Population Served:
17,600 Project Contact: Miguel Vicente Project Title: Bridging the Gap: Literacy Services for the Hispanic Population Project Description: The ESL teachers volunteering at the Pinewoods Library generally do not have any previous teaching experience, nor did the library system have an adequate curriculum for them to follow. In order to improve the quality of the instruction and to better support the volunteer instructors, the American Dream grant provided funds to hire two professionals for the purpose of creating an ESL curriculum and mounting on our web page. The focus is on developing teaching methods for the tutorial program used by volunteer instructors at the Pinewoods Library. |
 |
Many of our volunteers have had little or no prior experience in teaching and the purpose was to create a tutorial program to help them learn how to teach English as a Second Language to Hispanic adults. The final result was a manual with specific guidelines, a CD and a web presence for others to use.
Notable accomplishment, promising practices, or human interest stories: Adriana Robinson, a participant in the Pinewoods Library ESL class, spoke to Hispanic community members about her experience in the class. From the skills that Ms. Robinson acquired in both English language and computer skills, she was hired to work for Community Connections, an information service agency in Athens. She helps motivate the students in the English and computer classes to continue their hard work by presenting her success as an example.
Fructoso Barcena of the Pinewoods Community expressed his gratitude for the library’s resources, stating that he “was so happy that when Alex [Barcena, my son] went to kindergarten the first day, that [I] understood everything the teacher was saying.”
Key lessons learned: To improve participation and attendance, it was important for the Pinewoods Library to improve the level of instruction. By creating a curriculum that is built around the needs of our residents, we’ve also built a stronger and more relevant program.
Of vital importance are the successful partnerships with the community needed to make connections and to recruit volunteers. The Library staff participates in community activities, works with the local school district and other organizations to become known within the city and to spread the word about the program. The Library staff collaborates with several organizations to present programs at the library which includes awareness of cultural activities, civic programs and educational programs. We are fortunate to be located near the University of Georgia and have provided a living laboratory for students and faculty who want to share ideas with the Hispanic community. In particular, health seminars and reading programs for children have been extremely successful.
The Library staff as a whole must work as outspoken advocates of the library and library programs at many community events such as neighborhood health fairs, educational programs, Chamber of Commerce events, Rotary and other civic groups.
Also for successful participation, the library has to offer children’s programming to run simultaneously with adult programming.
Advice for other libraries serving adult English language learners: The strategies that were utilized by the Pinewoods Library to create a successful ESL class are: survey and identify the specific language needs of the target audience; prioritize the topics of frustration for class participants and use them as lesson topics; use the philosophy of learning situations for volunteer instructor; follow-up student absences with phone calls (students may feel that after absences they are not allowed to return to classes); minimize student affective filter with simple explanations of language learning processes; and offering children’s programs to run concurrent with the ESL classes.
Also, the class is offered as a two month program rather than as a year long module, divided into sixteen classes offered twice a week; a celebration with a certificate of completion at the end of the 2-month sessions help to build continuity and participation.
We suggest that the Library survey their Hispanic community and build library services based on the responses received. Most of the people participating in our ESL classes are doing so to become a part of the greater community and to be able to communicate with their children’s teachers. This has led to better training and a targeted ESL program, but it also has helped guide our collection development as well.