This year, rather than our traditional classroom ESL classes, we decided to hold all kinds of engaging workshops to provide creative ways of learning and socializing in English. The Spanish-speaking and bilingual students and their families loved it. It gave them exposure to cultures, skills and expertise not easily experienced elsewhere. It also provided a much-needed break from the rigorous school year.
Our workshops and their teachers were fun and diverse. A Stanford student serving as a summer intern, Wint Thazan, taught the students how to make vegan nopalitos salad and ceviche. Carrie DuBois, a long-time friend instrumental in helping to launch the Rosalie Rendu Center, is also known among her appreciative family, friends and colleagues for her elaborate cake baking and decorating. She shared her expertise with the students and was amazed at how quickly they caught on.
We also began a hiking group where mothers converse in English while exercising in the fresh air along with their little ones.
Our Art Club teacher, Elisa Madrigal, orchestrated a special art project. After focusing intently on their creations, our students’ talent was displayed vividly in painted frames that reflect their colorful culture.
On a hot Sunday afternoon in August, wrapping up a summer of fun, we held an ice cream social. The young children of our ESL students loved the ice cream and were almost as excited about picking up new books and back-to-school supplies. Our volunteer music teacher, Hannah, rallied her shy young singing students into providing us entertainment for the social in the form of a little concert. One of their greatest hits included lyrics, “People who make music together cannot be enemies…we are friends forever when we sing together.”
We’re glad we experimented with workshops this summer. It provided much needed restoration for our staff, students and volunteers; it helped students apply what they’ve learned in the classroom in a more relaxed setting; and it gave them a chance to discover and use their talent and creativity.
We welcome volunteers and donors to brainstorm their own imaginative activities and funding ideas. We and our students are infinitely grateful for new, creative opportunities for our students, and for your generous contributions that make them happen.
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Sister Trinitas, warmly known as Sister T at the Rosalie Rendu Center, shares her reflections of teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) classes in the East Palo Alto community. Sister T and her team have been offering free, specialized ESL classes for over 15 years in a traditionally underserved neighborhood in the Bay Area. Hundreds of families have benefited from the resources at the Center, and Sister T continues to deliver on the promise to combat poverty through education.
Sponsored by Daughters of Charity