Here are a couple more videos our students recently made talking about the importance of adult literacy classes – enjoy!
Tag: university settlement
Duets of Difference: What Matters to Us
This is a short film exploring the identities and storiesĀ ofĀ University Settlement community members studying English as a second language in the Adult Literacy Program accompanied by music and dance. The film is a culminationĀ ofĀ a month-long teaching artist residency with four different Adult Literacy classes. āWhat Matters to Usā is a virtual reimagination and applicationĀ ofĀ Creative Traffic Flowās project,Ā DuetsĀ ofĀ Difference.Ā In this timeĀ ofĀ heightened xenophobia and political intolerance, TheĀ DuetsĀ ofĀ DifferenceĀ project explores how people from different communities withĀ different life experiences can connect in theirĀ differences. Students in the Adult Literacy program represent many different ages, ethnicities, and experiences. There were at least 11 different languages spoken amongst the class. āWhat Matters to Usā exploresĀ differences in family, relationships, and how to communicate as an English Language Learner.
Thank you to the Performance Project for making this collaboration possible!
Advocating for Adult Literacy
This week our students took part in an advocacy campaign for increased state funding for adult literacy programs. Our students met with Alex Flood from Assemblymember Patricia Fahy’s office and Patrick Cronin from Senator Daphne Jordan’s office and talked about what effect their classes have had on their lives. Screenshots from the meetings are above.
Additionally many of our students made short videos to be share on social media talking about the important of their English classes – watch one example below or visit us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to watch more.
A special thank you to the New York City Coalition for Adult Literacy as well the University Settlement’s Advocacy Director, Veronica Wong, for helping our staff and students prepare for this campaign!
We’re asking for $25 million in state funding per year for adult literacy classes – to learn more, click here!
We’re in the New York Times!
University Settlement gets a mention in a recent New York Times article about the difficulties of trying to learn English in the age of COVID, and one of our students shares her experiences. Click here or on the image above to read!
Happy New Year from the Adult Literacy Program!
Happy Holidays to Daytime & Evening Classes!
Remember for the Third Time
Here’s yet another story from Remember, a collection of student writing from our Advanced Writing Class taught by NYU Gallatin Professor June Foley.
To Madison, Who Asked Why I Write
MarĆlia Valengo
Today, I write mainly to breathe. It wasnāt always like this, or maybe it was, but only now I realize the importance, for me, of writing. After some time, even things that one doesnāt choose end up being part of oneās life. Therefore, today, I would say I write to keep myself alive. I recognize how bold this statement sounds. I donāt like to admit the seriousness of this subject. It sounds a little desperate, making a confession that strong. Iāve never thought of myself as someone radically committed to a ālife or deathā idea, but I guess Iāve gotten to a point where I need, once and for all, to rely on something. That is writing. All this nonsense makes me think that I also write to understand life; not only life, but existence.
Yet, saying I just want to understand is very vague; I donāt really recognize the deep meaning behind it. I am not searching for words just to translate whatever I am feeling or seeing. Itās more like modeling, like an engineer does. The more I think about words, the less I see them divided between sound and meaning. To me, words are pieces from a Lego box, available to any child who wants to play and build whatever they desire. I like being this child, writing things and creating possibilities.
I also write to control my own story. Itās my narrative; Iām the agent behind the facts. Itās ironic when, at some point, I realize that as much as I try to keep things organized, I always end up at a new starting point, knowing nothing. Sometimes, I feel like Iām becoming crazy. On the other hand, without words, I would never stay sane. Itās so contradictory. If only I was a little bit more succinct. The thing is, nothing moves me more than blank pieces of paper, a little notebook with pens and pencils. When I read a good sentence, when I learn a new figure of speech, when I see writing so good it makes my mind stop working, I feel this love invade me. Itās like I am facing the primordial, the basic goodness of us all. I just want to do the same.
Here in New York, I have been writing specifically to not lose track of who I really am. As an immigrant, I find it more and more complicated to locate myself while I roll from one culture to another, shaking the moss off my identityās surface whenever a new aspect suddenly appears. I have also been writing to reconceptualize what culture, belonging, longing, and loving are.
If I had to choose just one answer, though, I would say I write mainly because I love words. I love words until the point that they are not necessary. I love words because even better than them is silence, but without the first I would never be able to know the second. So I write to maybe one day run out my need to say things.