Our W2 teacher Courtney who also works as a parent coordinator at a public school taught our Evening and Weekend students about the U.S. education system and parent-teacher conferences. The students could understand the meanings of the terms related to education and practice how to communicate with their child’s teacher at parent-teacher conferences. Now they are ready to meet the teachers on May 4, 11, or 18.

Chase Bank came back to teach about family budgets for our Daytime students. The presenter led very interesting workshops by sharing her own experiences of growing up in an immigrant family. The students got interested in how to save money for their future goals such as buying a house, traveling, and retirement. The bank will come back for our Evening students this Thursday.

Our new partner, Chase Bank visited us last Saturday to kick off their financial literacy workshop series for our students. The students learned how to budget for their short-term and long-term financial goals and drew up their own family budget sheet. The partner will come back to teach our daytime and evening students too. We hope that everybody will stay financially healthy!

Our students had the last workshop before Spring Break last Wednesday. They learned about some important topics both old and new immigrants should know about their rights. After relaxing for a week, they will continue learning about other topics through workshops. Enjoy your Spring Break!

Last Wednesday evening, Jay’s E0 and a few of Sunjoo’s 1B and 1C students unusually bumped into each other at a theater to learn English through watching a play named “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams and performed by Educational Theater of New York. They also saw many other ESL students from other programs in the audience. The students watched the play scene by scene and participated in comprehension question-and-answer sessions in between. Some scenes were replayed by request. At the end, there was another question-and-answer session with the cast, so the students were able to ask questions about the characters. Lastly, our Evening and Daytime students took a group picture to commemorate their unusual encounter.

Our W2 and W3 students had a workshop with the New York Immigration Coalition last Saturday. They learned about immigrants’ rights such as Public Charge, Green Light Driver’s Licenses, TPS, ICE, and Hate Crimes.

Our E3 and E4 students also learned about the three branches of government with Mae from Chinese Progressive Association last Wednesday. Here are some pictures from the workshop.

Mae came back last Saturday to teach our W2 and W3 students about Martin Luther King Jr. as one of U.S. history topics covered on the naturalization test. The workshop was very successful because the students watched a movie and talked about MLK before the workshop as their pre-activity. They were prepped to understand difficult vocabulary such as segregation and rally.

Our W1 students had the opportunity to explore the National Museum of the American Indian last weekend. Students were impressed with the large rotunda and took the time to read all the information about the history of the building. The gallery exhibitions offered them a great glimpse into the Native American experience. Thank you to our wonderful teacher Lynne, for organizing this trip!

Mae of the Chinese Progressive Association visited us again this year to teach our students about the three branches of government through a workshop series. She taught our 2A and 3A students last Monday and W2 and W3 students last Saturday. She will return to teach E2 and E3 students this Wednesday. Some pictures were taken to be shared with you on Saturday.