Service-Learning for Literacy at USM’s
L-A College
Once a week, 25-year-old Lewiston-Auburn College (LAC) senior
Leslie Brann shares a math book with a Somali teenager. The
two pore over the text in the busy study hall at Lewiston
High School, where the new immigrant is an English-as-a-Second-Language
(ESL) student. Brann tries to help her grasp basic math concepts,
filtered through their substantial differences of culture
and language.
Brann's tutoring is part of a course in literacy studies
taught by associate professor Eve Raimon. The course examines
literacy theories - with an emphasis on cross-cultural issues
- and includes related volunteer work in the community. Raimon
is using service-learning as a core requirement for her upper
level Literacy Studies class this fall. Along with studying
theories of literacy and literacy practice, students in Raimon’s
class are expected to spend a minimum of 90 minutes per week
throughout the semester tutoring ESL students at Lewiston
High School, most of whom are Somali teens.
While applying classroom theory and concepts to the real
world, college students get a chance for practical application
of language acquisition as well as cross-cultural approaches
to literacy. “The course asks students to negotiate
the differences between the idealized conditions for literacy
acquisition described in the theory and the everyday realities
they face in the classroom,” Raimon said.
LAC student Mike Tardy of Sabattus is no stranger to the
classroom. A non-traditional student, Tardy taught in Aroostook
County schools about 25 years ago. He’s thinking about
teaching again someday, and found the service-learning requirement
for arts & humanities professor Eve Raimon’s literacy
course a real draw. “It’s an interesting concept,”
he said. “It’s better than just reading books
and writing papers, although we still have to do a lot of
that, too.” He works for the USDA, which allows him
the time he needs for the service-learning requirement.
ESL high school teacher Diane Malinski observed that, although
there have been very few new immigrant or refugee students
this year, she “relies a lot on volunteers” to
help her in class. This is the second time professor Raimon
has offered this class in partnership with Malinski, who said
that most of the ESL students are now mainstreamed, and speak
conversational English very well. She also noted that younger
siblings who enter her classroom have already picked up some
English and progress nicely through her program.
Leslie Brann, who lives in Lewiston, says she may never use
her newfound tutoring skills after graduation. She plans to
go into marketing. Still, she says, it is worth the extra
work and patience to try something that may help others. "This
would be good for anybody going into any career," says
Brann. "This has to do with being a human being."
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