Parents become pupils in Lynn

LYNN – The students recited contractions, proudly displayed their phonics homework and used a newspaper story to answer questions about Charlie Baker’s election as governor.It was like any other classroom in Lynn Public Schools – except the students were all adults.”We’re the quietest program in the Lynn Public Schools, people just didn’t know we were here,” Elaine Appleton, teacher and director of the Adult Literacy Center, said Wednesday. “But people have started to hear about it and are coming.”While the vast majority of effort in LPS goes to educating children in K-12, the district receives grant money that can be used toward parent involvement, Superintendent Dr. Catherine C. Latham said.The idea to dedicate this money to adult education came from school improvement plans that were developed when the Harrington and Connery schools were deemed Level 4 schools, Latham explained.”Part of the plan was to offer courses to parents, helping them to learn English, because both those schools have a high percentage of non-English speaking families,” Latham said. “We thought that having courses for parents would encourage students to improve their studies as well.”The district started a pilot project in January 2011 to offer two levels of English language classes and an adult basic education course. Adult students had to have children enrolled in the Harrington or Connery school.Today there are 185 adult students with children attending virtually every public school. Teachers offer six English language courses – three levels of courses with two classes of 20-25 students each. A citizenship course that begins Nov. 24 will enroll 15 more students. The classes meet twice a week for two hours and are held throughout the academic year.The students range in age from their mid-20s to late-50s, and came to Lynn from countries such as Nigeria, El Salvador, Cambodia, Guinea and many more, Appleton said. Ninety percent can read and write in their primary language and, of that number, 40 percent have at least a high school diploma from their home country. Two current students have master’s degrees, Appleton said.”When I first got here, I thought I would just come to work and make money,” Diego Chavez, 28, said. “But I realized this is my country, and I wanted a better future for my family.”Chavez said that his wife and 5-year-old son, who attends Harrington School, mostly speak English at home and he wanted to help his son with his homework. He is in Level III English, and this is his first class with the adult-education program.He said his proudest moment came when he went to the hospital with his son and was able to tell doctors that he didn’t need a Spanish translator.Maria Figuereda, 55, has been in the program for three years, starting at Level II English. She said she wanted to improve her English because her job requires her to answer phones and leave messages for her boss. The native of Portugal said she didn’t have an opportunity to come to school when she arrived in the United States nine years ago. Although she speaks Spanish and Portuguese, English has been a challenge.”English is a difficult language to learn for me,” she said. “The way you write it is not the way you pronounce it.”While she couldn’t cite a specific cost, Latham said the program is relatively inexpensive. Classes are held at Fecteau-Leary, and the only expenses are for a full- and a part-time teacher and materials that students share.Teachers have found the classes benefit not only the adult students.”If parents have more understanding of the work the kids bring home, the parents will be able to help more,” Appleton said. “Most of them want to be able to communicate about their children and want to be able to talk with teachers, coaches, doctors, etc. They also want to be able to speak with their kids.”Like many adult-education programs, the demand exceeds the supply of available spots in the classes. There are 62 people on the waiting list, and approximately 30 pe