Congratulations to Daytime Students of 2020! It’s been been quite a year! Here are our daytime staff members with a special message – and below you can see who speaks when in the video:
0:00 – Hello from Leanne, our Program Associate
0:19 – Jon, Assistant Director
1:12 – Mayra, Literacy Zone Coordinator
1:47 – Lucian, Director
3:49 – Chris, Counselor
4:42 – Jinhee, Program Coordinator
5:04 – Naima, 0A & 0P Teacher
6:33 – Faye, Counselor
7:01 – Joe, 3A & 3P Teacher
8:05 – Simon, 2A & 2P Teacher
8:46 – Wendy, Culture Club Teacher
9:49 – Dehbia, 1B & 1C Teacher
10:33 – Sunjoo, 1A & 1P Teacher
11:35 – Benson, Counselor
12:09 – Hans, CCR-A & CCR-P Teacher
13:02 – 👋🏼 Bye-bye!
Our weekend teachers, office staff, counselors, and administrators have put together a video for our students marking the end of the school year and thanking them for their hard work and patience. See you (hopefully face to face) in September! But if you’re taking a summer elective class see you in July!
In full support of the democratic right to dissent and protest, we join with many other voices of outrage across the country to call for justice for George Floyd. As our African-American staff, family members and communities express righteous anger at the injustice they face every day, we share in it and stand with them in solidarity.
我們全力支持人們擁有發表異見及抗議的民主權利，為此，我們與全國各地許多其他憤怒的聲音一起呼籲，為非洲裔男子佛洛伊德(George Floyd)伸張正義。當我們的非裔美國人員工、家庭成員以及社區，為自己每日所遭遇的不公不義而憤怒發聲時，我們感同身受並與他們團結一致。
En total apoyo al derecho democrático a disentir y protestar, nos unimos a muchas otras voces de indignación en todo el país para pedir justicia para George Floyd. A medida que nuestro personal afroamericano, los miembros de la familia y las comunidades expresan una ira justa por la injusticia que enfrentan todos los días, compartimos y nos solidarizamos con ellos.
University Settlement also signed on to this letter as part of the United Neighborhood Houses:
“George Floyd’s murder is not an isolated incident, but rather part of a deadly and familiar trend. The senseless killing of black and brown people by police officers is a public health emergency our country has the power to stop. Leaders and policy makers must grapple with our history of white supremacy and acknowledge how power, privilege, and oppression continues to shape daily life in America before we can ever hope to live in a country where communities of color are truly free.
New York’s settlement houses have been progressive leaders in this State for over a century and continue to speak out against racial injustices while building inclusive communities. Today they fight racist ideology in public policy debates from so-called “voter ID laws” to the discrimination against Asian Americans during the coronavirus outbreak to the higher social-distancing arrests and summons in communities of color. During a global pandemic, we have seen the stark consequences of that racist ideology laid bare as black and brown New Yorkers are dying at twice the rate of their white neighbors.
United Neighborhood Houses continues to reckon with America’s racist legacy, and together with our member settlement houses, we affirm our commitment to serving as allies, listening when challenged, and leveraging what power and privilege we have to fight systemic racism. We stand shoulder to shoulder with settlement houses in extending our deepest condolences to George Floyd’s family while repeating the mantra that has shaped the latest iteration of America’s long-running battle for civil rights: Black Lives Matter.”
And here are some English for Speakers of Other Languages Lesson Resources related to the protests:
Reading, listening, vocab, and comprehension exercises at three different levels
Reading, vocab, and video for three different levels
Video, reading, discussion questions – somewhat advanced
VOA has a series of articles and videos, but no vocab or comprehension activities – intermediate to advanced
Registration required but free – intermediate but maybe good for high beginning too, listening and discussion questions, audio can be slowed down
Registration required but free – you can change the reading level from intermediate to advanced
Registration required but free – a very good set of intermediate reading, vocab, listening, and comprehension exercises
And here are some photos to use for discussion or writing using vocabulary from the above lessons:
Like our other classes, the Advanced Writing Class taught by NYU Gallatin Professor June Foley continued online this spring and recently had their final class of the school year, a screen shot of which is above. Thank you to June, her student assistants Kristi and James, and her students for persisting through these tough times. Below is a story by Afroza Yasmin about her experience with coronavirus which will be included in the upcoming writing class collection:
My Days of Coronavirus
Afroza Yasmin
From the beginning, we were very alert about Covid-19. When people couldn’t find masks, gloves, or hand sanitizers in the grocery store in my neighborhood, I had already collected these necessary items, including disinfecting wipes, alcohol, hand soaps, etc.
In early March, my daughter came home from medical school in Pennsylvania during spring break. One day, she started reading online about the coronavirus. At that time, the first few cases had started in the Bronx, Harlem, and Westchester. She told me that this virus would go into every household. So she advised that I go shopping right away, to buy those kinds of things. I realized that maybe two years ago, Jon, my teacher at University Settlement, showed the film Contagion in class. So I thought this virus was going to spread like the pandemic in the movie. I was shocked and fearful, so I ran to the supermarket, bought those items and also bought some groceries from the grocery store.
Then we stayed home as much as possible. Sometimes, my husband would take some of the food and give it to his family, friends, and our neighbors though drive-in. When he went outside, he always wore a mask and gloves. At that time, our daughter had exams, so she went back to Pennsylvania.
A few days later, in the middle of March, my husband was sick. He had a high fever, coughing, and a light breathing problem. Then, after a few days, our two sons and I were also sick. We didn’t take a test, but we looked online, and we had symptoms of the coronavirus, so we made some video calls with our doctors. They gave us cough medicines and antibiotics and also advised us that we had to stay home for two weeks. We took the medicines. My sons and I felt a little better, but my husband didn’t recover; his symptoms kept coming back.
I know these kinds of symptoms. Sometimes the medicine doesn’t work, so we decided that we would do some homemade therapy, like warm water with lemon and honey, clove powder and black seed powder, and also some ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, black seeds, and cardamom, made into a drink, like tea. We drank this at least two times a day. Also, I put a pot of steaming water into my bed and we covered ourselves with blankets at least three times a day. This type of treatment uses breathing exercises of inhaling and exhaling with hot boiling water. In addition, we gargled three times a day, with some salt or alcohol in a glass of hot water. After those kinds of treatments, everybody was recovering.
Now it is the month of Ramadan. We are fasting and enjoying it. Now we stay home as much as possible. We have to be grateful that we are all still breathing and active. Every now and then, I go outside my apartment, and I hear the sound of sirens coming from the ambulances on every corner. But there is still hope. I hope everybody enjoys a happy and healthy life at this moment. Stay safe and be strong in this crisis.
Here’s another student story highlighting the importance of adult literacy and why the City Council and mayor need to maintain funding for adult literacy at $12 million per year. 2.2 million New Yorkers like Felix, whose story is below, need adult education!
My name is Felix Gomez, and I’m from Bogota, Colombia. In Colombia, I used to work as head of inventory security in a multinational company named Home Center and I studied business administration specializing in financial risk. But because of safety and economic reasons, I decided to leave my country and come to the U.S. I came here alone in 2018 but later my mother came here and now we live together.
I love New York. I like the atmosphere, I like the people, I like the public transportation. I like that people respect others and don’t care what others do. It’s an open-minded city. I feel safe, I feel relaxed. There are a lot of opportunities to grow, to study. I like the different seasons. I like it all. I love this city.
When I arrived here I couldn’t work in the same field that I worked in in Colombia but I had to make money. So I started to work as a dishwasher, and after that as a busser, after that as a barback, and also as a cashier at Penn Station. But then the coronavirus came and the businesses closed.
My boyfriend is a nurse in the hospital and he told me that they needed people to work there in the housekeeping department and help in the emergency room. So I went there and had an interview in Spanish and English and I got a job as an emergency room assistant.
When the ambulances call the hospital they tell them what the patient needs, and when the patient arrives in critical condition, there’s a list of information including the room and equipment and then we help bring them to the correct place and get them what they need.
In this hospital the doctors and nurses don’t speak Spanish or only speak a little Spanish, so when they call us everything’s in English. For example, they say, “Hey, Felix! I need napkins! I need cleaner! I need the respiration machine!”
I’ve worked there for two months, during the most critical times of the coronavirus. It was a heavy, sad atmosphere with a lot of protocols and anxiety but at the same time with the support of the city. Because every day at seven everyone applauded in support of everyone who works in the hospital. This was beautiful.
I feel very good in this job, and now I think I’d like to study to become a nurse. I believe it’s a very interesting career and it’s a profession in which you need a lot of love, a lot of passion and a lot of desire and dedication to work. So after getting my papers and improving my English, my next step is to study nursing.
I think that in the United States and in New York the possibilities for Latinos is very good, but it’s really necessary to speak English well and it’s necessary to have structured and formal classes. A friend of mine told me about the University Settlement Adult Literacy Program and that it was a good program, one that requires persistence and dedication, and I started last fall. I’ve learned and I’ve advanced and thanks to these small advances I could get a job in the hospital. I’m grateful for this because in this pandemic I could get a job that makes it possible for me to support my family.
