Word: kolenik
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...have a large population of workers with no exposure to school in their native country,” says Kolenik, who founded the Bridge program. “We’re talking about countries like El Salvador. You’ve got all these mountain towns with no schools...For many students, we start by holding up an object like a pen and asking them what it is. Some of the students are 40 years old and learning this information for the first time...
...program began with 171 students in 1999, and currently enrolls a range of pupils, including dining hall employees and subcontracted cleaning workers. Kolenik, who has taught English as a second language at institutions from Roxbury to Vietnam, began Bridge as a pilot program at the Harvard Faculty Club. Employees were having trouble reading notes their guests had left for them, she says; requests for new light bulbs, an extra pillow or an undisturbed desk were either ignored or misunderstood by the housekeepers due to their poor English...
...Kolenik recalls one employee who was ready to quit her job because of communication problems. Kolenik offered to tutor the woman, who responded “I don’t even know what that is!”—pointing to the letter “N” in a newspaper...
...blown away,” Kolenik says. “I didn’t know we needed this level of education. I asked the girl who else was in her position, and told her and anyone else who wanted to come to meet me in the basement of the Harvard Club the next day.” Thirty-eight workers joined the fledgling program. According to Kolenik, by the second semester, the employees were reading the notes left by patrons without the need for a translator, filling requests for food in the restaurant without confusion and staying in hotel...
...Kolenik, the progress that students make is not purely statistical. “The greatest thing is meeting people I’ve taught three years ago,” says Kolenik. “Now they’re reading, filling out their own personal information and talking on the phone. It’s remarkable...