ESL Outreach Celebration

The University of Georgia Department of Romance Language and Chase Street Elementary School are sponsors of an ESL Class, which is held at the Chase Street Elementary School each Tuesday and Wednesday at 6PM.

This initiative started two years ago after a group of Latino parents at Chase Elementary met with two Romance Languages faculty members, Teresa Perez Gamboa and Betina Kaplan, and Lily Erp, at that time parent liaison at Chase Elementary. During that meeting the need and interest of having ESL classes at the School became apparent. Prof. Elizabeth Wright volunteered to teach the class and she has been teaching it since then. UGA students volunteer their time and efforts on behalf of this program. They not only assist with the instruction but also prepare activities and look after the children while their parents are in class.

On May 4th, all participants of this class were invited to Caliente Cab to celebrate their accomplishments. The entire class, José and Elsa Bajarquez, Estela Hernandez, Rafaela Delgado, and Gabriela Orta Mar (and families) attended. The class members, the teachers (Prof. Elizabeth Wright and Joyce Moss), guests (Prof. Teresa Perez-Gamboa, Prof. Betina Kaplan) and the student volunteers from the UGA Spanish section celebrated the completion of 2 years.

Three students, Estela Hernandez, Rafaela Delgado and Gabriela Orta Mar received certificates for their completion of two years in the program. The following UGA students received certificates for their participation, LaTroya Gant, Caroline Strelitz, Missy Willingham, Ashley Poole, Kristin Fuhrmann, Meredith Jones, and Kamelia Dari.

Instructors and students thank Dr. Noel Fallows (Department Head, Romance Languages, University of Georgia), Dr. Robert Bluett (Principal, Chase Street Elementary School), and Phyllis Childs (coordinator at Chase Street) for making the resources available for this class.

Everyone enjoyed this celebration and we look forward to another great next year.