City Gate

I have been a part of many exciting programs while working at City Gate, one of which has been the development of an expanded English as a Second Language (ESL) program.

We started an evening ESL program late last year to complement the morning classes. We were not sure what to expect, but the additional classes have allowed nearly thirty new learners to participate.

Learning a language is difficult, but it’s very important for new Americans to have English skills to have opportunities. Most of the learners work in service jobs where they don’t speak English, and often they are not prepared to take advantage of career changes because of their limited English skills.

For me, the most rewarding part of teaching and coordinating the ESL program is watching the learners advance in the language. While the students come from all skill levels, I have been working most closely with the beginner-level classes. Volunteer teachers teach intermediate and advanced level learners. The intermediate class works on grammar exercises and the advanced class concentrates on short stories and news articles to enhance conversation.

Since evening classes have started, I have watched the dedication our learners have for improving their English. They come to class excited to learn. We laugh a lot, spending time going over words that sound similar, creating tongue twisters to learn.

One evening with the beginner level learners last spring, we spent over half an hour going over the difference between the words “kitchen” and “chicken.” The two words are very different in meaning, obviously, but the learners often confused the words because they sounded similar to them.

It was so fun practicing, “I cook chicken in the kitchen.” Everyone was correcting the classmates who were saying this sentence, yelling out “No!” or “Yes!” while trying not to laugh in order to let each individual speak.

On the first day of class last December, one of our most dedicated learners started the beginner level with her sister, niece and two friends. She could not communicate in English, so we began in Spanish. From the start she struggled with reading and writing in her own language and had difficulty understanding instructions on the activities that we were doing.

As the spring semester continued, this woman and her sister attended class every Monday and Wednesday, eager to learn. They came twice a week in the summer and continue studying with us now. As this learner’s English abilities improve, I have noticed her gain confidence. She is now taking classes on Saturdays and is asking a lot of questions about expressions that she hears on the playground or in the supermarket, words that the toddler she nannies for says. She even wants to know how to tell the young girl to “stand in the corner” or to say “good job.”

Another beginner level learner comes to class every week with papers of completed grammar exercises for me to correct. She is very motivated and hopes to become good enough at English so that she may someday return to her native country of Mexico to teach English in the schools.

As we are nearing our one year anniversary of an expanded ESL program, the same group of beginner-level learners that has been with us from the start understand the difference between chicken and kitchen, and are now learning the difference between more complex irregular verb conjugations, such as “bring” in the present and “brought” in the simple past. We do still giggle at words that sound similar; last night it was “duck” and “book” that cracked up the class.

The following was written by one of our youths who worked in the SE Summer Day Camp. Each year City Gate employs teenagers in DC’s Summer Youth Employment Program as junior counselors, giving them opportunities to gain job and life skills.

Working with City Gate’s 5-6 year olds was a great but challenging experience. At times the children, [youth] workers, and even parents can test your patience. But those times are when we find out who is actually here for the children and who is wiling to pull together and make things work as they are. The children of City Gate Summer Camp are active, energetic, creative, and interactive. With all these components working together in one child, it keeps our summer camp very “live” and never boring.

I have grown to love the children of City Gate, not just the 5 and 6 year olds, all of them. I enjoy coming to work everyday because every time I walk into the room I’m greeted with tons of smiles and hugs. These kids grow as attached to their teachers as we do with them. This year we were blessed with a great group of kids who I hope to see again one day.

Alexis
Summer Youth Worker
City Gate SE Summer Day Camp

When I first started at City Gate in January, one of the most frequent topics the students asked me about was college. I remember on the first day a third-grader asked me, “What do you do in college?” Then another girl chipped in and said, “You probably go to a lot of parties, right?”

“No, not a lot of parties,” I said.

“That’s what they do on T.V.,” she countered.

It is hard to communicate the college experience to a child if you are the only college student they’ve ever met, or their prior knowledge comes from the mass media. So, you can probably imagine the excitement I felt when Kristin told me that we were doing a Pen Pals and Partners Program for our City Gate kids in conjunction with American University.

Pen Pals and Partners was not only a great way for our after-school kids to meet college students, but it was also a great way from them to interact with cultures different from their own. I remember the first time the AU students met with the City Gate Kids. On the way, I don’t know how many times I kept telling the students to keep their voices down or told them to save their excitement for when we get to the church. Once we got there, they did a complete 180; they virtually didn’t speak and rarely interacted with the AU students. The AU students, who were predominantly White Americans and outnumbered them 2:1, more likely intimidated the SE kids. It wasn’t until the AU students introduced themselves (and their favorite ice cream flavor) and played games (“Move your Butt” and “Indian Chief”) did they not only open up, but reverted back to their in van excitement. It was great to witness how two groups of completely different people from completely different environments can find commonality with each other.

Pen Pals and Partners has been an innovative way to introduce college life. They loved American University’s library, went crazy at AU’s basketball game, walked within their dorm rooms and hung out in their lounge while eating pizza. And also, our after-school kids rarely ask me about my college life anymore. It’s probably because they’re experiencing it themselves.

Tiauna Miller
AmeriCorps Volunteer & City Gate Program Associate

We at City Gate realize that everyone in the known universe has a blog entry related to the recent inauguration of President Obama. But instead of expressing any overly-detailed opinions or waxing philosophical about what it means to have our nation’s first African-American president, I’d like to take this opportunity to share three simple observations. First, the picture below:

Our after-school children first started showing up with Obama caps and buttons in December. Teaching them the importance of government and their role in democracy has always been difficult (they simply didn’t relate), and the way social studies is taught in DC public schools is usually drudgery, but suddenly our children knew facts and figures, political players, and even statistics. (Student: “Yes, and did you know he was president of the Harvard Law Review…” After-school instructor: <shocked silence>)

Second, we have been collaborating with another non-profit which wants to do some sports-based mentoring in SE. The guys who run this organization are well-educated, street-savvy, and truly passionate for at-risk youth. As we sat in the basement community room one night to work out a grant proposal, the upcoming inauguration came up. One of them said, “It’s cool to be smart now.” All I could think of was, “thank you, God.” It’s tough to compete with rappers and sports stars for influence over our children and youth. Maybe now we have a bigger piece of the pie.

Lastly, I’ll share a personal experience that illustrates how the flavor of race relations in our country has started to change. As I walked to my car that same night, an African-American colleague asked me if I was ever afraid of working in SE. I gave him my first and honest answer, which was no, even at night I’ve found folks there to be friendly and helpful. “Usually though,” I added, “being a white woman in SE, it’s because they think I’m lost.” My colleague laughed. Having working in one capacity or another in that same neighborhood for the past 8 years, I’m almost never lost. However, in that moment, as we both chuckled, I realized that this moment may just be a tiny droplet in a tidal wave of such conversations. Here’s to hoping.

Truly this was a victory for African-Americans. But more than that, this is a victory for all people who have felt — for a variety of reasons — that they were on the outside of a great society looking in. They are the very kind of people we work to help at the “city gate”. This is not about holding up a certain race or demographic — it’s about justice. This is not about inclusion or multi-culturalism — it’s about valuing people as individuals, uniquely created in His image.

Whatever you think about the economy, the war in Iraq, and our new president, I hope you share at least a little of that victory. For myself, I can’t wait to see what it’s “cool to be” next.

Kristin Wiener