Adult basic education classes are going full swing at the Aspen Mine Center in Cripple Creek. The classes are offered by Community Partnership Family Resource Center, which also offers classes at its Divide office.
Adult basic education includes GED, English as a Second Language and Adult Literacy.
In Cripple Creek, ESL is the biggest draw. Most of the nearly one dozen students speak Spanish as their native language, although one student speaks Chinese and gets private tutoring.
Michael Treacy teaches English to the more advanced Latino students Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, and Carol Barron teaches beginners on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. Classes are split between the two teachers because it’s difficult to keep the more advanced students engaged and interested if too much time is spent with beginners.
“We have one student who doesn’t know how to read and write in his native language,” Treacy said.
Offering classes every day makes it easier for students to access the classes.
“We have to fit our schedule to theirs,” Treacy said. “These students all work.”
Complicating the issue is that while there are 10 units in the ESL curriculum students can’t learn English that way.
“We can’t teach one unit at a time,” Treacy said. “For example, they need vocabulary for their jobs, to go shopping and to go to the doctor.”
The goal for all the adult basic education classes is proficiency, said Karen Casey-Svetich, program director. Toward that end a number of tests are administered to track proficiency and the teachers also emphasize practical experience.
Treacy speaks fluent Spanish, as well he should after spending decades in Mexico and Peru teaching English. He said the class is always looking for bilingual dictionaries.
“I’m always checking at Goodwill,” he said.
It costs $20 to take part in the adult basic education program, but Casey-Svetich said not to let the money become a barrier to learning.
“We know there are more people in Teller County who would benefit by joining our programs,” she said. “The classes are offered by Community Partnership but we get a lot of support from Community of Caring and the mine center. They’ve bent over backwards to help us.”
For more information about the classes or to donate dictionaries, call Community Partnership at 719-686-0705 or Casey-Svetich at 719-661-0379.