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Clinton church, library fill need for ESL class in community

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Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

Marcelino Garcia sits in his grandmother Maria Palanza’s lap while alanza listens to Dorothy Case teach.

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Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

Lidia Donilla, left, her husband, Phillipe, and Maria Palanzia listen as Dorothy Case and Peggy Windhorst teach them about English-language idioms at the Emmanuel Reformed Church in Clinton.

CLINTON — The teachers didn't worry about perfection.

The need for classes to teach English as a second language is so great in Clinton that getting hung up on details could have wasted valuable time, said Clinton Public Library Director Michelle Dennis.

"We quit being worried about being perfect and whether we could do it, and we just started," Dennis said.

The Clinton Public Library and Emmanuel Reformed Church, 319 East St., Clinton, are hosting adult ESL classes four times a week in the basement of the church. The classes are a reinvention of a program the church started in 2001 and ran for six years.

The church took a break from running the classes until this spring, when a Spanish-speaking woman walked into the Clinton Food Pantry and told a worker if she didn't sign up for an English class soon, she would lose her job.

That's not an uncommon problem for non-English speakers, Dennis said.

"I'm not sure it's always said so honestly, but it's a fact," Dennis said.

Pantry worker and board member Cathy Manthei turned to Dennis, who couldn't think of a reason why the library wasn't teaching ESL classes.

Dennis estimates 200 native Spanish-speaking adults live in and around Clinton. That's about 10 percent of the population, she said.

Dennis in May started asking around for volunteers, and by June classes were underway. She landed a $2,000 grant from the Clinton School District to get things going. The state grant is managed by the school district and intended for community education, Dennis said.

Thirty-six adults are taking classes this semester, which runs through mid-November. New students can join the class at any time, Dennis said.

Typically, about 10 children ages 11 months to 13 years are in the childcare program while their parents are in class, she said.

The goal is to teach non-native English speakers to read and write in English, to understand and speak the language and to be confident in their English skills, Dennis said.

The classes also teach the English language "culture," Dennis said. For example, a recent Thursday night class was studying idioms—those descriptive phrases unique to the language that have no literal translation.

Specifically, the class was studying color idioms such as "in the black," "going green," or "in the red."

Students' skills range from having a degree from a college in Mexico to being unable to read and write in Spanish, let alone in a second language, Dennis said.

Outside class, Dennis sees the use of Spanish language materials being sporadically but increasingly used at the Clinton Public Library. ESL materials are popular. So are children's books with English and Spanish text.

"Parents say, ‘I want my child to be able to read in Spanish as well as they do in English,'" Dennis said.

CLASS SCHEDULE

The Clinton Public Library and Emmanuel Reformed Church, 319 East St., Clinton, will host four weekly adult ESL classes through mid-November. Classes are 10 to 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 to 8 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays. All adults are welcome no matter their skill level in English.

The library also is working to organize an after-school tutoring program for elementary-age English language learners to get help from high school Spanish students. High school volunteers need not be Clinton School District students.

To learn more about the programs or to volunteer, call the Clinton Public Library at (608) 676-5569.