center, Brookdale
align curriculums
Red Bank language
center, Brookdale
align curriculums
By gloria stravelli
Staff Writer
GLORIA STRAVELLI Susana Baumann, executive director of the Red Bank Language and Cultural Center, has developed a new series of ESL classes aimed at preparing Hispanics for college-level studies.
RED BANK — The Red Bank Language and Cultural Center and Brookdale Community College are working in tandem to ensure that a lack of English-language skills doesn’t block Hispanics from higher education or career advancement.
The RBLCC, which serves immigrants from central and South America, and Brookdale are working to align their ESL programs to help Hispanics transition into college studies.
The goal of the collaboration is to equip students who take ESL classes at the center to meet ESL competency and skills requirements for placement in entry-level college courses at the Lincroft-based community college.
"We have an informal relationship," said Nancy Kegelman, interim dean of academic affairs at Brookdale, of ongoing discussions with Susana Baumann, director of the Red Bank Language and Cultural Center.
"We have formed a working partnership aimed at helping Hispanic students achieve the dream of higher education," said Baumann.
"We are looking to align the Red Bank Language and Cultural Center curriculum with Brookdale’s," Kegelman explained. "We want to ensure that the skills taught and the learning objectives for courses are the same. We want students to be able to finish courses at the center and pass Brookdale’s tests.
"We’re happy to work with the RBLCC," she added, noting that the center is more accessible to its clients than ESL classes offered by BCC at the main campus and a learning center in Long Branch.
Brookdale currently offers ESL testing at high schools and will begin to offer on-site testing at the RBLCC, located at 60 Maple Ave., she added.
According to Kegelman, U.S. Census data shows that the Hispanic population in Red Bank was 2,027 in 2000. That made Red Bank sixth in the county, behind Long Branch, Freehold, Asbury Park, Howell and Middletown, in terms of the size of its Hispanic population.
In 2000, Hispanics accounted for 38,175, or 6.2 percent, of the county’s total population of 615,301, she said, adding that the size of the county’s Hispanic population continues to grow.
Like all students entering Brookdale, immigrants from non-English speaking countries are tested for proficiency in verbal and written English and in basic skills like reading, writing and analytical math.
Basic skills tests assess whether candidates have the skills necessary to be successful in college-level courses and determines placement in appropriate courses, Kegelman explained.
Working with Brookdale, Baumann has designed the center’s ESL curriculum to ensure that students who complete the courses will be able to meet the college’s requirements, she said.
According to Baumann, while many immigrants have high school and college degrees and professional experience in their countries of origin, lack of English skills can negate their achievement.
"Here, they encounter a language barrier, and they get stuck in jobs that have little to do with their background and education, just to be able to survive," she said.
To date, ESL classes offered at the center have been geared to giving immigrants basic "survival skills," said Baumann, who also is publisher of Periódico Latino!, a bilingual, bimonthly newspaper.
"While the focus in adult ESL programs for basic life skills is on communication about work, home and community interaction, in academic programs students must concentrate on improvement of conceptual and critical thinking, language accuracy, extensive reading and writing," she said. "These are different from our regular curricula."
In addition, the center’s new ESL programs will also acclimate students to specific career areas, she said.
"The idea is to generate transitional ESL programs at our center that will allow students to get into the academic environment within a certain specialty," she said. "When they show up at Brookdale, they will already have a sense of what career they want to get into and will be familiar with a specific vocabulary."
Representatives of Brookdale will visit the Red Bank Language and Cultural Center during registration for the fall semester and discuss job opportunities and expectations in fields in which Hispanics are employed, such as culinary arts, nursing, automotive, computer science and horticulture, and will explain the process of obtaining financial aid, Kegelman said.
"They will discuss programs for an associate’s degree," she said. "It will give these students a long-term goal to drive toward and let them know once they get through the ESL part, they can start taking courses for their advancement.
"We’re trying to live up to our middle name, ‘community,’ to live up to our commitment," she said. "Whatever we can do to be helpful so that higher education is advanced in Monmouth County."
Brookdale’s ESL program comprises two 15-week semesters of English studies. At the RBLCC, the pace is slower, with six levels of ESL classes offered in 12-week sessions. The entire curriculum can be completed in two years.
To make them accessible to students who work, daily classes at the RBLCC will be offered in both morning and evening sessions. Classes will be limited to 10-12 students, Baumann said.
She said the center is still developing a tuition structure for the classes and is working on a source for financial aid for students.
Most ESL classes are three credits at Brookdale, where tuition for the fall semester is $83.75 per credit.
To introduce the new program, The Red Bank Language and Cultural Center will hold an open house, with members of the Brookdale faculty present, Sept. 9, 6:30-8:30 p.m. and Sept. 12, 10 a.m. to noon. Registration for the RBLCC classes will run from Aug. 25-Sept. 13, and classes will begin Sept. 15.
For more information about the transitional ESL program, call the Red Bank Language and Cultural Center at (732) 576-1890.