Problems at the Adult Learning Centre in New York - Text 1

Problems at the Adult Learning Centre in New York

A Being a beautician is all Jong Ae Shul knew. She ran a beauty salon in Flushing for 25 years, serving mostly Korean-speaking customers six or seven days a week. She didn't need to speak English, and she had no time to learn it. "I wanted to learn English so I can go to other places by myself," said Shul. "I was scared. I couldn't even take the subway because I didn't speak English."

B Retired four years ago, she is making up for lost time. Shul now studies English at the Queens Library's Flushing branch. And she loves it. She goes there for about three hours three or four times a week to attend classes, reads the textbooks, listens to CDs and gets help from the tutors.

C All of these activities are offered at the Adult Learning Centre. And the program, which includes English and civics classes as well as adult basic education, is absolutely free. Places in the program are awarded by lottery, and Shul is one of the few lucky ones who won one of the limited spots. The free English classes are funded by the city. Traditionally, those free classes provided an opportunity for immigrants who otherwise cannot afford them. But the three primary sources of funding for the program have suffered cuts that resulted in loss of 3,500 slots for potential students.

D The library in Flushing regularly runs 34 conversational English classes, ranging from beginning to intermediate. In September, the number of classes has been cut to 27, according to Alla Osokina, director of its adult learning centre. "We will have to find other ways to provide services to our students," Osokina said, noting that there are only four full-time administrative staff serving more than 600 students in English, civics and computer classes. With the cut, the centre lost a full-time instructor and the other instructor’s workload has been reduced to half.

E In the autumn, the centre will rely heavily on interns and volunteers to teach classes. "The quality of classes would not be the same as there will be fewer classes taught by professionals," said Osokina.

civics – občanská nauka

note – poznamenat

ranging from to – v rozsahu od do

spot – místo

tutor – lektor

workload – pracovní náplň

1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.

1 Cuts in the program

2 Jong Ae Shul – a beautician

3 Adult Learning Centre

4 The quality of classes might change

5 Shul – a student of English

2) Read the article and answer the questions.

       1 What is the article about?

2 Who is Jong Ae Shul?

3 Who can study at the Adult Learning Centre? And what?

4 What problems does the centre have?

5 What has changed in the centre?

3) Explain the following words.

1 customer

2 textbook

3 education

4 immigrant

5 volunteer

4) Answer the following questions.

What are typical problems of immigrants? Why do people emigrate? Who and how can help immigrants in another country? Why do immigrants go to school?

Adjusted to:

 http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/immigrants/20100907/11/335