring now became a citizen last summer.”
Bob Burnham participates in the Atheneum program “because I was a teacher and I like English.” His first student was from El Salvador, and he now tutors a young woman from Thailand, a university graduate who worked for General Electric in her home country. “I get the satisfaction of teaching, of watching someone grow in her knowledge of English, and I see the pleasure they get in learning…it’s neat!” he said enthusiastically.
Burnham would recommend ESL tutoring to anyone who likes to teach and wants to perform a social service. “Rather than walking around grumbling that these people should learn English—do something about it!”
Maria Zodda feels that the efforts made to help these students here on Nantucket will have a positive effect globally: “When they go home, they’ll remember this.…it’s a way to make a difference in a small way in our own community and it will be reflected in the world at large. If we don’t start getting along and understanding each other better, things will only get worse.”
