Sorengo Elementary Students Perform at Franklin
12/05/2011
"Do the Hokey-Pokey, and turn yourself around. That's what it's all about!" Thursday, December 1, 2011, twenty students from the Sorengo public elementary school filled the Falcon's Nest student center at Franklin College in Sorengo to perform English songs and skits to the delight of the parents, grandparents and neighbors who accompanied them. The performance was the culmination of the first half of the doposcuola (after-school) English course currently being offered by Franklin student-teachers. The English teaching program will continue into spring, 2012.
The "English by Franklin" doposcuola program began in 2005 as an opportunity for Franklin students to make a contribution to Sorengo by providing a welcome service while at the same time benefiting from gaining a better understanding of the realities of the community in which they live. Over 100 local elementary children have participated over these years, many moving on to the middle school in Besso, where Franklin also runs a doposcuola English program.
Franklin College is a four-year undergraduate university that offers Bachelor's degrees in more than 11 academic majors. It has recently added a Master's program in International Business. The Franklin students who teach in the doposcuola program are pursuing a Certificate in English Language Teaching (ELT), which will allow them to seek positions with language schools and volunteer organizations such as the U.S. Peace Corps. Students in the program gain experience through teaching groups in the local public schools as well as at private institutions such as TASIS and the Istituto Leonardo da Vinci. Some of the ELT students have also participated in Franklin's Spiti Valley Program, where students teach English to Buddhist monks and other local people in Northern India, in the Himalayan mountains on the border with Tibet.
Sabrina Nicod, one of the coordinators for the Sorengo Elementary Parents' Association, writes: "It's my first year as coordinator of the doposcuola, and I was submerged by compliments for the amazing quality time the children have with the FC students. Parents wave at me constantly, saying ‘Thank you!' and this thank you goes to the FC students and Professor Andrew Starcher, to whom goes the Parents' Association applause for a great recital and an amazing doposcuola."
The four Franklin students who are working with the doposcuola groups in the autumn of 2011 are Callie Robson '12, Ryan McCarthy '12, Alithea Tashey '14 and Ben Smick '14. Callie, who also taught in the Spiti Valley program in India in the summer of 2011, says, "It has been a pleasure getting to work with the students both at Sorengo and at Besso as it is a learning process for everyone involved. The students get to practice English and we get to practice developing a curriculum, creating lesson plans and teaching. The practical experience I have gained from teaching in the doposcuola programs will be highly valuable as I try to pursue a future career in English teaching."
One of the new features at the Sorengo elementary school doposcuola program is a "bilingual" section dedicated to children who have had a lot of exposure to English due to family circumstances and travel. Professor Starcher, director of the ELT program, says the response from families with bilingual children has been especially gratifying: "Globalization has arrived in Sorengo like everywhere else, and it is important to also be able to do something for students for whom English is already a part of their identity at some level." Sabrina Nicod agrees, adding: "It was especially moving to know that some children who didn't want to speak their native idiom anymore now are willing to study and show off their skills."
Ben Smick concludes with remarks about Franklin's ELT Certificate program as a whole: "The ELT certificate program is one of the most intellectually and culturally invigorating engagements Franklin College has to offer. It represents the best of the Franklin community, how Franklin students can both take away valuable insight from their college experience while at the same time benefiting the local community."
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