Franklin College Students Teach English to Children from the Local Community

02/25/2008

Franklin Honors students volunteer to teach English to children of the elementary school in Sorengo.

At the beginning of the spring semester in late January, six Franklin College Honors Society students began volunteering to teach English to children of the elementary school in Sorengo. Leslie Guggiari, the Dean of Students, has always believed Franklin students both wanted to and could offer a great deal to the local community through volunteer work. The one thing students for sure could give back is their knowledge of English. The program has been made possible through a collaborative effort of the entire community. Diana Tedoldi, a Franklin alumna and employee and long time resident of Sorengo was instrumental in the fruition of the idea by assisting the Dean of Students and the Honors Society in contacting the Parents’ Assembly of the Sorengo elementary school. The president of the Assembly, Romana Manzoni-Agliati, and other members welcomed the idea with great interest and enthusiasm.

The students themselves have greeted the English language program with even greater enthusiasm. The enrollment to the introductory class to English by Franklin Honors students is currently at 50 children from the first through the fifth grade. The class is taught three times a week to four different groups of children, all eager to learn and have a lot of fun while doing so. “One, two, three, eye on me” continuously repeat the Franklin instructors to keep the children’s attention in class. In order to accomplish this goal, the volunteers have gone through intense training offered by Andrew Starcher, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, who once headed up the English as a Second Language Program at Franklin College and has published on language teaching at the elementary school level following his participation in a pilot project and related research during the period leading up to the introduction of English into the Italian public school curriculum. Thanks to this training and their devotion to the children, the Franklin students have been successful in using the teaching method of playing games and singing songs created specifically for educational purposes. So far the children have been responding with great interest and attention to this learning and entertaining experience.

Dean Leslie Guggiari believes, “the Franklin Honors students have been given a wonderful opportunity by becoming involved in the local community to increase their international learning experience, while at the same time demonstrating how much Franklin has to offer the local community. Both Franklin and Sorengo are richer from the experience.” Through this program the local community of Sorengo benefits from their children gaining a taste of a foreign language and Franklin students have lasting memories of how rewarding being more involved in the community can actually be.

Participating in the English program are Franklin Honors Society students: Maije Butler, Sarah Cash, Roxana Cazacu, Arianne Dilts, Kate Townsend and Carolyn Yohn.

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