Quieres Habla Ingles?

Pastor Christopher Jackson of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Forestville, was happy to sponsor an English language learning class for Southern Door residents at the church. “It really works perfectly with our ethos as a Lutheran congregation. Lutherans and language have gone together for a long, long time,” he said. Photo by Len Villano

It didn’t take long after Pastor Christopher Jackson got the call to serve Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Forestville and Saint John’s in Algoma for folks to learn that his wife Mary is fluent in Spanish.

“She’s lived in Spain and South America,” Pastor Jackson said. “The school district got wind of this and has used her to do some translation and interpretation for them. Through that we learned that there were not enough English learning opportunities in the area for those who could use them, and it’s affecting their lives in their ability to do things we take for granted, such as communicating in a parent-teacher meeting or getting a license at the DMV. We heard that some had to go as far as Green Bay to get the classes.”

As a new pastor in town, Jackson was meeting community leaders around Door County, including Tom Beerntsen, CEO of the Door County YMCA.

“He mentioned they had a very successful English language program in Northern Door and they were looking to expand classes in Sturgeon Bay,” Jackson said. “Our thought was, as a gesture of goodwill to facilitate this here at the church in the southern part of the county.”

Everything was falling into place to present English language learner (ELL) classes at Jackson’s church, just as things had earlier fallen into place to present ELL classes at the Northern Door Y in 2013.

“It really is amazing how it all came together,” said Northern Door YMCA Center Executive Director Drew Richmond, where classes began in November 2013.

“A couple of things happened,” Richmond said. “First, there was a need in the community. I had had several churches talk to me about having a class late at night because that’s when folks wanted to take this class could come. They had talked to me about doing something at the Y because their attendance was low. The biggest reason was not having someone to watch their children. What we have at the Y is Kid Care, where we’ll watch the kids if the parents stay in the facility. So we adapted our program to fit times to do that. And then the third component that needed to happen was somebody to teach it. Around the same time, the summer of ’13, I had someone approach me who had been teaching these classes for a number of years. Renee Honold-Smith came to me and was looking for a place to teach. So it all kind of just came together. When Pastor Jackson contacted me, I reached out to Renee, and she was excited to continue on with that.”

“It’s wonderful to know the community has seen a need for this and is responding,” said Honold-Smith. She taught her first class at St. Peter’s in Forestville on Jan. 19.

Honold-Smith, a Sturgeon Bay native, has been an ELL teacher for 25 years, teaching both children and adults.

Northern Door YMCA Center Executive Director Drew Richmond and certified ELL Instructor Renee Honold-Smith celebrated the success of their first session of the ELL program with a party on April 23, 2014.

“I returned to the area about eight years ago, hoping to continue teaching in that area,” she said. “It’s just wonderful that the community here is seeing the need for this.”

How big is the need for English language classes?

“It’s hard to say how big the need is,” Jackson said. “A lot of times the population who could use this sort of service does not show up in normal demographic data. If you look at what the Census Bureau says, it would look like almost no immigrant population at all, which we know is not the case. We based the need on the knowledge of how many are working on the large dairy farms in the Southern Door region. We estimated there is anywhere from 75 to 100. If we consider a couple of older children and a spouse, this would give us a population of 300 or thereabout. It could be a few fewer or it could be a few more. We’re not entirely sure, but that’s what we estimated.”

He added that they expect to have students with different needs than those in northern Door.

“People in the northern Door area would be working primarily in the service sector, whereas most of ours are working in the agricultural sector,” he said.

Honold-Smith said some of her students are focused on learning English for work, whether it be just getting a job or advancing in a position.

“We have a lot of students, too, who wish to better communicate with their children’s teachers and principals, being able to help their children with their school work and get involved with school activities, even volunteering in the schools,” she said. “With a little more English, they feel more confident and comfortable doing that. There’s a real involvement with schools. I’m always throwing in a little bit of academic English too for those who are going on to school or pursuing more academic type work. It is a variety of things, but I do tailor to the students as best I can.”

Some of what she teaches is what she calls “survival English.”

“We work on banking issues,” she said. “We work on hospital, emergency scenarios. The DMV. We role play a lot of things like that just to make sure the level of competency and independence becomes stronger as we go along. I like to really find out what the students need and what their goals are.”

“The hope is that this will potentially build into an even more substantial program, that potentially we can even offer multiple offerings based on a person’s present proficiency, potentially offer a beginners class and a maybe a more advanced class in the future. Right now we made a decision to offer only one class,” Jackson said. “We’re very excited about this. It really works perfectly with our ethos as a Lutheran congregation. Lutherans and language have gone together for a long, long time. We actually started the first free schools all the way back in the time of the Reformation because we considered literacy to be such an important thing. It fits right in with our ethos, so we’re excited to serve the community in this way. I’m sure we will be blessed as a well through this effort.”

The classes are free, thanks to grants from the Door County Community Foundation and the North Wisconsin District of the Lutheran Church ¬– Missouri Synod.

Richmond said the next component of the YMCA’s ELL program is to start a class in Sturgeon, which is planned for the fall.

Students in the first class at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Forestville on Jan. 19. Submitted photo.

“The need continues,” he said. “We wanted to make sure this broke down as many barriers as possible to get as many folks into the class as we could.”

While the ELL classes are free, Richmond said Honold-Smith is also teaching Spanish to English speakers at the Ys in Sturgeon Bay and Northern Door.

“I felt that was a crucial part,” he said. “That program is growing as well. We started with one Spanish class, and now we have a beginner and advanced class. It is open to all community and Y members for a small fee.”

Having both English and Spanish learners under her guidance, Honold-Smith thought it was only natural to bring the two groups together.

“I’m having students from both classes volunteering and helping with the other students. A lot of the students are taking advantage of that,” she said. “In both classes we’re interjecting the native speaker into the scenario so that they’re communicating with and interacting with someone who has the native tongue and different accents, just to get their ears and their comfort level, their abilities, really increase. Everyone is doing this on a voluntary basis and is very much enjoyed by everyone on both sides. Those who were students kind of become the teacher for a little while. It’s really very empowering for everyone.”