At IMPACT we believe language access is essential to equity
and language acquisition is a tool for empowerment.
At IMPACT, we make as many of our spaces bilingual as possible and we provide support for community-based English language classes. Thanks to funding from Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy (MCAEL), we offer basic and intermediate level classes in the Long Branch neighborhood of Silver Spring. Classroom space is donated by our partners at the Takoma-East Silver Spring (TESS) Community Action Center and Clifton Park Baptist Church.
For the fall 2019 session, a total of 50 students are enrolled. Classes are taught by a cohort of volunteer teachers from the community. ESOL students from Montgomery Blair High School act as teaching assistants while earning SSL hours.
At a recent Tuesday evening basic level class, lessons included vocabulary for filling out applications and the proper use of contractions. Students were from around the globe including Bangladesh, Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Ethiopia. When asked about the biggest challenges faced because of limited English, the same answer echoed across most of the group: “It’s hard to find a job.”
IMPACT sees providing low-cost (students pay only for the cost of text books) English language classes as a way to build bridges across communities and open doors to increased opportunity.
For more information on IMPACT’s English language classes, please contact Sara Mussie at sara@impactsilverspring.org.
