GOSHEN
Three small tick marks adorned the corner of the whiteboard as adult students gathered in the Goshen College classroom.
Their teacher, Elisabeth Federinick, listened carefully as the students completed their in-class lesson to discuss their favorite summer activity — correcting one student as he stated he enjoyed “spending time on the park.”
He turned to his classmate and stated he enjoyed spending time in the park and then laughed, quickly making a joke in Spanish.
Federonick grinned and then turned back to the board to add another mark to the “Spanish” list — a friendly reminder to her students that their classroom was an “English only” zone.
For several hours Monday through Thursday each week, the same group of Spanish-speaking adults attend the classes to learn the intricacies of the English language.
Some lessons are as simple as listening to a song and repeating the words to learn how they sound.
Others are more complicated as students sort out past, present and future tenses.
Sometimes, their lessons diverge into other discussions — idioms such as “beat around the bush” or proper ways to communicate health needs to a doctor.
It’s all part of providing residents who need help learning English the opportunity to succeed, Goshen College’s Adult ESL Program Coordinator Patrick Coonan said.
Goshen College’s Center for Intercultural and International Education launched the English language classes last spring.
The growing number of student applicants for Goshen College’s program — and the lengthy waitlists at every available program in the county — is evidence that the need is significant, Coonan said.
“You can see that there’s a real need in the community and it hasn’t been met other places,” he said. “From what we’ve seen, there’s clear potential to grow the program, there’s a clear interest in the community for these classes and it’s meeting a really important need.”
Students pay $300 for the 12-week course and regular attendance is mandatory.
When the most recent ESL classes began Feb. 21, 55 adults enrolled in the three available classes, Coonan said. But many others registered and were turned away due to limited space.
“We have a waiting list of about 30 people and a lot more than that who have expressed interest,” he said.
The level of interest from the Latino community also “debunks the myth that immigrants come here and don’t want to participate in this community and they don’t want to learn the language,” said Gilberto Perez, senior director of intercultural development and educational partnerships for the college.
“It’s a wonderful sight to see adults come to our campus in the evening, arrive on time, motivated, engaged and who don’t miss class very often,” Perez said. “As an educational institution that’s exciting. In the evening, two parking lots are full because people are in classrooms and we’re using that space for an educational purpose. The lights are on because people are learning.”
Growing population, need
As the county’s Latino and Hispanic population continues to grow, so too will the need for additional classes, proponents of English language programs say.
According to United States Census Bureau data, Elkhart County’s Hispanic and Latino population grew by 11,105 between 2000 and 2007.
Of the 199,544 residents living in Elkhart County, 14.6 percent or 29,150 are Latino or Hispanic, according to data gathered during the 2014 American Community Survey. In Goshen, 28 percent of residents are Hispanic or Latino, according to the data.
While many Hispanic and Latino residents are bilingual, data does not outline how many residents might benefit from English language classes — an ongoing challenge when it comes to gauging community need, said Richard Aguirre.
Aguirre, the director of corporate and foundation relations at Goshen College, serves on Mayor Jeremy Stutsman’s newly-created Latino Advisory Committee.
“There has not been to my knowledge a comprehensive survey completed in Elkhart County to see how much of a need there is, but I anticipate that taking place,” Aguirre said. “But as we’ve seen when classes are offered here, there is more demand than they can serve.”
Wanting to learn
Aguirre said the issue of providing English classes to adults is not something that has yet been discussed, but added it will “inevitably be something that we’ll get into.”
“There are so many people who believe this myth that Latinos and a lot of immigrants don’t want to learn English,” Aguirre said. “But folks who come to this country know if they want to succeed and advance themselves they will have to learn English,”
And it’s community leaders’ responsibility to provide the services that residents need, he added.
“There are those people who come from other countries and didn’t have much schooling, but there’s also this whole group who came to work in factories here but were professional nurses and businesspeople and don’t have language skills and are trying to obtain those here,” he said. “As anybody will tell you, English isn’t the easiest language to learn.”
Local opportunities
Goshen College’s ESL program is not the first to be offered in the community.
Churches, including St. Marks United Methodist and St. James Episcopal in Goshen, and Prairie Street Mennonite Church in Elkhart, have also offered programs for adult learners.
Classes are currently being offered at Prairie Street Mennonite and volunteer teachers are needed for Tuesday and Thursday evening classes.
Lois Dyck, who helps coordinate the ESL classes at Prairie Street said the program started in 1997.
“We offer classes three months in the spring and three months in the fall,” Dyck said.
The spring classes began March 1 and the exact dates for the fall classes have not yet been determined, she said.
St. Marks is not currently offering classes, but church leaders say they hope to resume the ESL program soon.
English language classes at St. James Episcopal are also on hold, but Spanish language classes are being offered for adults who want to become bilingual, said program coordinator Heather Bridger-Ulloa.
English language courses have also been offered for more than a decade through Elkhart Community Schools’ adult and community education program.
That program serves nearly 400 adults at four Elkhart County sites: Goshen Public Library and Merit Learning Center, both in Goshen, and Pierre Moran Middle School and Rosedale Highrise, both in Elkhart.
“It’s a pretty big staple within the community,” said Darcey Mitschelen, program manager for the school corporation’s adult and community education department.
The program is free for students and funded by an Adult Basic Education grant through the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
“The need for these classes in our community is really, really big,” Mitschelen said. “Statistics tell us that the Hispanic population in this area is huge and growing and to sit back and ignore that or not acknowledge that is wrong. This is our community. This is where we live. Elkhart Community Schools is here to serve the community.”
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