OVERVIEW OF SACRAMENTO ESL PROGRAM
Sacramento ESL Program (SESL) is a 501(c)(3) certified non-profit agency which provides ESL services to adults from 18 years of age and up who live in the greater Sacramento area – including Woodland, Natomas, West Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, and South Sacramento. SESL was formed by teachers in public schools for adults when dozens of ESL (English as a Second Language) classes for them were decimated in 2012 throughout the Greater Sacramento region.
SESL started out by offering low-cost classes to low English-proficient speakers, beginning with one class in 2012. We now offer three leveled ESL classes. Three morning and evening instructors teach Literacy through Beginning High levels and another evening instructor offers Intermediate and Advanced levels.
After working in churches for almost four years, we are now located at 4625 44th Street, Room 12, Sacramento, CA 95822 in a new community collaborative called Fruit Ridge Community Collaborative in “Ground Zero” of a depressed area designated a “Promise Zone” by President Obama.
Using the semester system, SESL provides almost twenty hours weekly of language and living skills to students from all around the world September through January and February to the middle of June plus an 8-week summer session each year. This summer, 2015, we had 85 students. Our students came from Turkey, Spain, Brazil, Iran, Iraq, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Peru, El Salvador, Guatemala, France, China, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Japan, Ukraine, Russia, etc.
SESL teachers are credentialed and volunteers are certificated; they teach student-centered classes using the Cambridge Ventures, a six-level, four-skills, standards-based series. They have valuable experience working in American school district adult schools in the US. Two have taught abroad and most are bilingual.
MISSION
The mission of the Sacramento ESL Program is to provide non-English speaking adults with the English language skills needed to successfully advance towards educational, vocational and personal goals that lead to their full participation in the diverse society of the United States.
GOALS
The goals of the Sacramento ESL Program are to help adult students expand their English fluency by focusing on essential grammar and stimulating listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities that emphasize the language they need for real world communication. Towards that purpose, the Sacramento ESL Program will:
* be open to adult students regardless of their native language, nationality, religion, or other social, ethnic or racial characteristics;
* provide student-centered learning relevant to student needs and based on national and state standards and "Best Practices" of the ESL teaching profession;
* provide quality teachers who have the appropriate credentials, experience teaching ESL to adults, a commitment to professional growth and a willingness to be part of a collaborative program;
* be affordable and accessible;
* be flexible and adapt to trends and changes in community, Adult Education and ESL students' needs;
* provide cultural interactions and promote cross-cultural understanding;
* be accountable and effectively manage all funds and resources available to the group with honesty and
integrity;
* work cooperatively with other agencies and groups in the community to insure that student support services are available, the program meets identified community needs, and the program receives community support.
Sacramento ESL Program (SESL) is a 501(c)(3) certified non-profit agency which provides ESL services to adults from 18 years of age and up who live in the greater Sacramento area – including Woodland, Natomas, West Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, and South Sacramento. SESL was formed by teachers in public schools for adults when dozens of ESL (English as a Second Language) classes for them were decimated in 2012 throughout the Greater Sacramento region.
SESL started out by offering low-cost classes to low English-proficient speakers, beginning with one class in 2012. We now offer three leveled ESL classes. Three morning and evening instructors teach Literacy through Beginning High levels and another evening instructor offers Intermediate and Advanced levels.
After working in churches for almost four years, we are now located at 4625 44th Street, Room 12, Sacramento, CA 95822 in a new community collaborative called Fruit Ridge Community Collaborative in “Ground Zero” of a depressed area designated a “Promise Zone” by President Obama.
Using the semester system, SESL provides almost twenty hours weekly of language and living skills to students from all around the world September through January and February to the middle of June plus an 8-week summer session each year. This summer, 2015, we had 85 students. Our students came from Turkey, Spain, Brazil, Iran, Iraq, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Peru, El Salvador, Guatemala, France, China, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Japan, Ukraine, Russia, etc.
SESL teachers are credentialed and volunteers are certificated; they teach student-centered classes using the Cambridge Ventures, a six-level, four-skills, standards-based series. They have valuable experience working in American school district adult schools in the US. Two have taught abroad and most are bilingual.
MISSION
The mission of the Sacramento ESL Program is to provide non-English speaking adults with the English language skills needed to successfully advance towards educational, vocational and personal goals that lead to their full participation in the diverse society of the United States.
GOALS
The goals of the Sacramento ESL Program are to help adult students expand their English fluency by focusing on essential grammar and stimulating listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities that emphasize the language they need for real world communication. Towards that purpose, the Sacramento ESL Program will:
* be open to adult students regardless of their native language, nationality, religion, or other social, ethnic or racial characteristics;
* provide student-centered learning relevant to student needs and based on national and state standards and "Best Practices" of the ESL teaching profession;
* provide quality teachers who have the appropriate credentials, experience teaching ESL to adults, a commitment to professional growth and a willingness to be part of a collaborative program;
* be affordable and accessible;
* be flexible and adapt to trends and changes in community, Adult Education and ESL students' needs;
* provide cultural interactions and promote cross-cultural understanding;
* be accountable and effectively manage all funds and resources available to the group with honesty and
integrity;
* work cooperatively with other agencies and groups in the community to insure that student support services are available, the program meets identified community needs, and the program receives community support.
