ESL program being offered for janitors

The English as a Second Language (ESL) at Tufts program, which will provide basic English tutoring to participating Tufts janitors, will hold its first class Sept. 28. Classes will take place for one and a half hours every Saturday throughout the semester.

LCS President Kate Elder called the ESL at Tufts program "groundbreaking." "It's the first collaborative program between the President's Office, the Chaplaincy, and LCS... and we hope it is not the last program of this sort," she said.

Seventeen janitors, who work at Tufts as employees of OneSource, have signed up for the free program, and more than 20 students have expressed the desire to volunteer as tutors. According to ESL at Tufts co-founder and coordinator Andrea Daley, if more volunteers sign up, more janitors will be offered the opportunity to take the course.

Daley said she has been amazed by "the overwhelming desire that people have to help out and get involved in the community."

Harvard Seminary student Michael Evans initiated the program while working in the Chaplain's Office last year. After attending a Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM) rally last year protesting janitorial wages and treatment, Evans decided an ESL program would be beneficial to the campus community, he said.

Evans approached then-freshman Andrea Daley, who has served as coordinator of ESL and Adult Literacy for LCS since last spring, to suggest starting a program through LCS. In April, Evans discussed the idea with Irlanda Jimenez of OneSource, who served as liaison between the janitors and LCS by gathering names of people interested in signing up for the classes. Twenty-five OneSource employees expressed interest.

LCS also will also offer daycare for the children of ESL students, although only one person has expressed the need for this service.

Once it became clear that interest in an ESL program was sufficient, Evans discussed the possibility with interim Chaplain Patricia Budd Kepler, who gave her support for the idea, Daley said. When Father David O'Leary was named Chaplain late in the spring semester, he too offered his support.

Kepler and Evans sent a proposal to the President's Office asking for financial assistance. At the beginning of the summer, LCS was notified that the program would receive approximately $500 from the office.

The President's Office also provides moral support and advice, said Judy Olson, Executive Assistant to the President and liaison between the Office and LCS. But, Olson said, LCS essentially leads the program, and she and O'Leary play a minor role in providing support when needed.

She pointed to Daley as the leader in establishing the program. "All the credit for getting the program off the ground goes to Andrea Daley," Olson said. "She worked hard over the summer to get her materials together, to make contacts with people who might want to participate in the program, and to think through the program."

In June, a letter was sent to Random House Publishing asking if the company would donate 35 textbooks, or as many as possible, to the program. Eight weeks later 35 books showed up at the LCS office, Daley said.

Daley and sophomore Cathy Caicido, who will serve as program co-coordinator when the course begins, produced a workbook to supplement the textbook. The workbook familiarizes students with practical situations, such as how to fill out a hospital admittance form and how to order food at a restaurant, and teaches pronunciations of basic English words. It is also formatted so that ESL students of different levels can move at their own pace.

Spanish Professor Claudia Mejia became involved in the program through Daley, who was a student of hers last spring. "To study English is very important not only because of the language itself but the program will provide the opportunity to integrate [its students] into the Tufts community and the United States," Mejia said. She called the program a "window into the world of the growing Latino community in Boston."

Mejia also said that some of the janitors might desire assistance in their native language, as well as English. If this is the case, she said, she will work to develop a program to help them with their reading and writing skills.

She said that most of the janitors at Tufts are either recent immigrants or have never had the opportunity to study English. "The janitors are going to learn a lot about each other, diversity, different experiences, different cultures, and different ways to learn," she said. The tutors will also learn a lot about their own language, about each other, and about the backgrounds and cultures of their students, she added.

Mejia has helped to advertise the program within the Department of Romance Languages by asking fellow professors to discuss it with students and by posting fliers. She will draw on her knowledge of teaching a language when she serves as advisor to the tutors.

Mejia would like to see the program grow in the future, possibly to include faculty and staff tutors as well as student tutors. She also hopes that if enough people volunteer to teach, the program will be extended to include the spouses and children of the janitors