It’s the beginning of June and planting time is here! Sometimes, I think of our ESL students when I work in my garden.
They come to our program for a new start and to learn English as a Second Language. Can you imagine trying to learn another language as a refugee? A person who has spent years in a refugee camp, forced out of his or her home and country? Now they have come to America where the culture and language is very different. As I help teach ESL, I try to never forget that. All I want to do is plant a seed. Teaching grammatical rules, sentence structure or pronunciation will come later. My goal is conversational English so that they can ask or answer a question. Hopefully they will also be able to have a teacher/parent conference or talk to their medical doctor.
Planting a garden is a wonderful thing. We water, weed, and fertilize it, and then in 60-90 days, we have beautiful flowers or vegetables.
My hope is that I’m helping our adult learners to grow in literacy and feel welcome and loved, because they are beautiful people!
– Kelly Blair, Program Assistant
