Introduction
The Kennedy Park ESL class has been in place since the fall of 2001. The women in the class and the support staff meet up twice each week for two hour sessions. The sessions last ten-weeks in duration with an interval of approximately two weeks between each session. During the summer the classes are not held as most of the class participants are mothers with children who attend public schools.
The Kenney Park class is a unique education partnering of two Catholic Charities case managers who are contracted by the Department of Human Services to work with non-English speaking clients who are TANF/Aspire recipients. A mental health manager and an ESL teacher are also involved in this university-community partnership.
In order to address the needs of multicultural populations, who live and make their home in Portland, community-based programs that work closely with refugees must be in place. The expertise of individuals within the disparate organizations is enhanced and developed through the creation and building of such collaborative working relationships. These partnerships bring together individuals who work with refugee populations, and know them best. At the very least, they are in-tune with the needs of their clients. These needs become apparent and rise to the surface as those within the organization connect on a personal level with those whom they serve.
When the Kennedy Park Education model was first conceived, the support staff (caseworkers, mental health worker, and teacher) shared a collective vision for a class. Through the creation of an ESL class, Vietnamese and Cambodian women could come together, break through spells of isolation and despair, and connect person-to-person in order to set goals for their lives in America.
Through a shared vision, an educational setting has become the place where curriculum is created, where life stories are shared, and, where life plans, one at a time, are actualized. Through this class, all involved in the collaborative learn. The support staff learns about individuals’ life histories, values, cultural beliefs, and practices. These help to inform about the interests, needs, strengths, and barriers of the women for, whom this class was designed in the first place. The tools of the teacher trade are developed in response to the literacy needs and the real life demands of the participants, thus, a means to create curriculum that focuses clearly on this has been undertaken in the Kennedy Park classes. The focus of the class on literacy and personal development for adult learners highlights the need for individuals with different expertise and knowledge to be ever present in the classroom experience.
Critical Issue Paper: A Collaborative ESL Learning Model: The class at Kennedy Park
