ESOL

Learn to Read, Write, and Speak English.

ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Education programs are available in your local community schools. Each school offers free testing, placement and registration.

Read a true life example of how adults are learning English

For more information contact:
Claire Valier (561) 434-8718
Adult ESOL Coordinator
valierc@palmbeach.k12.fl.us

For information about ESOL classes and for the location of the Community School programs click here.

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Click here to download the training manual, or find out how to solve common problems, such as how to configure your Scantron or find a lost record.

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A Little English Goes Far for Grads
By Ana X. Ceron
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

JUPITER — After taking eight weeks of English classes, Cristobal Lopez has punctuated his lessons with one key phrase: “I need work.”

That’s what the 24-year-old Guatemalan native said he learned after the sessions ended last week, a feat that Lopez says allows him to talk to his potential bosses rather than resigning himself to improvised sign language.

It’s a little bit, but I can say something,” he said.

	Lopez and the other students celebrated the end of their lessons on Tuesday, when teachers were set to hand out 63 certificates of completion to the first graduating class under a new partnership with the school district. Maybe the timing was fitting. details...
Lopez and ESOL Coordinator Claire Valier

It was the eve of Independence Day, and a group of workers from Guatemala and Mexico gathered to commemorate a milestone in their American Dream.

“Hopefully they’ll be aware when they wake up tomorrow what a great opportunity it’s been for them to be in a free country,” said Mike Richmond, one of the volunteer leaders who helps run the center with Catholic Charities.

The moment was a proud vindication for some supporters and volunteers of the El Sol center, too.

In the aftermath of heated debates over an overhaul of U.S. immigration policy, the students were defying some of the crueler words lobbed against people like them, supporters said.

They weren’t lazy. They wanted to assimilate in their new country.

Since the English for Speakers of Other Languages classes began in May, students showed up for four hours of lessons three nights a week, often after toiling through 14-hour work shifts.

Some were learning their third language -topping off Spanish and one of the Mayan dialects spoken by the Guatemalan workers. A few who grew up in rural villages were holding a pencil for one of the first times in their lives.

“I’d see them on their bikes in the rain coming here. It’s a testament to their tenacity,” says ESOL Coordinator Eileen Harden.

About 120 students signed up for the program, including three women and a mix of men from 18 to about 65 years of age.

While the group made up the first graduating class since El Sol was approved as a satellite location for the school district’s adult education program, the classes weren’t a novelty at the center.

Florida Atlantic University students and volunteers from the migrant advocacy group Corn Maya had been volunteering to teach English classes there since it opened in September.

The center wanted to offer the classes to help the workers find employment, and overcoming the language barrier was a critical step, Richmond said.

El Sol’s classes got a boost in March, when the school district agreed to a partnership to offer the ESOL classes, donating textbooks and computers.

On Tuesday night, about 20 students and their friends and family gathered for the graduation.

Lopez was proud to have made it to the ceremony. He worked as a painter during the day and attended classes at night.

“It’s the first time I’m receiving a diploma for English,” he said.
 

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