Sound Shore

One of my favorite places to visit in Port Chester is Camille Linen’s ESL class at the Carver Center. Her advanced students tend to be from a wide assortment of countries and the conversation delves into some rich topics like American history, cultural differences, racism, etc.

This is not “Hello my name is Carlos.” It’s more like a college tutorial or a book-discussion group. I wrote about the class last year when the students were reading and discussing Barack Obama’s memoir, “Dreams From my Father.”

Linen, a BOCES instructor and the education director for the Port Chester Council for the Arts, has just launched a blog, Art of English, where she will share her insights about teaching and art. In one post she describes a recent student project, which will give you a feel for her creative approach:

This Spring my ESL students completed a first-ever illustrated brochure about the 1936 New Deal  murals that adorn the walls of our Port Chester, N.Y.  post office. They took pictures, researched the murals’ history, how the murals were funded. Then they wrote and laid out the brochure which is being published and distributed by the Village this month.

I’ll look for the brochure and pass along that history lesson. Have you noticed the murals at the Port Chester Post Office? Let us know.

By the way, Camille also has a web site that compiles her own lesson plans for teaching English through American history.

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